| Your Northern Agenda Editor wouldn't usually use this email to offer motoring advice, but anyone thinking of driving on the A1(M) though Yorkshire and the North East might want to fill their tank up in advance. After the largest daily jump in petrol prices for 17 years, bringing the average price of a litre of petrol at UK forecourts to a record 180.7p, some sites are already selling petrol above £2 per litre. Price comparison website PetrolPrices said the most expensive price being charged is 202.9p per litre at BP sites on the A1(M) near Sunderland, Tyne and Wear; the A1(M) near Wetherby, West Yorkshire; the M4 near Chippenham, Wiltshire; and the M6 near Burton-in-Kendal, Cumbria. Amid concern in Government that the 5p cut implemented by Chancellor Rishi Sunak in March is still not being reflected in pump prices at all filling stations, fuel retailers failing to pass on the fuel duty cut could be named and shamed, Downing Street has indicated.  Petrol prices have risen above £2 a litre in some parts of the country. Graphic: Lisa Walsh
The Prime Minister's official spokesman said: "We are continuing to look at all possible options. Transparency may have an important role to play. It is important the public understand what actions each of the fuel retailers are taking and so we are considering what further options we can take in this area." The 2.2p increase from Monday was the largest daily jump in 17 years, according to the RAC. One shocking price jump was seen at Morrisons Hartlepool Belle Vue Way, which increased from 170.7p to 175.7p overnight, according to Petrolprices.com. One local woman told TeessideLive: "I'm worried because it's just so much more. We are used to making long journeys and we think it is probably going to cost us 40% more or even twice as much as it did last year. Our holiday to get to France used to cost about £60 [in petrol] but we expect it to cost over £100 now." RAC fuel spokesman Simon Williams said: "A full tank of unleaded has now shot up to £99.40, moving us ever closer to the milestone £100 petrol fill-up – an unfortunate landmark we may reach as soon as today." He added that "we are still some way from the peak" as it will take several days for an unexpected fall in wholesale costs on Tuesday to be reflected in pump prices. On the Mirror website today, find out how you can win a Halfords Premium Motoring Club Membership, plus £100 towards your fuel bill. 
Storm Arwen power company response 'unacceptable'  Damage from Storm Arwen last November (Image: Craig Connor/ChronicleLive)
Thousands of customers were provided an "unacceptable service" following Storm Arwen after it left thousands of homes in the North East last November, the energy watchdog Ofgem said today. Winds of 100mph caused widespread disruption, uprooted trees and damaged power lines, cutting the electricity supply from November 26 across Northern England and Scotland, with Northumberland and County Durham among the worst affected areas. Power outages lasted for more than 10 days in some areas and customers complained of poor communication from their suppliers about when they would be reconnected, writes Graeme Whitfield for ChronicleLive. Ofgem said staff at Northern Powergrid and other power companies worked hard in difficult circumstances but found many people were left with an "unacceptable service" dogged by poor communication, insufficient planning before the storm and a failure to contact vulnerable customers. The regulator said failures in the Northern Powergrid call centre could be a breach of its licence. The company has paid more than £20m in compensation as a result of the storm but recently issued accounts showing rising profits during the year of the storm. Ofgem has issued 20 recommendations that aim to prevent a repeat of last year's chaos, including better testing of websites and call centres to ensure they can cope with added winter pressures.
PM uses Lancashire speech to extend 'right to buy'  Today's speech is Boris Johnson's third visit to Lancashire this year
In a speech in Blackpool today, Boris Johnson was due to set out plans for lower-paid workers to use housing benefits to buy their homes and for the right to buy to be extended for housing association tenants. The Prime Minister is expected to confirm his intentions this afternoon as he seeks to repair his fortunes after a wounding Tory revolt against his leadership. He will hope the pledges to assist individuals on to the property ladder will please rebel MPs and voters who are facing fresh pressures from the cost-of-living crisis. But the details of the schemes will be closely examined, with fundamental questions remaining about how housing supply can be increased rather than more measures to stimulate demand. As the Lancashire Evening Post reports, Mr Johnson previously visited the county in April ahead of the May local elections, where he went to Leyland and Burnley. The PM also visited Blackpool earlier in the year, making today's visit the third this year.
Fishermen 'need help getting back on their feet after freak deaths'  Thousands of dead crabs and sea creatures were washed up on the beaches. (Image: TeessideLive)
There was plenty of Northern interest in Prime Minister's Questions yesterday, with Mr Johnson urged by one of his own MPs to do more for fishing firms blighted by the "freak" death of thousands of crustaceans on the Teesside coast. Investigations were launched last year after huge piles of dead and dying crabs and lobsters began to wash up along the coast at Seaton Carew, South Gare, Redcar, Marske and Saltburn. Defra blamed a strange naturally occuring algal bloom, but independent marine pollution experts have said the cause is linked to a specific chemical called pyridine - quantities of which, they say, were more than 70 times higher in some crab samples taken from Saltburn and Seaton. They have argued that historical toxins unearthed by dredging is to blame, but Tory Tees Valley Mayor Ben Houchen has said no dredging work was carried out for work at the huge Teesworks site or for the area's low-tax Freeport, billed as one of the big benefits of Brexit. The PM was told by Redcar MP Jacob Young that local fishermen were "left devastated by this freak event through no fault of their own". Mr Young added: "Will the Prime Minister look at how he can support this vital industry to get them back on its feet?" Mr Johnson responded: "I can tell him that we have ruled out chemical pollution, but we are making another £100 million of investment, including in communities such as his, and working with the fishing industry to help it to recover from this problem."
Elsewhere at PMQs, Keir Starmer told how a crumbling Teesside hospital is putting patient care "at risk", as Labour raised doubts over the Government's NHS investment programme. Labour's Manchester MP Afzal Khan raised the issue of delays at the Passport Office potentially threatening summer holidays, and Sedgefield Tory MP Paul Howell lobbied the PM over the Ferryhill station development in his patch.
Mandelson: Levelling up is thin on ideas and short of money  Peter Mandelson speaking at a North East England Chamber of Commerce event in Durham (Image: North East England Chamber of Commerce)
He was one of the architects of New Labour as well as Hartlepool's MP for 12 years. And speaking at a meeting of the North East England Chamber of Commerce yesterday 'Prince of Darkness' Lord Mandelson criticised the Government's levelling up agenda for being "thin on new ideas and very short of money". The former Labour Business Secretary under Tony Blair said this year's Levelling Up White Paper had "some good ideas" but said nothing about how the targets set out by Ministers could actually be met. The White Paper released in February had 12 national 'missions' to improve areas such as jobs, training, training and health. Though praised for the wide-ranging nature of those missions, it has been criticised for having little new funding. And Lord Mandelson said: "What it lacks in my view is delivery mechanisms. I don't see how just by claiming an objective or a target without any change to the machinery of Government, you're going to create the mechanisms whereby these changes can be rolled out." The Labour grandee also called on the party to "raise its sights" under Sir Keir Starmer, urging him to "accelerate" the development of policies and "turn the intellectual tide" rather than hope to simply benefit from Boris Johnson's difficulties.
 Jennifer Lawrence as Katniss Everdeen in The Hunger Games
The opposition's lack of detail in setting out its own plans for Levelling Up was seized upon yesterday by Secretary of State Michael Gove as his Levelling-up and Regeneration Bill was debated in Parliament. During the debate his Labour shadow Lisa Nandy likened the concept so far to the dystopian 'Hunger Games' movie, with struggling Northern councils forced to fight it out for Government cash, as Westminster Editor Dan O'Donoghue reports. But Mr Gove pointed to Lord Mandelson's speech in Durham and said he "points out that Labour have still not moved beyond the primary colours stage when it comes to fleshing out their own policy". The senior Tory added: "In contrast to our Levelling Up White Paper and our detailed legislation, Labour are still – Lord Mandelson says the primary stage, I think probably the kindergarten stage when it comes to developing their own policy." In the same debate, Labour's Wansbeck MP Ian Lavery complained of "seagulls the size of jumbo jets" in his Northumberland constituency as he made the case for more investment to help "held-back communities". And South Yorkshire Tory MP Miriam Cates said middle-aged men moving out of their family homes and then requiring another family home for their children to visit was putting pressure on the housing market.
Bombshell report exposes 'distracted and dysfunctional' council  Max Caller and Northumberland County Hall
Dysfunctional, distracted and unhealthy – these are just some of the words used to describe an embattled North East council in a damning report on its governance. The review into local governance at Northumberland County Council was carried out by Max Caller after being commissioned earlier this year and presented to members this week. Councillors were told the council's working environment was "harmful" and that there was a "climate of fear and intimidation", writes Local Democracy Reporter James Robinson. It comes after a long period of poor relations between the council's Conservative political leadership and chief executive Daljit Lally, which broke down in 2020 after the CEO was suspended by the council's former leader. There were ashen faces in County Hall as Mr Caller and his team read the report, which were not circulated previously. It said the council had "lost its way" over the years to the extent that "leadership at both political and managerial levels is 'distracted' and focused on "internal issues." There was also significant criticism directed at the chief executive, who did not attend. The meeting heard she attempted to stop the review going ahead, with the report branding the situation "extraordinary" and appearing to demonstrate "a desire to frustrate and obstruct the process." A second report found that Ms Lally had been given illegal expense payments of £40,000 each year, on top of her £190,000 a year salary, to run the council's international consultancy with clients in China and the United Arab Emirates.
Gove blocks fracking plans in Cheshire and South Yorkshire  Anti-fracking protesters outside Chester Town Hall for the start of a public inquiry into the Ellesmere Port plans
The Government has come under pressure from some MPs to revisit fracking to help the country meet its energy needs. But this week Michael Gove's department blocked plans for shale gas exploration in two parts of the North. The Government upheld Cheshire West and Chester Council's decision not to allow test drilling for fracking, because of its negative impact on climate change. IGas Ltd, which wanted to test drill in Ellesmere Port, had challenged the council's decision, but Mr Gove backed a planning inspector's rejection of their appeal, writes Roland Gent of CheshireLive. The Levelling Up Secretary also dismissed an appeal by Ineos to be given the go-ahead for a shale gas exploration site off Dinnington Road in Woodsetts, near Rotherham. After planning permission for the site was refused by Rotherham Council, a public inquiry was held in June 2019 which resulted in a planning inspector recommending that the appeal should be upheld and planning permission granted. But the scheme has now been blocked, as Chris Burn of The Yorkshire Post reports. Fracking involves drilling into the earth and directing a high-pressure mixture of water, sand and chemicals at a rock layer to release the gas inside. Ministers commissioned a review into the science around fracking, which could pave the way to lifting the current moratorium on the process brought in over the tremors it caused. 
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Northern Stories  Could the Cheshire CO2 factory closure cause a crisis for the UK beer industry?
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A total of 283 Cheshire workers were told that they would no longer have jobs yesterday as CF Fertilisers announced the permanent closure of its factory in the village of Ince. The company, a subsidiary of U.S. firm CF Industries, will now operate its sole plant in Teesside. It produces 60% of the UK's CO2, a gas crucial to the food industry, NHS, nuclear power generation, soft drinks and beer. The gas is a crucial component in every element of the beer industry, from brewing, casking and bottling, to pumping draft beer to the taps in the pub. -
The chief executive of Tameside council breached legislation when he expressed surprise on social media that a Tory voter 'had compassion and empathy'. A report due to go before an extraordinary meeting of the full council found Steven Pleasant breached government acts and the statutory code for local authority publicity. Mr Pleasant resigned with 'immediate effect' earlier this week. If he had not he would have faced a vote at full council on a range of options, including suspension without pay and being stripped of the role of returning officer. -
Former Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson is supporting Liverpool Council's ex-regeneration boss in his claims that he was forced out of his job by the 'devious' actions of current council, led by chief executive Tony Reeves. Nick Kavanagh was the director of regeneration at the city council but was dramatically arrested at the Cunard Building by Merseyside Police as part of the force's Operation Aloft in 2019. He was subsequently suspended from his chief officer job and was eventually dismissed in March 2021 following a council disciplinary hearing. Mr Kavanagh is currently bringing an unfair dismissal claim against the city council at Liverpool Civil and Family Court. -
Yorkshire cricket's former head coach Andrew Gale has won an unfair dismissal claim against the club after he was sacked in the wake of the Azeem Rafiq racism scandal. An employment judge ruled that Gale and five other former members of Yorkshire's staff had a "well founded" case and said the matter will now move on to what remedies can be agreed or imposed. Gale was one of 16 members of staff sacked in the wake of the controversy which engulfed Yorkshire following accusations by bowler Rafiq which rocked English cricket. -
Three 18th century weavers cottages in Greater Manchester have been listed by Historic England following an emergency application by heritage campaigners. SAVE Britain's Heritage successfully moved to have the vacant building in Middleton recognised as historically important after a developer tabled proposals to redevelop the site. The new Grade-II designation means the applicant – Capital Builders NW Ltd – will need listed building consent from the council, before planning permission can be considered. -
A review of Blackpool's youth services has found many youngsters fail to attend activities because they perceive them as "boring". While younger children join youth groups, attendance declines after the age of 14 especially among teenage girls. Now Blackpool Council, which commissioned the review carried out by the National Youth Agency and Youth Focus North West, hopes to use the results of a town-wide survey of seven to 25-year-olds to shape better services for the future.
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