Great to have a look around the Northumbria University campus with Professor Andy Long. Their state-of-the-art facilities get better and better each time I go there. It really is incredible.
I want to work closely with Northumbria, and the 4 other universities in our area, to see them reach out more to #NorthWestDurham.
As well as getting more local kids going, I want us to feel the benefits of their world-leading research, development and investment.
Both of my younger brothers went to Northumbria and when you link it together with Durham and Newcastle Universities, they do more leading research between them than ANYWHERE outside London. We need to make the most of that for our region in terms of good high quality jobs off the back of that research.