Déjà vu, anyone? As local election day approaches in Newcastle, questions once again hang over the leadership of the city’s ruling Labour Party.
Having been the challenger for the past two years and successfully claimed power in 2022, Newcastle City Council leader Nick Kemp now finds himself as the challenged. News was confirmed on Thursday that Ged Bell, a long-time ally of former Tyneside Labour supremo Nick Forbes, has triggered a leadership contest in what is the latest episode of the party’s internal drama.
The Labour conflict adds a layer of intrigue to polling day on May 4. The party has been in power in Newcastle since 2011 and its position as the dominant presence within the council chamber will almost certainly be unchanged come next weekend. But as opponents eye up the prospect of a few scalps, the pressure will be on Coun Kemp in what is the first test of his administration at the ballot box.
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The Byker councillor, who is up for re-election himself in his own ward, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service that his first 12 months in power had involved “a lot of internal resetting” at the council that he now wants to turn into tangible results for residents. He said his council’s priorities remain tackling poverty, the cost of living crisis and the net zero agenda.
Coun Kemp added that plans for the next year include delivering on the redesign of Grey Street, boosting recycling rates across the city, improving the reliability of bus services and creating “local jobs for local people” through a recently-announced new economic strategy. He said: “Creating the first economic strategy for the city is very much foundational for us and something to be proud of, but now it is about the plans that follow it. This year is about delivering plans and getting really meaningful results for the people of Newcastle.”
Asked about the challenge to his leadership, Coun Kemp said he would “question the reasonableness” of such a contest after just 12 months of his administration.
The city’s Liberal Democrat opposition will be expecting to make a gain in North Jesmond – a swing ward with two seats up for grabs this year and a place where Labour has faced something of a public backlash over the recent Low Traffic Neighbourhood, which has been a source of major controversy. Opposition leader Colin Ferguson claimed that he had seen “very little change” under Labour’s new leadership over the past 12 months.
The Lib Dems last ran the council from 2004 to 2011 and, having averted the near obliteration that the party suffered in other parts of the country, Coun Ferguson hopes they could do so again in the not-too-distant future – promising to “empower communities to make decisions for and about themselves” and put a focus on “getting the basics right”.
He said: “If you looked at the national standing of the Labour Party you would think they are safe as houses here. But they have been in power for over a decade in Newcastle – infrastructure is crumbling, people aren’t happy about what they are seeing in their neighbourhood.” Coun Ferguson added: “I am not interested in highfalutin strategies, what people want from the council is the basics – roads and pavements getting fixed, crime and anti-social behaviour being dealt with.”
Rival parties will also be targeting West Fenham again – a seat Labour held onto last year amid heavy competition that saw the Lib Dems, Tories and Greens all fighting hard and ultimately splitting the non-Labour vote.
It is more than three decades since a Conservative was last elected in Newcastle. Again, the blue party’s hopes of bringing that barren run to an end may be pinned on the vocal Doc Anand in Gosforth. The former GP has made himself a loud presence in the Lib Dem-held ward, particularly in his campaign for the removal of Gosforth High Street’s much-discussed bollards.
He said: “This year stands out because since the bollards were removed more and more people are saying they will come out and back me. I think it feels different because people are telling me that there is a noticeable lack of action across the board on local priorities. I think people are ready to embrace a change and get something who is going to deliver a fresh start for Gosforth.”
While the Tories have long struggled at the ballot box in Newcastle, independents have found the outer west of the city to be fertile ground. The Newcastle Independents party defends one of its seats for the first time in the Callerton and Throckley ward, though incumbent Ian Donaldson is stepping down, while hoping for success in Lemington as well as Denton and Westerhope.
Leader Jason Smith said locals were fed up with a lack of public transport and healthcare infrastructure in what is thought of as an isolated part of the city. He added: “The question for voters out here is whether they want a Labour Party that sometimes feels like they don’t care about the outer west or whether they want hard-working local candidates.”
Meanwhile, Green Party campaigners have fingers crossed that this will finally be their year to claim a first win in Newcastle. Having produced one of the party’s strongest ever performances in the city in a by-election in Byker last month, candidate Nick Hartley is hoping to give Coun Kemp a fight in his own backyard.
He said: “From Byker to West Fenham, we have had the best reception we have ever had. People are seeing what we can offer in terms of a positive vision for real community politics. At a time when politics is being done to people, I think the Green Party offers something that is resonating.”
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