Former Berwick MP Anne-Marie Trevelyan to stand for Druridge Bay ward in Northumberland County Council elections

Anne-Marie Trevelyan, who was Berwick MP from 2015 until 2024, will contest the Druridge Bay ward for the Conservative Party.

She will be going up against Northumberland Labour leader Coun Scott Dickinson MBE and Michael Joyce of Reform UK.

Ms Trevelyan was transport secretary in the Truss Government for just under two months in 2022. She also served in a number of other ministerial roles, including Secretary of State for International Trade and Minister of State for the Armed Forces.

She won the Berwick constituency in 2015 following the resignation of long-serving Liberal Democrat MP Alan Beith. She increased her majority in both 2017 and 2019, but lost the newly created North Northumberland seat to Labour’s David Smith in 2024.

Ms Trevelyan is not the only former Tory MP from the county looking to make the move to local Government. Ex-Blyth Valley MP Ian Levy is also standing in the Newsham ward.

Mr Levy became the first ever Conservative MP for Blyth Valley when he won the seat in 2019. The seat was abolished in 2024, with Mr Levy contesting the Cramlington and Killingworth seat.

However, he finished third behind Labour’s Emma Foody and Reform UK’s Gordon Fletcher. Mr Levy will be contesting the seat with Deidre Campbell who previously held the seat up until 2021.

Mrs Campbell is the widow of Mr Levy’s predecessor, the long-serving Ronnie Campbell. A former miner and National Union of Mineworkers official, Mr Campbell died in 2024 at the age of 80, having served as Blyth Valley MP from 1987 until 2019.

The third candidate for the seat is Barry Elliott of Reform UK.

Former Labour council leader Grant Davey is also looking to make a return to the benches at County Hall. Currently serving on Blyth Town Council, Coun Davey led the Labour group on the county council for 11 years up until 2019, including a spell as leader of the council between 2013 and 2017.

Coun Davey, who did not stand in 2021, will contest the Bebside and Kitty Brewster ward, pitting him against Coun Wojciech Ploszaj, the council’s current cabinet member for corporate services, and Denise Nicholson of Reform UK.