'All we see is the mayor' concerns raised by North East councillors

Bosses at the North East mayoral authority have been forced to defend its communications and social media strategy, after accusations that “all we see is the mayor”.

Complaining councillors were told that Ms McGuinness was “the person with the democratic mandate” from the region and that there was a responsibility to keep the public informed about how the authority is using its taxpayer funding.

The region’s other leaders were also challenged to “step up” and share the limelight with the mayor, who was elected in 2024 and represents around two million people across Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham.

Northumberland Conservative councillor Mark Swinburn told the mayoral authority’s audit and standards committee that he felt promotions around issues like reform of the North East’s bus network were dominated by “just the face of the mayor” and did not sufficiently recognise other people’s work.

Cllr Swinburn said that “all we see is the mayor” rather than an effort to raise the profile of the wider authority, adding: “I appreciate it is the mayoral authority, but there is everyone else behind it. There is a lot of work that goes on by everyone – by cabinet, officers, and I don’t feel they are recognised when it is just that constant video, photograph of the mayor.”

James Jackson, a Reform councillor from Sunderland, went on to question why the mayoral authority was “bothered” about its raising profile at all and spending money on communications.

Alan Reiss, the mayoral authority’s director of operations, responded: “The mayor is the elected mayor, she is the person with the democratic mandate from the people of the North East and the person who leads the agenda of the mayoral strategic authority. The corporate plan agreed by cabinet builds on the manifesto on which she was elected.

“I need to hear what you have said, in terms of what you have seen. But I would say that we do recognise the role of the whole of the strategic authority, including the cabinet.”

Mr Reiss added that it was “important that the taxpayers know what we are doing” with around half a billion pounds of public money spent every year and had the opportunity to have their own say.

He added: “It is really vital that when we are making decisions and advising members about the investment we make, that we are consulting members of the public. That is a really important part of the work.

“For example, [in] the work we are doing around reforming the way buses work we have had the largest consultation exercise of anywhere in the country that has embarked on this journey.”

The audit committee’s independent chair, Dave Willis, claimed that the seven local council leaders who make up Ms McGuinness’ cabinet were not doing their bit.

Mr Willis said: “I think we do hear a lot about the mayor, and what we don’t hear a lot about is the leaders of the seven local authorities and their role in the combined authority. I think the message for the councillors, as well as the executives, is maybe those guys need to step up a little bit.

“My personal view is that I don’t think they are stepping up at the moment and there is a lot of reliance on the mayor. I think some of the leaders of the local authorities could do a bit more to help the combined authority raise its profile.”