Dire ego corrected in northerner (7)
I believe the answer is:
geordie
'northerner' is the definition.
(term for a person from Tyneside in NE England)
'dire ego corrected' is the wordplay.
'corrected' is an anagram indicator.
'dire'+'ego'='direego'
'direego' with letters rearranged gives 'GEORDIE'.
'in' acts as a link.
(Other definitions for geordie that I've seen before include "Person from Newcastle-upon-Tyne?" , "Someone from Newcastle-upon-Tyne" , "Person from Tyneside" , "Newcastle person" , "Newcastle-upon-Tyne native" .)