Payne journeys through the Red Wall seats to discover how Labour lost them and Johnson won

Local pride in towns like Blyth is wounded at every turn by evidence of neglect, shoddiness and former greatness.

Jacob Young: Conservatives must ensure their climate change goals are affordable for the consumer

Finding cost-effective solutions is one of the biggest challenges we face as a country over the next decade.

Guy Opperman: In the North East, Labour’s Red Wall continues to crumble – here’s where we can win next

In my view, no Labour seat in County Durham is safe. The remaining seats all have majorities under 6,000.

Richard Holden: Knightmare on Starmer Street. Labour loses control of Durham – held by the party for a century.

In terms of parliamentary seats, CCHQ now needs to be targeting the North East of England much more broadly for the next election.

Richard Holden: The Stockton South Test – and four others for Starmer, as the run-in for next week’s elections gathers pace

Will it be: Keir On Course, So-So Starmer…or a Knightmare for the Labour Party in Hartlepool – and elsewhere?

Darren Grimes: The frustration, bafflement and despair that the lockdown is forcing on my family and friends in the North-East

It is much more than its main urban areas. So the restrictions feel really unfair to some – such as those I know in County Durham.

Iain Dale: If you’re coming to a hustings I’m chairing, draft an original question – and I’ll try to call you.

Plus: How I was booed in Birmingham. On to Nottingham…via Exeter. And: who would I vote for, if I had a vote?

Damian Flanagan: What drives the Conservatives’ underlying problems? For answers, ponder our exile from the cities of the north.

The Party cannot be one of the South and of the countryside if it is to engage with voters – and to win.

Neva Sadikoglu-Novaky and Jonathan Werran: Brexit gives the chance to have full fiscal devolution. Let’s take it.

Through tax competition, we could truly have a real Northern Powerhouse and give cities in the north a fairer chance against London and the south east.

Rupert Barnes: Let’s do more to celebrate our historic counties

Remember where we are; remember what has come down to us. Our unique heritage is there to be opened up.

In the elections for the “metropolitan boroughs” the Conservatives have little to lose – which is why the focus will be on Trafford

The second part of our series this week on May’s elections, moving on to the metropolitan areas that are electing in thirds.

Anna Round: If Osborne’s Northern Powerhouse is to work, it needs devolved education and skills – not just infrastructure

Nicky Morgan’s department is the untouched by devolution – yet it can make the biggest difference in creating the Northern Powerhouse,