Current political landscape

In May 2019, Labour’s Jamie Driscoll was appointed the first-ever metro mayor of the North of Tyne.

This page brings together the key facts and figures about the city-region’s economy.

Economic outlook

The North of Tyne combined authority consists of the following local authorities: Newcastle upon Tyne, North Tyneside and Northumberland.

Understanding how the city-region performs on key areas such as productivity and employment helps the new metro mayor to assess what should be prioritised. The table below shows how the North of Tyne compares to the national average on these indicators.

What powers does the North of Tyne metro mayor have?

Below is a table detailing the powers that the North of Tyne metro mayor has.

Key priorities for the North of Tyne metro mayor

We outlined three key policy priorities that the metro mayor should focus on.

Priority 1: A quick win

Support the city centre

• Invest in improving commercial space in the city centre to help attract more high-knowledge businesses to the area
• Bring forward new city centre commercial space, building on existing schemes
• Create a joint spatial plan that sets out how land-use planning and new infrastructure can best support the North East economy

Priority 2: A long-term priority

Improve skills and education

• Coordinate action across local stakeholders to improve school performance and lifelong learning through a Skills Compact
• Evaluate the outcomes of policies to refine future policy approaches to make them more effective

Priority 3: Strategic decision

Work strategically across the wider North East area

• Work with leaders across the region to align where new housing or commercial space is developed
• Open up skills programmes to all local authorities and institutions in the region