CAMPAIGNERS for an elected North-East assembly have won a new ally - Middlesbrough Labour Group.
The group will recommend that the local authority supports the move at tonight's meeting of Middlesbrough Council.
Councillors are of the opinion that an elected regional assembly would bring benefits to Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley.
Labour group leader Councillor Paul Thompson will move that the council supports a regional assembly "because of the need for a democratically accountable, clear and legitimate voice for the North-East of England".
A group meeting earlier this week agreed that an elected regional assembly would promote the identity of the region and help the North-East compete for investment, boosting the regional economy and bringing more jobs to the North-East including Middlesbrough and the Tees Valley.
Coun Thompson said: "A regional assembly already exists here in the North-East. It spends millions of pounds of public money every year. I believe that this body should be democratically accountable to the people of the North-East.
"What is more, important decisions about this region are being made every day by civil servants in Whitehall who, through no fault of their own, have little, if any, understanding of the North- East."
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