WINNING the contest to host a £5m exhibition that will celebrate creative brilliance is a major coup for the North-East.

It is also a brilliantly cynical piece of PR spin by the Government which has been savaging arts spending through its cuts agenda.

Budgets for libraries, museums, community theatres, outreach programmes – as well as hundreds of jobs – were axed under George Osborne’s failed bid to manage the deficit. Mr Osborne may have been a dead loss when it came to balancing the country’s finances but he was pretty adept when it came to hacking back the spending pots of local authorities. Thanks to his austerity measures Newcastle City Council, for example, was forced to dramatically curb support for theatres and other cultural centres.

Amid the cuts the former Chancellor also spoke of his desire to build a Northern Powerhouse to rival the economic might of London, and showcase art, design and innovation via a Great Exhibition of the North.

We offer our warmest congratulations to the team who ensured that cuts-ravaged Newcastle and Gateshead beat shortlisted bidders Sheffield, Bradford and Blackpool to host the event in 2018, and benefit from a £15m legacy fund. We very much believe that if there are funds available to support regional development in any sphere – arts, transport, training or job creation – then we want to see as much of the cash as possible come to the North-East and North Yorkshire.

But we should not forget that our local councils have been hit hard, proportionately much harder than wealthier regions in the south, by a policy which continues to threaten the future of vital public services, culture and the arts.

After enduring budget cuts totalling hundreds of millions of pounds forgive us for not leaping with joy at the award of £5m to host a summer expo.