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She is the first person to hold the new office

The new North East mayor is set to take home a yearly salary of £92,000.

Kim McGuinness has been elected as the new political figurehead representing around two million people across Tyne and Wear, Northumberland, and Durham.

She emerged victorious with over 41% of the vote, as the results of the historic mayoral election were declared in Sunderland on Friday afternoon.

Dated: 03/05/2024Labour candidate Kim McGuinness celebrates after winning the North East Mayor election at Silksworth Centre in Sunderland this afternoon (FRI).See Mayoral Elections round-up

And papers published ahead of the inaugural meeting of the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) next week have revealed what the new mayor’s wage will be for the first time.

The NEMCA cabinet, made up of the mayor and the region’s seven council leaders, will be asked to sign off on an annual salary of £92,000.

That wage is substantially more than the £65,000 pay packet for the existing North of Tyne mayor, which an independent panel justified on the basis that the new role covers a population more than double the size and with greater powers.

Of the other metro mayors across England, only the wages of Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham, West Yorkshire’s Tracy Brabin, and the West Midlands’ Andy Street surpass the proposed figure for the North East mayor.

A NEMCA report states that the independent remuneration panel disregarded West Yorkshire and Greater Manchester in its suggestions, as those mayors also act as police and crime commissioners, leaving a range of between £65,000 to £100,035 among the country’s other devolved mayors.

It noted that the North of Tyne mayor’s salary was pitched at £65,000 in 2019 owing to its “relatively limited powers”.

The report adds: “The panel took into account that some significant aspects of the range of the responsibilities have changed since this decision, not least of which are that the authority’s population is more than double that of the previous combined authority and a transport plan for the whole of the authority area now falls within mayor’s responsibilities.

“On this basis, the panel debated a narrow range of figures. The recommendation, based on a majority view, recommends that an allowance of £92,000 be paid to the North East mayor.

“The panel is very aware that the allowance will be paid out of public funds. The allowance recommended above is the second lowest cost per member of population out of the mayoral allowances for non-PCC combined authorities.”

How other current mayoral salaries compare:

Greater Manchester – £110,000
West Yorkshire – £105,000
West Midlands – -£100,035
West of England – £87,000
Cambridgeshire and Peterborough – £86,121
Liverpool City Region – £84,298
South Yorkshire – £79,000
North of Tyne – £65,000
Tees Valley – £65,000

North East mayor Kim McGuinness set to earn £92,000 salary after election victory