Voters will have their say this year

THERE'S one thing we know for sure as we head into 2024: the next year will definitely see a General Election where Labour will be hopeful of winning back all the seats it lost in the North in 2019 (and quite a few more besides).

- ROB PARSONS

The impending election will surely loom large over political debate in our region for much of the next 12 months. But there are a host of fascinating sub-plots across the North that will make headlines of their own and potentially play a part in deciding who gets the keys to Number 10.

We'll likely get an idea of how Northern voters feel about Rishi Sunak and Keir Starmer early in the year, when voters in Blackpool South go the polls for a byelection it will take something approaching a miracle for the Tories to win. Scott Benton won a 3,690-vote majority in the seaside resort in 2019 (turning it blue for the first time since 1997) but faces being forcibly ejected by voters after being caught by the Times offering to lobby Ministers on behalf of gambling investors.