There is a change coming to the Mayoralty in the North East.

The post of North of Tyne Mayor, currently held by Jamie Driscoll, is being abolished.

In its place is a new vacancy for Mayor for the North East.  The area covered will basically be Northumberland, Tyne & Wear and County Durham, excluding Darlington which comes under the remit of the Tees Valley Mayor.

Jamie has not been selected as the Labour candidate and will stand as an independent.  The Labour candidate will be Kim McGuinness.