What government has been doing, we've got major programmes now, of billions of pounds, which are directed by central government into these areas of deprivation.

Why can't we, with a more intelligent policy, actually have houses that are affordable, built at higher densities than they are at the moment and built on brownfield sites.

You go down some street - no doubt it's there, and we have to do something about it, and our programmes are designed to do that - but if that's a picture of Newcastle, it's not the one I recognise and I bet none in the North East do either.

I'm going to introduce you to a revolutionary thought - you can go slower and get there quicker. And that's to do with flow. As soon as you made it two lanes and brought in the 70 (mph) and 50 (mph), you got there quicker. It meant the flow of the traffic was better, there were less accidents, less deaths, I think that's an important factor.

I have only been seeking to get them to the negotiating table and, thank God, that's where they are.

In the north east, there, they have had quite a bit of government offices moving in. It's not a new policy.

It's moving in the right direction. It was in decline under the previous administration.

Refurbishing I've done in the first three years and I'm still giving housing money, of course, to the north.

She's not forgiven me, but we have a wonderful life from our family and that's the nature and quality of that woman that she can say that.

That's what I think regions are about, making central government more accountable and fairer.

The choice is not normally between the north and south. It might be between Britain and Europe.

There is progress taking place, growth is better. We're only talking about two years there.

We've given more resources. On housing, we are now establishing a regional housing pot.

All I could feel was this warm liquid running down my neck. You automatically think it's blood, it's all in split seconds, so I decided to say I didn't agree with him.

Down in the south, it's how we find the brownfield sites without taking too much land take to meet the tremendous demand for housing, and that's what I've done.

From 1997 when we came in, you guys and the public bought seven million more cars. You didn't get rid of the second car, did you? So what is happening is the growth of cars on the motorway.

I see this fella built like a barn door... and there's all these fox hunters, who didn't like me, screaming and shouting and as I walked past him I looked at him and he hit me with something.

I was the one that brought it in, but not only for the north-east, for every area so we can develop all the regional economies, lift up the national productivity, get greater wealth and share it more evenly.

I've gone through that with my mother and father and here I was in a similar situation. I've wronged her and I've wronged the family. Because when these things happen, it doesn't just happen to you, it happens to the people around you and the family.

If you look at Newcastle or Gateshead, even over twenty years, even with the previous administration, it has moved quite remarkably in transforming itself.