Andy Preston – the Independent Middlesbrough mayor demanding a new style of Covid leadership

“As things stand we defy the government and do not accept these measures.” Andy Preston –school leaver at 15, former hedge-fund manager and Labour supporter, and now mayor of Middlesbrough – broadcast these words on Facebook after news hit of another lockdown in his town. The unorthodox politician’s rejection of central authority is revealing the complex tensions between local and central governance.

Preston, 54, has served as an Independent mayor of Middlesbrough since May of last year. Well-known in the borough for his commitment to supporting local business and philanthropy, one may well be forgiven for pinning Preston blue rather than red.

Indeed, his decision to run as an Independent candidate for the position may well reflect his unorthodox political views. A fan of the European Union, Preston campaigned as part of the Britain Stronger in Europe coalition in 2016. Yet he also believes in local governance. “Having local powers and local accountability is helping to change the mindset of local politicians and local people”, he told NE Times in 2018, impressed by the recent devolution of authority in the Tees Valley area.

Having left school with no qualifications, Preston’s personal identity may also confuse partisans. He made his name first in the City as a hedge-fund manager, before moving into politics back in his hometown, using his capital-management skills to raise money for homelessness and poverty initiatives. Before his election to the mayoralty, Preston expressed his support for the Conservative mayor of Tees Valley, Ben Houchen, whose job-creation initiatives “trancend[ed] party politics”. Yet he’s insisted that his roots are in the traditional Labour of the industrial north.

Now, the mayor finds himself on the same side as those “Red Wall” Tories demanding less lockdown, rather than more. It puts him at odds with many of his compatriots in nearby municipalities, such as Liverpool mayor Joe Anderson, who has called for a full “circuit-breaker” lockdown in his borough.

This week Preston joined Hartlepool’s council leader Shane Moore in condemning the hasty communication of a new lockdown in his region which, from tomorrow, will impact around 175,000 people.

And the Middlesbrough mayor has been eager than most to condemn the decision, arguing on Facebook that it has been based on “factual inaccuracies” and will “damage mental health and jobs” in the borough. While criticised by both local and national media for eroding the government’s public authority, his is a view to which many constituency MPs and council leaders – facing the wrath of their local electors – are becoming increasingly sympathetic.

It is an impotent wrath, of course, because at the present time local authorities have little say over when and what the government decides. As the recent comments of leaders in Newcastle, Hartepool and Liverpool demonstrate, Preston is vocalising a sense of disenfranchisement among local leaders. “A central government of any colour listens to voters, and the elected mayors can influence and outline what voters want”, he told TalkRadio. “We were pro-active and put forward our own suggestion based on data and our public health professionals’ understanding of what is actually happening here”, he said in a bulletin for Middlesbrough Council yesterday. “The government has ignored us.”

One senses in that note a silent postscript – “again”. In the early months of the pandemic Middlesbrough had the highest death rate from Covid-19 outside of London. Then, Preston said he wanted public parks closed when the government wanted them kept open.

Now, Preston’s rejection of a new lockdown is based on a similar pragmatism which demonstrates that the debate on how to deal with the virus cuts across partisan identities. In his interview with TalkRadio Preston revealed something of the dilemma facing local authority leaders across the UK concerned for both the economy and social welfare:

“We’re very much in the red zone – we’re actually identified as the most Covid-vulnerable place [in the UK], because of poor health and economic deprivation – so we need to stop this virus. But we also have things like high suicide rates so, you know, six months of dark nights ahead saying you can’t go out… for a safe drink, to me that’s wrong. What we need to do is strike the right balance.”

Other local leaders may well have different solutions. Knowsley, a Labour-controlled borough with the highest infection rate in the UK, is also extremely poor like Middlesbrough, and its council leader has recently called for a full lockdown to deal with the problem.

But Preston’s outspoken rejection of centralised micromanagement may reflects a wind of change which national leaders are also beginning to recognise. Labour leader Keir Starmer’s call for “shared decision-making” between central and local government in an interview with the Huffington Post’s Paul Waugh yesterday was timed well with the assault from 55 MPs, mainly “Red Wall” Tories, who earlier this week backed a Commons amendment demanding greater parliamentary oversight of the government’s strategy.

A bipartisan assault on central micromanagement is emerging. And as local leaders like Preston become bolder in their opposition, a new phase of Covid governance may be required – one centred on the traditional push-and-shove between centre and locality. Indeed, a series of negotiations between the Health Secretary and Tory MPs in the Teesside area purportedly ensured that the recent lockdown was limited to the Middlesbrough and Hartlepool areas. That is also a good example of how partisan identities can interweave across national and local governments, challenging traditional alliances.

Preston, with his unusual combination of philanthropic and entrepreneurial politics, is perhaps the ideal champion for a new style of Covid leadership. As the debate between “lockdown” and “liberation” becomes increasingly partisan and stale, his is a refreshing reminder that there is more than one political axis to complex policy problems.