North dominates Cameron's first PMQs
The north featured prominently in David Cameron's first Prime Minister's Questions session.
, with tributes paid on all sides to the victims, but also later in a series of questions from the region.
, asking the PM about the balance between cutting the public sector in the North East and encouraging the private sector to grow.
You may remember Mr Cameron added fuel to Labour's fire during the election campaign by mentioning the North East and Northern Ireland as two places where the size of the public sector was "unsustainable".
But on this occasion, the PM said no region would be singled out.
Next up was Blyth Valley's Ronnie Campbell, asking when David Cameron would be selling the shares of the nationalised banks to "his friends in the city".
Actually, Mr Cameron responded, he would be looking to sell them to Mr Campbell's constituents.
After the veterans, it was then the turn of the new breed.
Houghton and Sunderland South's newly elected Labour MP .
The plant was promised a £20m government grant before the election but, Ms Phillipson asked, would the new coalition honour that?
Cue, some pretty predictable bigging up of Nissan, before Mr Cameron admitted he had no answer to the question, earning just about the biggest groan of PMQs.
A letter was promised, although .
. Finally came the new Gateshead MP Ian Mearns.
He wanted to know if the PM thought the possibility of 40% budget cuts at the regional development agency One North East would really be helpful for the local economy.
David Cameron again promised that the region could keep some form of regional agency if the councils agreed it was a good idea, but he believed there was plenty of waste to be cut out, especially as powers over transport and planning would return to local authorities.
Overall, the new Prime Minister answered confidently, even if he was short on detail at times. But I suspect he can expect many more questions from the north's MPs in the weeks and months to come.
I'm Richard Moss, the ³ÉÈË¿ìÊÖ's Political Editor for the North East and Cumbria. Welcome to my irreverent - but hopefully insightful - northern take on reporting politics for Look North and the Politics Show.
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