Jamie Driscoll: North of Tyne mayor quits Labour party

North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll has resigned from Labour after being blocked by the party from running for another role in the North East.

He was reportedly barred from the shortlist of candidates for the role of North East mayor over an appearance with film director Ken Loach in March.

Mr Driscoll said people were fed up with being controlled by Westminster.

"Millions of people feel the parties in Westminster don't speak for them," he said in a statement.

"They want decisions made closer to home - and not by people who are controlled by party HQs in London."

The left-leaning mayor said he would continue in post as an independent and would stand as an independent in the inaugural North East mayor election next year.

'No other choice'

Mr Driscoll made his announcement moments after it was revealed Labour had selected Kim McGuinness as its candidate for North East mayor.

Ms McGuinness, 38, is the current Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner.

In a scathing resignation letter, Mr Driscoll told Sir Keir: "Given you have barred me from running as North East mayor, despite being incumbent mayor, I have no other choice.

"In 2020 you told me to my face that you would "inspire people to come together... disciplining people to be united is going nowhere". You've broken that promise."

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Mr Driscoll said it was with a "heavy heart and deep disappointment" he was leaving the party that he had been a member of since 1985.

He said Sir Keir had "U-turned on so many promises", including pledges to end university tuition fees and spend £28bn a year on tackling climate change.

He also accused the party leader of being "not interested in hope and change".

In a subsequent tweet, Mr Driscoll said he required about £150,000 to run for mayor as an independent and vowed he would stand if he could muster £25,000 via online crowdfunding - which he did inside two hours.

The new role covers Northumberland, Tyne and Wear and County Durham as part of a combined authority and follows a £1.4bn devolution deal which will give the holder powers over transport, housing and skills.

Jamie Driscoll began an online fundraiser to stand for the new role of North East mayor and raised £25,000 in two hours

In his letter, the mayor wrote: "You'd think the Labour leadership would shout about my integrity and success.

"But when push comes to shove, they only want candidates who'll do what they're told by party HQ. I have hundreds telling me they want an experienced, independent North East voice. 

"Independents have won mayoral elections many times.

"Most famously, after Labour stitched up Ken Livingstone to stop him running for London Mayor in 2000. He won by a landslide, 667,877 to Labour's 223,884."

Labour's announcement in June that Mr Driscoll had been excluded from the mayoral contest prompted a backlash.

A senior Labour source linked the decision to his sharing a stage with Loach, who was expelled from the party in a drive to eliminate antisemitism.

But figures on Labour's left blamed "factionalism" under Sir Keir's leadership.

Responding to Mr Driscoll's exit, a Labour spokesperson said: "With Keir Starmer as leader, the Labour party is a changed party, relentlessly focussed on delivering for working people, and we make no apologies that Labour candidates are held to the highest standard."

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said it was important for Labour to focus on getting "great candidates to stand for election"

Shadow Home Secretary Yvette Cooper said Labour had "clear high standards" for its candidates.

Speaking to the BBC's World at One, she said that she did not know all the details but that "what we're all working for, is to get a Labour government".

Asked whether there was any sadness that the Labour left feel squeezed out, she said: "We've always been a party that has people from all sorts of different views and perspectives, and that needs to continue, that's really important to who we are.

"It's also important that we focus together on making sure we've got great candidates to stand for election."

Momentum, a grassroots group set up by backers of Jeremy Corbyn, said Mr Driscoll's departure was a "major loss" for the party.

"Keir Starmer's anti-democratic purge has just cost Labour a popular and effective mayor," a statement said.

"By needlessly blocking Jamie Driscoll for running in the North East mayoralty he himself helped secure, Starmer's acolytes have divided the Labour Party, denied unions and members a fair say and alienated a sitting mayor who has been delivering for North Tyne on housing and green jobs.

"This is a mess entirely of Keir Starmer's making."

'Independently minded'

Mr Driscoll told the BBC the North East was known for being a Leave-voting area, not because voters were interested in the "intricacies" of the European Commission, but because they wanted "decisions made locally by someone who would put them before party HQ".

He said: "I've always been independently minded and I think that might be the reason I was blocked.

"We need more power, closer to communities in regions and out of Westminster. I've never been a fan of a mono-culture in politics.

"We need plurality, we need different voices but the whole point of political representation is that we are supposed to represent the people you stand for and in that case, the North East."

Shortly after Mr Driscoll quit, Northumberland county councillor Mary Murphy also left Labour.

She said she had been "inspired" by Mr Driscoll's decision and and wanted to show her support.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service, she said: "The thing that has kept me from resigning previously is I stood on a Labour ticket, and I don't take lightly that I'm walking away from that.

"But, if I can't speak out on the things that I think are important, or campaign on the things I think local people need, what is the point of me being there?

"I saw Jamie Driscoll's statement and I was inspired by it. That is the campaign I want to get behind."