Sir Stuart Bell has been Member of Parliament for Middlesbrough since 1983 and has held the seat in the subsequent four elections with substantial majorities.

At the 2001 Election, he was returned with an overall majority of 16,330 on a 48.43% turnout. The seat consists of much of Middlesbrough proper but also some wards to the west of the town, which are solidly middle-class. These wards, however, are swamped by the political sympathies of most of the urban population, making Middlesbrough in effect ‘a safe seat’.

Middlesbrough owes its existence to the extension in the nineteenth century of the Darlington-to-Stockton railway. More staithes were needed on the Tees, more port facilities to export the coal of southwest Durham, and on 2 August 1829 one Joseph Pease took a boat from London and sailed up the river to the site that became the town of Middlesbrough.

As he wrote in his diary: ‘its adaptation far exceeded my anticipations. I was fancying the coming of a day when the bare field we were then traversing would be covered with a busy multitude and numerous vessels crowding to these banks denoting a busy seaport. Time, however, must roll many successive tides ere the change is effected’.

In addition to the exportation of coal, there were outcrops of ironstone on local slopes that would make the good coking coal of southwest Durham particularly advantageous to the production of steel. The port was deepened; the iron trades flourished, immigrant Irish labour built up the mills. If Middlesbrough became famous for anything at all it was for the steel that built the Sydney Harbour Bridge. Soot and grime blackened its horizon and seared lungs, for Middlesbrough is a child of the Industrial Revolution, with chemicals and shipbuilding to complement the steel and export traffic. Foundries glowed in the night and the burning of excess gases from the chemical plants traced the sky with an angry orange and gold.

In the 1970s it was expected that the River Tees would become a new industrial basin that would challenge any within the Common Market, now the European Union. The steel mills were to be doubled and an extra blast furnace had been ordered; the chemical plants bestraddled the river at Wilton and Billingham; the dockyards turned out vessels at Haverton Hill and Smith’s Docks; and seventy or so foundries lit up the night sky all along the river bank. Middlesbrough had something else. It had the work ethic. The human resource would soon be augmented by a natural resource with the building of the Kielder Dam in the hills of Northumbria, with underground pipes burrowing beyond the Tyne and Wear dales to provide water for growing industry.

The chant of Middlesbrough football club supporters might be ‘Up the Boro’, but this chant turned to despair when, as the nation veered into the eighties, it also dipped into world recession: the plans for a second blast furnace at British Steel were scrapped, the work force reduced from 25,000 able bodies to 7,000 (it has now been reduced still further to 4,000); Imperial Chemical Industries diverted into world markets and reduced its work force by 3,000 (it has now entirely sold out to the Huntsman company from the United States); the dockyards at Haverton Hill and Smith’s Dock closed. The foundries disappeared.

The job losses amounted to 46,000 – enough to fill the former Ayresome Park football stadium twice over. Water from the Kielder Dam was never used, except for one occasion when it flushed out the river Tees.

Middlesbrough has benefited from a number of new initiatives launched by the new Labour government in 1997.

Health

In health care, there has been £123 million provided by the government, which has gone into the South Tees Acute NHS trust, with a further £233,000 for South Cleveland hospital. A further £139.4 million has gone into this hospital to create the James Cook University hospital. This has been part of a nationwide investment programme by the Labour government. Everyone has now access to health care services twenty-four hours a day through the NHS Direct help line that is nurse-led and can be reached on 0845 46 47. Around 18,500 over-sixties now have free eye tests and drugs to tackle diseases such as Alzheimer’s.

Employment

The body blow of high unemployment caused by the recession of the early eighties had lasting effects on the Boro. However, employment prospects have dramatically increased in recent years in large part because of the government’s investment in skills and training and specialized programmes. Some 1,345 young people have found work through the New Deal and youth unemployment has dropped by 68.1%; long-term unemployment has fallen by 60.5%. Some 3,200 hard-working families in the constituency receive Working Families Tax Credit; this is worth an average of £30 more than the old Family Credit. Many low-paid workers in Middlesbrough have also benefited from the national minimum wage introduced by the Labour government and 1.4 million people nationwide realized a 30% pay rise as a consequence. Nationwide unemployment is at its lowest level in over twenty years and stands at less than a million.

Education

An Education Action Zone has been established in Middlesbrough and the government has provided money to go directly into schools, resulting in computers and up-to-date modern education. Children in the constituency also have the benefit of the government’s National Childcare Strategy, which provides an investment of an extra £15 million for nursery schools and an additional £4 million nationwide into helping existing services. These figures do not include additional monies that shall flow into Middlesbrough schools as a consequence of the government’s Comprehensive Spending Plans announced in July 2002. There has also been a new national star-rating accreditation scheme for early years and child care providers to help parents compare like with like across all types of provision. Middlesbrough also was used by the government to introduce a pilot scheme of Educational maintenance allowances, which give 16-19 year olds up to £30 a week to stay at school or college. This is now being extended across the country.

On 2 July 2002, David Miliband MP, Minister of State for School Standards, announced a further 160 secondary schools which have been awarded Specialist School status. St David’s Roman Catholic Comprehensive School has been awarded such status. One feature of the programme is the continuing partnership between schools and the business community, with private sector sponsors taking a close interest in the future direction of the schools they support. Middlesbrough has also been chosen for a fifth round Sure Start programme. This programme covers Pallister Park, Berwick Hills, and Park End in a neighbouring constituency. Middlesbrough was one of the early pilot schemes for Sure Start and the local community formed a partnership which has been working extremely hard consulting local people and putting together a detailed plan of the services they need to ensure the children in these wards have the change of a good start in life. The government has agreed a grant of £1,897,299 over the next three years and the partnership can start to roll out its services to 874 children under four and their families living in the partnership area. By so doing, the partnership will contribute to the government’s aims of improving the health and well-being of families and young children and supporting parents to nurture and care for their children and develop their readiness to learn.

The government has also approved not one but two city academies for the Boro, one in a neighbouring constituency, and the second to be called the Unity City Academy Trust in East Middlesbrough that will replace Keldholme and Langbaurgh schools. The Academy in the neighbouring constituency – called the South Middlesbrough Academy – will be opening in September 2003 and the Unity City Academy will open in September 2002. Initially, the Academy will be established in the buildings of the two predecessor schools with the new building opening in 2004. The two new academies will offer wonderful opportunities to very many Middlesbrough children.

Communities

The government has sponsored and financed a New Deal for Communities, an investment programme of some £800 million for social regeneration throughout the United Kingdom. Middlesbrough has substantially benefited from this programme with a New Deal for Communities in West Middlesbrough. Some £50 million is at the disposal of the Community for redevelopment and the town has also had other grants – from English Heritage to the tune of £6,380,705, from the Sports Council £2,198,660 and other charitable grants totaling £11,229,612. Indeed the Prime Minister visited West Middlesbrough on 12 July 2002 and when addressing the Liaison Committee of the House of Commons on 16 July 2002 declared that having met representatives of the West Middlesbrough Community he realized that ‘they had taken charge of how the (new deal) money was being spent, what would make a difference to their estate’. They were a prime example of what people ‘are doing for themselves’.

Safety and Crime

The Labour-controlled Middlesbrough Council has funded fourteen more dedicated police officers through the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund, one for each of the Neighbourhood Renewal areas. Middlesbrough now employs trained community wardens to patrol estates to help improve the environment and tackle anti-social behaviour. Middlesbrough has an award-winning Alleygating initiative based on a strategy of working with residents to take back control of their communities. Alleygates are so successful that the scheme is being extended to other parts of Middlesbrough in response to overwhelming demand from residents. Over £400,000 extra has been set aside in the 2002 council budget to provide more alleygates. Middlesbrough is also the first council authority in the United Kingdom to work with the police on using government legislation to issue an anti-social behaviour order against a persistent kerb crawler.

Housing

Under the new Labour government, Middlesbrough has spent over £30 million in recent years on housing improvements, including £10 million on the award-winning St John’s Gate development. More high quality homes are planned for the Middlehaven development. The need for substantial additional investment in the housing stock has been recognized and the council is exploring the potential for new partnerships that will achieve this. New double-glazing has been provided in many homes and millions have been spent on improving energy efficiency in council homes, making Middlesbrough one of the best councils in the United Kingdom for home energy conservation.

The Environment

Middlesbrough has become a leading center for the promotion of environmental issues. The Audit Commission placed Middlesbrough at the top of its family comparator group of similar councils when looking at plans for creating a sustainable future. Middlesbrough has introduced a trial paper waste collection scheme to promote recycling. Firm action has been taken against illegal dumping, with more prosecutions in Middlesbrough than any other authority. Middlesbrough has provided funds for Nature’s World, an award-winning regional tourist attraction for promoting environmental issues, with over twenty-five acres of grounds. This will soon feature a futuristic Millennium Ecostructure and Hydroponicum. Middlesbrough has been awarded Environment City status and has been praised for its Environmental Sustainability Strategy.

Transport

Public transport has become more attractive in Middlesbrough with the renovation of Middlesbrough Bus Station and the installation of a new information system for travelers. Middlesbrough is piloting a lane rental scheme to reduce the disruption to traffic caused by road works. Middlesbrough has implemented traffic calming schemes and twenty miles per hour zones to reduce accidents. A report to assess and recommend improvements to the road network around the town center has been commissioned, with the particular objective of relieving bottlenecks around the A66. Middlesbrough has one of the best concessionary fares schemes in the United Kingdom. Its Dial-a-Ride service provides high-quality door-to-door transport for the frail elderly and disabled, employing specially trained staff. Disabled accessible taxis are now operating in Middlesbrough.

Social Care

Over twenty thousand people in Middlesbrough rely on social services. Middlesbrough is officially assessed as being one of the best providers of social care in the United Kingdom. In Middlesbrough we have an award-winning Welfare Rights service. There is no ‘bed blocking’ by Middlesbrough residents because the council funds care placements that free up valuable hospital beds for the National Health Service. Adoption and fostering services are second to none. New care facilities are being built for elderly people and new partnerships are delivering work, training and hosing for people with disabilities. Partnerships are also providing support for people suffering from mental illness and new options for children with disabilities.

Regeneration

The Middlesbrough Town Center Company has been set up to work with local businesses on improvements to the town center. The new Captain Cook Square retail development has attracted more retailers to Middlesbrough and greatly improved the shopping experience in the town center. Major preparatory work on the Middlehaven site now means that this development is proceeding to the stage where there is a real prospect of attracting more high quality jobs to the area through ventures like a new virtual reality center.

A Twenty-First Century City

Middlesbrough has attracted funding for major improvements to the Dorman Museum and Albert Park, with a new £11 million art gallery now planned for the town center. New high-quality play areas have opened in Albert Park, Brookfield and Ayresome Gardens. Two modern swimming pools at Berwick Hills and Coulby Newham (in the neighbouring constituency) have been built. A new leisure development with a multiplex cinema and leisure club has opened. Work to make the town center more attractive is well underway, with improvements to Corporation Road complementing the new development. Middlesbrough has organized attractions like the highly successful ‘Ice Magic’ event that have brought more visitors to the town. A new ‘cyber café’ has opened at the University of Teesside supported by the Neighbourhood Renewal Fund. These developments constitute record investment by Middlesbrough.

We now have in place the firm foundations on which the 21^st Century City of Middlesbrough will be built.