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I've been a Newcastle City Councillor since May last year. I never intended to be a politician.

I won't be the kind of Mayor who spends his time shaking hands with dignitaries or posing for photo opportunities in a high-vis jacket. But you reach a point where you can't stand by, and you have to step up.

I'm an engineer by profession. We need practical solutions to fix broken systems.

Britain's economy is too focused on financial services and the City of London. We have a cabinet of millionaires who barely know where the North East is. The Northern Powerhouse ministers change faster than a baby's nappy.

Since the bankers crashed it in 2007, wages have stagnated. Thousands in our region are using foodbanks. People are living in tents. Kids whose parents work are in poverty.

Workers don't know what hours they'll get next week, or how much they'll earn.

We've got ability, strength and kindness in our communities - like the fantastic work done by foodbank volunteers and homeless charities. But they're swimming against the tide of austerity.

For serious change we need a new government. That's why I backed Jeremy Corbyn and his policy platform from the very start. We need to tell the truth: austerity doesn't work.

To fix our broken economy we need to keep our wealth in our region. We can start now.

I'll set up a People's Bank. It will have a full range of services: mortgages, current accounts, savings, and business banking. Its customers will own it - one member, one vote.

We'll have branches in community hubs and rural areas. It will lend only to people who live here and SMEs headquartered here. This keeps money recirculating in our local economy.

This is common sense. It stops our mortgage payments and credit card interest leaking out of the North East, passing through the City of London, and ending up in tax havens.

I'll use the Mayor's powers to end land-banking. I'll build genuinely affordable, eco-friendly homes. I'll build fair rent homes on a cooperative model. The people who live there will own them collectively.

This protects them from right-to-buy legislation and privatisation.

We can tackle energy price rip-offs with a local energy company. We'll invest the profits back into renewable energy instead of fat-cat bonuses.

We can change the way public money is spent. More contracts need to go local firms. All suppliers and contractors can be required to paying the Real Living Wage, on secure contracts.

It's a scandal that under 25s are paid less for the same job.

Preston council have trail-blazed this approach. They became the most improved city in the UK. Part-time wages rose by £38 a week compared to the national average. All because they recirculate money back into their local economy instead of it leaking out to tax havens.

I've managed huge projects and been a company director. I know how to make things work. These are radical but common sense solutions.

Newcastle City Council leader Nick Forbes is also running for the Labour nomination. You can read his pitch here.