Ex-mayor Jamie Driscoll to launch new political organisation to create ‘progressive alliance’

Ex-mayor Jamie Driscoll is launching a new movement aimed at creating a “progressive alliance” of political candidates.

The former North of Tyne mayor, who quit the Labour Party last year and then finished second as an independent in May’s North East mayoral election, has announced the formation of Majority. Mr Driscoll told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that the organisation will not be a political party, but was being set up with the intention of “making sure we have competent candidates across all progressive political parties”.

He said that the group, initially focused on the North East, will provide training and campaign support for candidates standing either for political parties or as independents who are willing to commit to manifestos backed by Majority members. Mr Driscoll was also reported last week to have been part of a meeting, addressed by Jeremy Corbyn, regarding the creation of a new, leftwing political party.

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The former Newcastle councillor was elected as Labour’s mayor for the North of Tyne in 2019, having beaten ex-council leader Nick Forbes to be chosen as the party’s candidate. He was at the centre of a political storm last year when he was excluded from Labour’s selection process to find a candidate for the larger North East mayoralty, amid a dispute surrounding an appearance he made on stage at the Live Theatre with film director Ken Loach, and subsequently renounced his party membership.

Speaking to the LDRS ahead of Labour’s annual conference in Liverpool, Mr Driscoll took aim at Labour over the rows surrounding Sir Keir Starmer’s donations and the Government’s withdrawal of the winter fuel allowance for millions of pensioners. He said: “We know politics is broken. We have a Prime Minister who tells us he needs to have Arsenal tickets in a corporate box. They are insulting us.

“[Majority] is a project about democratic renewal and making sure we have competent candidates across all progressive political parties. To make sure that there is transparency and that our policies are based on evidence, instead of being performative.

“The winter fuel allowance is being stripped away, something that pensioners have paid for with their National Insurance contributions, all so Rachel Reeves can send a signal that she is an ‘iron Chancellor’. I think politics should work in the interests of the people who do the work in Britain.

“We are building a movement where people will be able to come along and talk about politics, learn some insights about how the wheels of Government work, and make their own decisions about what they would like to see in a manifesto in their area. That might be different from Northumberland to Newcastle, for example. We will then support candidates from different parties, and independents, who want to support that manifesto. It is about having evidence-based policies and high standards in public life.”

Majority, which is due to hold its first meeting in Newcastle this Saturday, is described as an “organisation to train and support campaigners and candidates who want to stand as part of a progressive alliance”.