| In the 19th century the North was responsible for turning football, rugby and cricket into the professional spectator sports they are today. And in 2022 our region boasts some of the world's best-known sporting powerhouses. But away from the gleaming stadia where multi-millionaire footballers ply their trade, how healthy are the thousands of local sports clubs which form the backbone of communities? According to James Daly, who heads up a new inquiry into the role sport plays in shaping the region's cultural identity and value, the health of these institutions depends on the demographics of the local area. The Tory MP for Bury North tells the latest episode of The Northern Agenda podcast: "It is generally the case that cricket grounds, amateur cricket clubs, in working class areas of the North, are more likely to be struggling for players and for their future.  James Daly and Redcar MP Jacob Young appear on this week's episode of the Northern Agenda podcast
"Middle class cricket clubs, or middle class areas, those which have got hundreds of kids coming and people drinking wine, having a good time, that's a generalised view but that's my experience of it." As an example he cites Radcliffe Cricket Club, just outside his patch, which pulled off one of the biggest sporting smash-and-grabs of all time when it signed West Indies legend Garfield Sobers in the 1950s. Mr Daly says: "If we went back to the 1940s, and 1950s and we saw that cricket club as what it would have been, you had an amazing pride in the club, you would have had huge crowds there, you'd have the community interacting with each other. "They can't even raise a team now, the place is falling apart. So the town of Radcliffe, which has got thousands upon thousands of people in it, they can't raise one cricket team." The MP, born in Huddersfield and now defending one of the slimmest majorities in the country as Bury North's MP, also mentions the Bradley Mills team in his home town which formed in the 19th century, played cricket through two World Wars but folded in the 1990s. And in the Brackenhall area of Huddersfield, "a proud area but there's a lot of social housing, a lot of social problems there", he says the previously dominant local football team no longer exists. He says: "Now the young people surely in Brackenhall are screaming out for the opportunity to be able to play competitive sport and to be able to be part of a football team, but they can't do it, it doesn't exist. And I don't have an answer [why]. I've got viewpoints on it, but this is one of the issues I want to raise in this inquiry." Mr Daly, who won his seat in 2019, is co-chair of the Northern Culture All-Party Parliamentary Group, which on June 15 launches its inquiry into the cultural value of sport to the North's cities, towns and communities. You can register here. 
Boris Johnson vows to 'turn benefits to bricks'  Boris Johnson meets students at the Blackpool and Fylde College
Boris Johnson had a go at levelling up a brick wall as he met construction students in Lancashire yesterday morning. The Prime Minister, who is trying to cement his future after a revolt against his leadership earlier this week, was in Blackpool and The Fylde College to deliver what was billed as a keynote speech on housing. In the thirty minute address, Mr Johnson touched on everything from the war in Ukraine to the price of olives, tax cuts and Brexit before coming to a raft of new housing policies. Under the proposals, families and low paid workers will be able to use benefits to save deposits and make mortgage payments. The Right to Buy will also be extended to housing association tenants and there will be a mortgage review, looking at how low-deposit mortgages can be extended. The Prime Minister said the moves would "give a route to help some of the lowest paid get on the housing ladder", but charities, opposition MPs and mortgage providers have raised concerns over the plan. Housing charity Shelter chief executive Polly Neate said: "The Prime Minister's housing plans are baffling, unworkable, and a dangerous gimmick. "Hatching reckless plans to extend Right to Buy will put our rapidly shrinking supply of social homes at even greater risk."
While in town, Mr Johnson also raised hopes of holiday flights once more returning to Blackpool Airport. The Prime Minister challenged Blackpool Council, which owns the airport but says it is not commercially viable to relaunch holiday flights, to look again at what could be done. He said the council should look at what had been achieved at Teesside Airport which now has "bars, duty free, conference facilities and flights going to holiday destinations in Europe". Wakefield by-election candidate reveals how family home was repossessed as a child  Labour candidate Simon Lightwood at Wakefield College
The Labour candidate in this month's Wakefield by-election has told how his home was repossessed when he was a child and said his family's struggles helped him understand those experiencing the cost-of-living crisis in 2022. Simon Lightwood, an NHS worker hoping to win the Tory-held seat on June 23, said his experiences growing up in the North East meant he'd "walked in the shoes" of those facing stark choices as a result of rising costs. He is one of 15 candidates hoping to succeed Imran Ahmad Khan, the former Conservative MP who quit after being being found guilty of sexually assaulting a boy. Khan had been suspended by the Tories since last June. Speaking on a visit to Wakefield College alongside Labour Deputy Leader Angela Rayner, Mr Lightwood said the cost-of-living crisis was "the main issue that comes across on the doorstep". "People are really really struggling and I know what that's like from my own background, struggling to make ends meet. We lost our home in the past." He told The Northern Agenda: "The reason why I mentioned that is because there are hundreds of people in Wakefield going through exactly the same kind of challenges now in this cost of living crisis, I think it's really important as a candidate that I have a deep understanding of that." Read the full interview here. For his part Conservative candidate Nadeem Ahmed is putting his status as someone "born and bred" in Wakefield front and centre of his campaign. The teacher and former leader of Wakefield's Conservative group told The Northern Agenda his pitch to voters was that he was born at the local Manygates Hospital and he grew up in the area after his father came to work at a local textile mill. He said: "I did have a stint in Leeds, I'll be honest with you, I went to university there but I don't claim to have affiliation with Leeds and I wouldn't come and stand there. My affiliation is with the people in Wakefield, I have grown up here. My family's here." There was controversy during Labour's selection process when the local party's executive walked out in protest at a local candidate not being shortlisted. And Cllr Ahmed, a local councillor for 16 years in Wakefield, said: "It's a massive turn off to our electorate to have another candidate parachuted in after [former Labour MP] Mary Creagh was parachuted in a few years ago, a Remainer." And describing Mr Lightwood he said: "He couldn't even get around the district without Google Maps. I could walk around in this district on my own in every part of it."
New 'free schools' and sixth forms announced  Click our map to see which areas will benefit
Children in dozens of towns and cities across the North will be prioritised for new school places under a new education levelling up plan, ministers have confirmed. The 55 new 'Education Investment Areas' (EIAs) will create 14,000 places in 75 new free schools from Blackpool to Bradford, Wirral to County Durham. Free schools are funded by the government but they don't have to follow the national curriculum and aren't run by local education authorities. The 25 EIAs in the North have been chosen on the basis of where 'outcomes for pupils are currently weakest'. The government said the measures 'build on' previous commitments raise standards particularly in maths and English as well as addressing the 'postcode lottery' of provision for children special educational needs. Officials are now awaiting 'expressions of interest' from areas to create 16 to 19 'academically-focused' free schools to boost the chances of kids from poorer backgrounds going to top universities. Education Secretary Nadhim Zahawi said: "All children have the right to a high-quality education. Our new schools across the country will continue to make sure that every child, in every corner of the country, gets the support they need to succeed."
The schools announcement came as the architect behind the Government's levelling up plans backed Greater Manchester's calls to be given more control over its post-16 skills system. Local leaders want more influence over the technical education and training opportunities available to people from the age of 16 onwards, saying they would work with employers to build a workforce that has the skills required. This includes investment in skills needed in the digital, technology and life science sectors as well as the green economy such as for retrofitting homes. Speaking in Salford yesterday, Andy Haldane, who was the head of the Levelling Up taskforce, said skills will be key to 'unlocking growth' in the UK. He said Greater Manchester has the 'secret sauce' for levelling up and that devolving the skills system will be a 'key ingredient' to make a success of it. Former Liverpool Mayor accused of 'threatening to derail' disciplinary investigation  Former Liverpool Mayor Joe Anderson
Former Mayor of Liverpool Joe Anderson has been accused of threatening to derail a disciplinary investigation into an ex-city council director during a tense employment tribunal. Mr Anderson was called as a witness by former city council Regeneration chief Nick Kavanagh, who has brought an unfair dismissal case against the local authority after he was removed from his position last March. Mr Kavanagh was dramatically arrested at the Cunard Building by Merseyside Police as part of the force's Operation Aloft in December 2019. He was subsequently suspended from his chief officer job and was eventually dismissed in March 2021 following a council disciplinary hearing. Mr Anderson was arrested under the same operation in December 2020. Neither Mr Kavanagh nor Mr Anderson have been charged and both deny wrongdoing. Mr Kavanagh is currently bringing an unfair dismissal claim against the city council at Liverpool Civil and Family Court. He claims the council's chief executive, Tony Reeves, went out of his way to construct a case against him to remove him from his job. Mr Reeves and other council witnesses have insisted that all proper procedures were followed. At yesterday's hearing, the council's lawyer Tim Kenward accused then city mayor Mr Anderson of threatening to derail the council's disciplinary investigation into Mr Kavanagh, which would eventually lead to his dismissal last March. He referred to emails from the former mayor where he had repeatedly asked to see the disciplinary report into the former Regeneration chief before it was presented to the council's Appointments and Disciplinary panel. Responding, Mr Anderson said he was 'frustrated' and agreed it could seem like a threat and that he shouldn't have said it. He insisted that he only wanted to see the report into Mr Kavanagh to check it for accuracies. 
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Northern Stories  The Northern Agenda got an honourable mention
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There was some good news for your favourite Northern political newsletter this week as we got an honourable mention in a prestigious worldwide media award ceremony. The Northern Agenda was praised in the Best Public Relations or Community Service Campaign, Regional Brands category of the International News Media Association's Global Media Awards. Winners were the Austrian Kleine Zeitung newspaper with its campaign against internet hate. -
Sheffield Council has scheduled another meeting to discuss the future of its chief executive Kate Josephs but a decision could still be some time away. Ms Josephs has been on paid leave from her £190,000 a year role since January while Eugene Walker, a senior council officer who is normally paid around £150,000 a year, is covering for her on extra pay. It follows Ms Josephs admitting in a statement on social media that she gathered with colleagues in the Cabinet Office for drinks to mark the end of her time as head of the government's Covid Taskforce while restrictions were in place. -
Footage of 'extremely violent' scenes outside the Stade de France at the time of the Champions League have been destroyed, French authorities today confirmed. Liverpool fans continue to speak out about their abhorrent treatment in the build up and aftermath of the Paris final by French police, match organisers and local gangs. An enquiry into the chaos is continuing in the French Senate, where Liverpool City Region Mayor today gave evidence of his own experience as a victim of crime in the French capital. -
A major chunk of the Tyne and Wear Metro will be shut down for three days when rail workers stage the biggest strike action in a generation. The UK is bracing for massive travel disruption later this month when thousands of train staff take industrial action in a row over pay, pensions, and job losses. Members of the Rail, Maritime and Transport union (RMT) at Network Rail and 13 train operators will stage walkouts on June 21, 23 and 25. And while RMT members working for Tyne and Wear Metro operator Nexus are not part of the strike, there will be a significant knock-on effect for passengers here – with no Metro trains able to run to or from Sunderland on the three days of action.
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