A MAYOR and an MP have teamed up to urge people to do more to talk up their town.

Hartlepool's elected mayor, Stuart Drummond, and Iain Wright MP, expressed their concern at a meeting of the Hartlepool Partnership, on Friday.

A report published last week by the Institute for Public Policy Research (IPPR) North showed that Hartlepool was falling behind other towns in areas such as life expectancy and teenage pregnancies, which prompted some negative reaction.

Mr Wright said: "It is not just the IPPR report that has triggered this call from Stuart Drummond and myself.

"There are simply too many people who are prepared to bad-mouth Hartlepool and drag the town down at every opportunity. This is a real concern for me - and if it continues Hartlepool is going to suffer. There is a pride and ambition among Hartlepool people that doesn't seem to be communicated.

"Potential investors now have a global market to choose from and, if Hartlepool is going to compete successfully, everyone in the town must pull together to promote its many strengths and advantages, rather than focus on what they don't like.

"I'm not saying we should be looking at Hartlepool through rose-tinted spectacles, but we do have so much to be proud of."

Mr Drummond said: "Hartlepool has come such a long way in a short time, but some people still have an obsession with constantly knocking the town.

"The pace of change and achievements in Hartlepool in the past three years is second to none, but while some recognise this, there are others who, for some strange reason, want to blatantly ignore it and put a negative slant on everything.

"If people in Hartlepool can't take pride in their own town, what chance have we got of instilling confidence in outsiders?"