A number of trade union leaders have branded Jamie Driscoll’s exclusion from the North East mayoral selection contest a “monumental own goal” for the Labour Party.
In a letter to Sir Keir Starmer and Labour's National Executive Committee on Thursday morning, a number of top union officials demanded a U-turn in the party’s stance on the sitting North of Tyne mayor. Mr Driscoll has been the subject of a major row that has engulfed Labour for the past two weeks, since he was left off a longlist of candidates seeking the party’s selection for the North East mayoral election next year.
While the decision has been linked to an appearance he made on stage with filmmaker Ken Loach, who was expelled from the party in 2021, critics have accused Labour’s leadership of deliberately blocking left-wing candidates.
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Signatories of the union letter, including RMT general secretary Mick Whelan and the UCU’s Jo Grady, said that “to exclude a politician of Jamie’s calibre and commitment represents a monumental own goal”. It was also signed by the general secretaries of ASLEF, the CWU, the FBU and the BFAWU, as well as PCS president Fran Heathcote, among others.
They said: “Jamie’s drive and leadership in negotiating a devolution deal for the North East is widely acknowledged and as trade unionists we know that Jamie is firmly on the side of working people. He has stood with workers on the picket line and he has stood with trade unionists in their campaigns for better wages, jobs, and services.
“We are calling for common sense to prevail and for Jamie to be given the opportunity to stand in the selection to be Labour candidate for North East mayor.”
The dispute over Mr Driscoll, who has said he is contemplating legal action and has refused to rule out standing as an independent, also made its way to the Newcastle City Council chamber on Thursday. Independent councillor Marc Donnelly proposed a motion of thanks to the mayor and claimed it was “grossly unfair” for his party to exclude him from the selection race, in which Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner Kim McGuinness is now the clear favourite.
Liberal Democrat Greg Stone and the leader of the Newcastle Independents party, Tracey Mitchell, both raised concerns about “Labour HQ in London” imposing decisions about the North East and what that could mean for the region’s devolution. The two Labour councillors who spoke in the debate did not mention Mr Driscoll by name, as the city’s ruling group pushed through an alternative motion expressing thanks to both the mayor and the North of Tyne Combined Authority’s cabinet.
South Jesmond Labour councillor Charlie Gray said he “didn’t realise what we were debating tonight was the internal processes and procedures of the Labour Party”. The Arthur’s Hill ward’s Stephen Powers also denied an allegation that Labour members were threatened with disciplinary action if they even mentioned Mr Driscoll’s name during local party nomination meetings last week.
He said that members were “quite free to talk about whoever they want in Labour Party meetings” and such claims belonged on “conspiracy theory websites”.
A Labour party spokesperson previously said: “The North East mayoralty is a unique opportunity for the people of the North East to take more control over the way our region is governed, with powers over housing, education, skills, transport and so much more.
“The Labour Party holds its candidates to a very high standard. During this process, some applicants did not meet the threshold required to proceed to the longlist stage. We do not comment on individual applications. Local members now have a fantastic longlist of candidates from which they will choose the Labour Party’s candidate to be the very first North East Mayor.”
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