Watch: Election 2024 - it's the Mackems vs the Geordies

Not as far as Sunderland and Newcastle’s local authorities are concerned, that is.

Many of us will remember that it became a tradition for a Sunderland constituency to declare a result before anyone else in the country on election nights.

But in recent years, that hasn’t been the case.

And when the streak was broken, it was by neighbouring city Newcastle.

The Sunderland Echo’s Tony Gillan recounts the facts regarding this phenomenon.

And then we head to the neutral ... ? ... ground of South Tyneside, where our host and adjudicator Stephen Sullivan oversees a Mackem v Geordie challenge.

Two ballot boxes - but there can be only one winner.