From “Abolish It” to Applauding It: The Curious Case of Jonathan Brash and the Development Corporation

Principles for Sale? Labour MP Jonathan Brash, Regeneration, and a Convenient Change of Tune now his wife sits on the Tees Valley Combined Authority board

You Can’t Condemn It and Claim Credit for It: Jonathan Brash’s Development Corporation Dilemma Exposed..

18th Jan 2026

For months, Hartlepool Labour MP Jonathan Brash has positioned himself as an outspoken opponent of the Hartlepool Development Corporation, repeatedly telling local residents that it represents a loss of local democratic control, a hollowing-out of planning powers, and the outsourcing of decision-making to private interests far removed from Hartlepool.

Yet this week, those same residents were presented with a very different image.

Photographs circulated by the Tees Valley Combined Authority now proudly show Brash smiling alongside representatives of the very Development Corporation he's spent months criticising—celebrating plans for a new veterans’ support centre at the former Galleries Coffee Shop at Middleton Grange Shopping Centre. The project is being facilitated through the Hartlepool Development Corporation’s control of the site, with the contradiction from the Labour MP enough to make any hard core Labour supporter hang their heads in shame.

From “Abolish the Corporation” to Posing for the Camera

Despite Mr Brash being outspoken against the TVCA, he seemed perfectly willing to engage with the TVCA when a photo opportunity arose

As recently as July and November 2025, Brash used his platform to argue that Hartlepool had effectively lost control of large parts of its town centre to the Hartlepool Development Corporation, an offshoot of the Tees Valley Combined Authority. In a series of social media posts, Brash claimed that planning authority had effectively been “grabbed” and handed to a private firm 150 miles away, accusing the Development Corporation of being established under the mayoralty of Ben Houchen—& operating without local accountability.

He went further, directly linking the Corporation to the rise in HMOs, accusing it of rubber-stamping applications and overriding the wishes of local residents. His message was unambiguous: planning decisions should be made in Hartlepool, by people elected in Hartlepool, not by development bodies imposed from above.

Regeneration Is Acceptable—When It’s Good PR for Mr Brash

Keeping it in the family: Mr Brash had previously stated that the combined authority "Grabbed Control" of planning authority in Hartlepool, but now his wife sits on the same board now has an entirely different opinion

The veterans’ centre announcement tells an awkward story. According to the Combined Authority’s own statement, the Hartlepool Development Corporation is not a passive bystander but an active enabler, using its control of Middleton Grange to “deliver vital regeneration” and new facilities.

This is precisely the kind of intervention Mr.Brash previously described as illegitimate.

Yet rather than refusing to endorse the project on principle—or at the very least acknowledging the contradiction—Brash has chosen to embrace the opportunity for a carefully staged photo-opportunity, especially on the backdrop of Mr Brash previously just months ago being responsible for seeing an Armed Forces Veteran prosecuted for something they said to Mr Brash on social media.

The message to residents living in Hartlepool appears to be this: when the Development Corporation does something popular, it is worth applauding; when it makes controversial planning decisions, it is an undemocratic imposition that must be scrapped.

You Can't Oppose the Vehicle While Taking Credit for the Journey Mr Brash

No serious observer disputes the value of veteran support services. That's simply not the issue. The issue here is credibility, which Mr Brash is lacking in the bucketful.

If the Hartlepool Development Corporation is, as Brash claims, an unaccountable body that's stripped local people of their voice, then its involvement in regeneration should be opposed consistently—not quietly accepted when it produces favourable headlines for the towns Labour MP.

Mr Brash's Wife Pamela Hargreaves / Brash who just months ago become the leader of Hartlepool Borough Council also sits on the TVCA board..

Conversely, if the Corporation is capable of delivering “vital regeneration” and “great new facilities,” then residents are entitled to ask why Brash has spent months campaigning for its abolition while benefiting from its outputs. Such as his wife Ms Hargreaves Brash sitting on the Tees Valley Combined Authority Board.

Brash cannot therefore argue that a body is fundamentally illegitimate one week and then stand shoulder-to-shoulder with it the next when the cameras are rolling.

Hartlepool's literally seen enough of all of Brash's performative politics. Residents are being left dealing with the real consequences of planning decisions, housing pressures, and regeneration schemes that all too often promise more than they deliver. What they deserve is honesty.

Brash & Wife seem to be rather comfortable singing the TVCA's praises now it aligns with something they can grab a photo opportunity for ...

If Jonathan Brash believes the Development Corporation should be abolished, he should have the courage to say so even when it funds projects that poll well and provide him with his much needed photo opportunities for him & his wife. If he accepts that the TVCA has a legitimate role, he should stop pretending that all of Hartlepool’s planning problems stem from its existence.

What Hartlepool doesn't need is an MP who condemns a system in opposition, then quietly poses with it when it becomes electorally useful.

Principles matter—especially when you're supposed to be “standing up for Hartlepool.”

When, in reality, Mr & Mrs Brash are standing up for themselves..

And no one else !