Minister hails mima.

CULTURE Secretary Andy Burnham hailed mima as bringing "vibrancy and excitement" to the Tees Valley in a visit to the gallery.

Mr Burnham was given a guided tour of the modern art gallery in what is believed to be the first time a culture secretary has visited Middlesbrough. He said: "I'd like to pay tribute to Middlesbrough Council because it takes some real courage to go forward with a scheme like this.

"There will have been the cynics, the nay-sayers and the people who said 'why are you bothering with this?' but the point is, it all adds so much more to the town in terms of vibrancy and excitement that you can't achieve in any other way."

Mr Burnham is the first non-London MP to hold the Government role of secretary of state for culture, media and sport.

His trip to Teesside came about after Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Ashok Kumar invited him to visit mima. Mr Kumar said: "I am delighted that the secretary of state accepted my invitation to see this great success story. I just hope he comes back again.

"I have visited this gallery at least four times in the last year and there's always plenty to see. I think everyone involved with this project can be very proud."

Mr Burnham, Labour MP for Leigh, chatted to a group of Year 10 pupils from Macmillan Academy who were enjoying an art lesson with mima's education team.

Director of mima Godfrey Worsdale said: "To have attracted ministerial attention already is great news for us."

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IN MY VIEW: Culture Secretary Andy Burnham chats to Macmillan pupils at mima Picture by IAN McINTYRE