Ashok Kumar, MP for South Middlesbrough and East Cleveland, explains why he thinks Middlesbrough's first directly-elected mayor could provide a template for local politics in the future.

Love him or hate him, Ray Mallon has made local politics interesting. And, although by some he is viewed as a demagogue with a messianic complex, it was no surprise that he won the Middlesbrough mayoral election.

He won it by the way he projected himself to the public of the town; his promise to provide results and his previous battles with Cleveland Police. They very likely compared that with the complacency of the Labour-run council.

Ray Mallon is probably seen as a resilient character, who has remained vocally obstinate. And he draws on this in his political agenda, which is clearly set out to create the impression that he is a manager and not a politician.

With his Raising Hope and Reducing Fear programme, Mr Mallon claims he will cut crime by 15 per cent this year and ten per cent next year. This claim echoes of the target he set himself in 1996, when he was head of CID at Cleveland Police, to reduce crime by 20 per cent in 18 months. Of course, such claims are a reiteration of Mr Mallon's zero tolerance.

Mr Mallon has also looked to the media to pursue solutions to Teesside's long-term problems.

It's not just crime he's after, he also calls for a regeneration of the town's infrastructure, he also wants to have a regeneration of people and to help change Middlesbrough's town centre image and direction.

For example, Mr Mallon is proposing plans to invest in the town's Clairville athletics' stadium, as he is looking into the possibility of a local half-marathon. He is also looking at a refurbishment of the Town Hall for public use, the building of a new art gallery and the relocation of the town's central library.

So, in evaluating Mallon's first nine months as mayor, the observation I have made from talking to people in Middlesbrough is that the mayoral experiment has been a success.

By raising the public's expectations, by taking on extra responsibilities and by redefining the relationship between the public and local government, Ray Mallon has made encouraging progress by using radically unique measures.

Ray Mallon is a non-political mayor, but he is delivering the Labour Party's programme. So, Tony Blair should not look upon the local government initiative as a failure - it's working in Middlesbrough.