Yahoo News North East mayoral election 2024: Candidates, big campaign issues, and powers explained
2024 is a big year for politics in the North East of England.
For the very first time, a regional mayor will be elected to represent around two million people living in Northumberland, Tyne and Wear, and County Durham. This marks the culmination of a long and tumultuous saga surrounding devolution to our region – and big things have been promised from what is a multi-billion deal with the Government.
The new mayor and their combined authority will radically alter the region’s political landscape, with major funding and decision-making powers being handed down from Westminster. As the election campaign ramps up, here is everything you need to know about the North East mayor election.
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When is the election?
The election is due to be held on May 2, 2024. This is the same day as local elections will be held in some areas of the UK, including Tyne and Wear, and for police and crime commissioners.
What area will the mayor cover?
The mayor will head a new North East Mayoral Combined Authority (NEMCA) covering Northumberland, Newcastle, North Tyneside, Gateshead, South Tyneside, Sunderland and County Durham – meaning they will represent a population of roughly two million people. This is the first time that a mayor will be elected to cover that whole region, after previous proposals for a devolution deal for the North East fell apart in 2016.
There is currently a North of Tyne mayor, Jamie Driscoll, who was elected in 2019 after Northumberland, Newcastle and North Tyneside broke away to form their own combined authority. His term will end in May and the North of Tyne Combined Authority will be abolished to make way for the new one.
The existing North East Combined Authority, which currently covers the four council areas south of the Tyne and has no mayor or devolution deal, will also be wound up.
Why is this election important?
The election of a regional mayor will mark the culmination of a protracted and tumultuous saga around devolution in the North East. Negotiations between local councils and the Government have been going on for 10 years – a decade in which one region-wide deal collapsed at the eleventh hour, three councils then broke away, before leaders reunited to strike a new agreement.
You may also remember back to 2004, when a referendum was held in the North East over whether or not to establish an elected regional assembly – an idea that was overwhelmingly rejected. This latest deal brings with it a raft of new decision-making powers that will be put into the hands of local leaders and major Government funding – with at least £6bn committed so far, plus more to come over what will be a 30-year arrangement.
Politicians hope that the agreement will give the North East far greater control over its own destiny, particularly on crucial issues like transport, and provide the region with a stronger voice on the national stage.
What powers will the mayor have?
More than £6bn worth of Government investment has already been confirmed through the devolution deal, including more than £2bn to put into improving the region’s transport infrastructure. Another key transport power that has been the subject of much discussion is the ability to bring bus services under public control through a franchising scheme, a version of which has been implemented in Greater Manchester by mayor Andy Burnham.
The devolution deal also includes:
An investment fund of £1.4bn, or £48m a year, to support economic growth and support regeneration;
An indicative budget of around £1.8bn, or £60m a year, for adult education and skills;
£69m of investment in housing and regeneration, unlocking sites to bring forward new housing and commercial development.
Local council leaders also recently signed a new "trailblazer" add-on to the devolution deal, following Greater Manchester and the West Midlands in securing deeper powers. That included money to deliver an £25m investment into the redevelopment of the Sunderland Riverside, enabling the building of the much-heralded Crown Works film and TV studios.
And what can’t they do?
The mayor and the new combined authority do not replace local councils and do not assume responsibility for their functions – things like social care, planning, bin collections, parks and libraries.
Unlike some parts of England, the North East’s devolution deal also does not combine the roles of mayor and police and crime commissioner. This is because the geographic area covered by the new combined authority will overlap two police areas – the Northumbria Police force and Durham Constabulary, which also covers Darlington and therefore is partly outside the NEMCA border.
It is also worth pointing out that the mayor will not be an all-powerful figure. They will sit at the head of an eight-person NEMCA cabinet but have the same voting rights as its others members, who will be the leaders of the seven councils.
Who are the candidates?
Jamie Driscoll - Independent
Mr Driscoll was first to announce his intention to stand for North East mayor some time ago. Having served for a year as a Labour councillor for Newcastle city centre, he was elected in 2019 as the first North of Tyne mayor – having beaten ex-council leader Nick Forbes to Labour’s nomination.
He had hoped to be Labour’s candidate in 2024 too, but was controversially blocked from standing in the party’s selection contest amid a bitter row surrounding an appearance he made on stage with film director Ken Loach. Mr Driscoll, who is a supporter of former Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn, then quit the party and announced he would fight the mayoral election as an independent – launching an attack on Sir Keir Starmer in the process.
His manifesto pledges include the creation of a ‘Total Transport Network’, including an expanded Tyne and Wear Metro and public control over buses, and creating full employment across the region.
Kim McGuinness - Labour
Labour’s pick to stand for mayor after the furore surrounding Mr Driscoll’s exclusion was Kim McGuinness, who is currently the Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner (PCC). Also a former city councillor in Newcastle, Ms McGuinness was first elected to the PCC post in 2019 following Vera Baird’s resignation and was re-elected in 2021.
Her main campaign promise has been a pledge to end child poverty in a region where deprivation rates are the highest in the country. She has also promised to take bus services back into public hands and build new railway infrastructure, as well as setting up a mayoral development corporation to drive green energy investment in the North East’s ports and rivers.
Guy Renner-Thompson - Conservative
A councillor in Northumberland and a member of the county council’s cabinet, Guy Renner-Thompson beat Sedgefield MP Paul Howell to the Tories’ nomination. He has been a councillor in Bamburgh, where he lives, since 2017 and studied at Newcastle University.
Mr Renner-Thompson courted controversy soon after being chosen to stand by Tory members, with a promise that he would abolish the Newcastle Clean Air Zone if elected mayor – something that local councils insist he would not have the power to do. His other policies include a promise not to put any new mayoral precept on North East residents’ council tax bills, a drive to improve school standards across the region, and support for the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland.
Andrew Gray - Green
A 55-year-old archivist at Durham University, Andrew Gray has been an active Green campaigner in Newcastle for some years. He was brought up in Northumberland and now lives in the Heaton area of the city, where he has been a regular on local election ballot papers.
He has said that his top priority as mayor would be retrofitting houses to make them warmer and cheaper to heat. Mr Gray’s manifesto is also expected to include pledges to improve public transport and put local communities in control of the mayor’s resources, rather than having any benefits “trickling down from big regional projects”.
Paul Donaghy - Reform UK
Washington South councillor Paul Donaghy was named as Reform UK's candidate for the mayoral election in January.
The Newcastle-born politician was elected to Sunderland City Council in 2021 as a Conservative, before defecting in January 2023.
Mr Donaghy has vowed to "put the people first, not party political point scoring or favouritism" and accused the region's main political parties of a "cycle of failure".
Aidan King - Liberal Democrat
Junior doctor Aidan King has been chosen to represent the Lib Dems at May's election. He is another former city councillor in Newcastle and works at the Royal Victoria Infirmary.
Though the mayor will not have powers over healthcare, he has said that supporting the NHS would be one of his top priorities – through measures such as offering bursaries to help healthcare assistants retrain as nurses.
Dr King's other policy pledges include building the UK's largest on-shore windfarm in the North East and a promise to deliver three new, small development plots in “every town and village” in the region to encourage housebuilding.
Who is the favourite?
The bookies have Ms Guinness as the odds-on favourite to win the election. With the North East being a traditionally Labour-dominated region and the party being well ahead in the national polls, it would be seen as a significant embarrassment if they were not able to claim victory here – especially after the furore surrounding their candidate selection last year.
But Mr Driscoll has confidently predicted that he can cause an upset as he goes up against his former party as an independent. His campaign argues that voters can behave differently in mayoral elections and are taking inspiration from the likes of Ken Livingstone, who successfully ran as independent to become mayor of London. It is also worth noting that Mr Driscoll's campaign has been heavily-resourced, having raised more than £150,000 in online donations.
It would be a major surprise if any of the other candidates managed to put themselves into contention for victory.
A week out from the election, bookmaker Ladbrokes was offering the following odds: Kim McGuinness (Labour) 1/4, Jamie Driscoll (Independent) 5/2, Aidan King (Liberal Democrat) 16/1, Guy Renner-Thompson (Conservative) 50/1, Andrew Gray (Green) 50/1, Paul Donaghy (Reform UK) 100/1.
One factor that is expected to work in Labour's favour is a change in the voting system for mayoral elections this year. They previously used the supplementary vote (SV) system, where people could vote for both a first and second choice and the top two candidates would go into a run-off if no one secured more than 50% of first preference votes.
But voters will pick just one candidate this time – the same first past the post method operated in Parliamentary and local elections.
Political insiders predict that will work in favour of Ms McGuinness, who had a nervous run-off experience in the 2019 Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner election when independent Georgina Hill challenged her.
What are the big issues?
How to overhaul the North East’s transport network has been the main source of debate during the campaign – with big questions over projects like the dualling of the A1 in Northumberland, the reopening of the Leamside railway line, extensions to the Tyne and Wear Metro, and the future of the Shields Ferry. And of particular note after the recent chaos caused by the Go North East bus strikes, whether to exercise the mayor’s power to take control over bus services out of the hands of private companies has been a key point of difference between the candidates.
The Labour, Green, and independent hopefuls have been very keen on a publicly-run bus network where the mayor will ultimately have control over timetables, routes, and fares. But the other 3 candidates have been less committed, with Mr Renner-Thompson in particular having opposed the idea and having sought to emphasise support for car drivers as his main transport priority.
How to combat a crisis in the supply and quality of housing in the North East has also been high on the agenda, as well as tackling climate change, and delivering thousands of jobs in renewable energy.
While the campaign has been a largely well-behaved and cordial affair, things have started to heat up as election day nears. Simmering tensions between Mr Driscoll and Ms McGuinness boiled over recently, with both attacking each other's record in their current jobs.
Another key issue for voters, especially in Durham and Northumberland, has been the question of whether the mayor will do enough for rural areas. A long-term fear among many sceptics of devolution in the North East has been a concern that the mayor could become too Newcastle-centric, so all the candidates have made pledges to ensure that the entire region can see the benefit of the devolution deal.
