The National Audit Office's review of the way government selected towns invited to develop town deals in 2019 makes interesting reading. Where ministers had discretion to choose, the three they selected in the North East were all in top Tory target seats: https://www.nao.org.uk/report/review-of-the-town-deals-selection-process/

Ministers chose Bishop Auckland, Darlington and Thornaby (in Labour marginal Stockton South). In the government assessment of which towns needed most help, all had a lower score than South Shields and Stockton, both in safer Labour seats. Two had a lower score than Gateshead.

Other North East towns benefited as advisers said the 40 highest scoring towns should automatically qualify. Redcar, Blyth, Middlesbrough and Hartlepool benefited from that as they were all in the top 40, but the other 61 towns were selected by ministers from 500+ applicants.

Towns in parts of the country with significantly lower scores than some in the North East were picked for deals. Overall 7 towns were selected in the North East - lower than the original recommended target that 11 towns in the region should benefit.

Ironically, some of the other North East towns that missed out in the process are now in seats the Conservatives won in December 2019 - Consett and Crook in North West Durham, and Newton Aycliffe in Sedgefield.

Cumbrian towns in Tory targets did well in process too. Among those picked to be eligible for town deals were Barrow and Workington, plus Cleator Moor and Millom in Copeland. Carlisle (Tory held marginal) was also selected. Egremont (Copeland), Maryport (Workington) did miss out.

The Labour chair of the Public Accounts Committee @Meg_HillierMP says: “Ministers relied on flimsy, cherry-picked evidence to choose the lucky towns. Those that lost out have not yet had the chance to make their case." She says affluent towns qualified while others were ruled out

But ministers say the report shows there they had a "robust process to identify towns for Town Deals."
“There were many factors to consider in the selection...inevitably some will feel disappointed, but we are confident the process we took was comprehensive, robust and fair."

Few will dispute that Bishop Auckland, Darlington and Thornaby, and those in Cumbria need help, but striking how well towns in marginal target seats did compared to others which are also struggling. Gateshead's Labour MP @IanMearnsMP certainly crying foul: https://www.chroniclelive.co.uk/news/north-east-news/town-deals-government-general-election-18633288