Northumberland Labour is praising the work of many county and town councillors who worked tirelessly on the Towns Fund and Energising Blyth Programme.

Leader Scott Dickinson said: “I feel for those councillors who put in a massive amount of time and effort to get this project off the ground.

“When the Tories got in the project was basically kicked into the long grass because the Tories thought the council under Labour had spent too much time and money on towns such as Blyth and Ashington.

“Now, because the Prime Minister wants to curry favour with the town’s Tory MP and his new voters, all that is forgotten and, somehow, the magic money tree has been shaken to give Blyth what it so badly needs and deserves. It’s sickening.

“Since 2010 the Tory/Liberal Democrat government and subsequently the Tory government decimated council budgets. Nick Clegg as deputy leader in the Lib/Con government made no secret of the way they were going to make life even more miserable for the people in our county. That’s a legacy no one should be proud of. It’s shameful.

“Now, because they have pulled off the stunt of taking resources away for the last 10 years and persuading people it was Labour’s fault to get their votes, they’re riding the wave of putting some of the badly-needed resources that we worked so hard for back in the county and the town. Honestly, you couldn’t make it up,