Tees Valley: Meet the candidates in one of the biggest contests coming up in May’s local elections

One of the biggest contests coming up in May’s local elections is for the Tees Valley Mayor. It’s a post that’s only existed since 2017 – and has, so far, only been held by one person – the incumbent conservative, Ben Houchen.

He won by a big majority with 73 percent of the vote the last time he was up for re-election, but it’s likely to be a very different story this time round.