Ben Houchen defends being made peer by Boris Johnson

The Tees Valley mayor Ben Houchen has defended being rewarded with a peerage in Boris Johnson's resignation honours list.

Labour MP Chi Onwurah said the Conservative mayor's Teesworks project had been embroiled in controversy.

She also suggested the former PM's list should be scrapped after being found to have misled parliament over lockdown parties.

Mr Houchen said it gave an "incredible opportunity" to "deliver even more".

The mayor, who was elected in 2017 and re-elected in 2021, was among seven people named by the former Prime Minister to become peers.

However, Mr Houchen has faced accusations of wrongdoing in recent months over the transfer of public assets to private developers at the UK's largest industrial zone.

Speaking on the BBC Politics North programme, Newcastle Central MP Ms Onwurah questioned whether he should be awarded, while an inquiry is pending.

She said: "Ben Houchen's premier project is the subject of three different inquiries, and a lot of controversy.

"We are calling, many are calling, for an inquiry into the accountability, and yet somebody (Boris Johnson) who has been found guilty of misleading Parliament, is then able to give him the highest honour in the land."

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Ms Onwurah also said Mr Johnson had been rewarded by approving his resignation list, despite concerns over his credibility.

She said: "He (Mr Houchen) has been ennobled by someone who has been found to have broken the law and then lied about it. He certainly supported Boris Johnson throughout his Prime Ministership."

The Electoral Reform Society campaign group said Mr Johnson's resignation list "demonstrates just how discredited and partisan the honours system has become".

But Mieka Smiles, Conservative councillor for Nunthorpe, near Middlesbrough, said resignation honours were controversial and would "always get people debating and disagreeing".

She said Mr Houchen and Simon Clarke, a Conservative MP for Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland, who was knighted, had put in "hard work".

"People will disagree with me, but I do think that both of them deserve recognition for their roles in putting Teesside on the map," she said.

She added that she believed the Teesworks inquiry had been ordered to "clear the air", which she believed "will happen".

After being made a peer, Mr Houchen told the BBC that he will be uniquely placed and have powers that no other mayor had.

He said he intended to "fight to deliver" and continue providing well-paid jobs and energy security for the whole country from Teesworks.

He said: "Now I am being given the opportunity to sit amongst our law makers to talk up Teesside, and make sure we always get our fair slice of the cake.

"Today is recognition of Teesside, Darlington, and Hartlepool and shows that we matter on the national stage."

For more on this story watch Politics North on BBC1 on Sunday at 10:00 BST and later on the iPlayer.

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