A POLITICAL party campaigning for regional devolution has launched its latest manifesto.

The North East Party would like a referendum to create a 51 member Regional Government, elected by proportional representation.

The new body would take powers from Westminster so that decisions regarding education, health and social care, economic development, housing, transport, planning and energy were all made locally.

The party’s leader, Mary Cartwright, who is also Mayor of Peterlee, in County Durham, said: “It is about improving the state of the area’s that have been left to go to wrack and ruin.

“It is about how it looks and how it could be. People are not happy with the way things are being run currently.”

The party, which was founded in 2014, has vowed to abolish council tax, replacing it with a Land Value Tax and believes it could generate an extra £1.5 billion for the region.

The manifesto states the intention to replace all 12 current local authorities and NHS boards with a network of directly elected Community Councils equipped with Select Committee powers to hold local public officials to account.

The party, which supported the principal of a referendum on EU membership ahead of the General Election in 2015, is seeking a the implementation of Brexit ‘in the best interests of the North-East’.

The manifesto said the party sees ‘no need’ for fracking and announces its intention to revive the North-East’s coal industry.

The creation of a North East Transport Authority will introduce an integrated public transport system using ‘smart card’ technology that will be free for people under 25 in work, training or education.

On the roads, the party’s priorities include dualling the A1, A69 and A66 as well as building a new Tees Road Crossing east of Middlesbrough.

The manifesto was launched on Tuesday morning at The Blue House pub in Hendon Sunderland, and coincided with the launch of a campaign by 40-year-old Kristian Brown.

He is hoping to be the first party member to be elected to Sunderland City Council at the local elections in May.

The party currently has three seats on Durham County Council and is control of Peterlee Town Council.

Mr Brown, who is currently studying psychology at Sunderland University, said: “I want the North-East run by people in the North-East.”