Business as usual in politics?

The more things change, the more they stay the same!

That could be one expression to sum up a momentous 48 hours in British politics.

Theresa May’s gallop to a majority in Parliament was brought a shuddering halt by an inspired campaign by Jeremy Corbyn.

Labour had a field day at the polls and the ballot box to whittle the Conservative majority down to nothing.

A startling result given May called the snap election in a bid to increase her majority and present a ‘strong and stable’ (please don’t let us hear that empty mantra ever again) front at the Brexit negotiating table. But her plan backfired spectacularly.

Conservatives lost seats, Labour gained, UKIP vanished and the result was a barely believable hung Parliament!

Sunderland even lost its General Election record of being the first to declare its results, but losing out to Newcastle was a mere sideshow to the shock national picture.

And yet, amid all the hullabaloo, it really was business as usual on the home front as all three Labour MPs were returned to their respective seats.

As we say, the more things change, the more they stay the same.

There were calls for May’s head, but she has toughed it out and remains Prime Minister.

So a momentous night in politics has resulted in, well, little change at all.

Brexit is still in turmoil (was it ever anything else?), the Tories are still in power, Theresa May remains Prime Minister, and Labour won all three seats in our Wearside community but failed to oust the Conservatives on the national stage.

Makes you wonder what all the fuss was about.