2024 North East mayoral election
2 May 2024
 
Candidate Jamie Driscoll Kim McGuinness
Party Independent Labour
 
Candidate Guy Renner-Thompson Andrew Gray
Party Conservative Green
Area covered by the mayor.
Incumbent Mayor

Jamie Driscoll (as Mayor of North of Tyne)
Labour


The 2024 North East mayoral election is due to be held on 2 May 2024 to elect the mayor of the North East. The election will take place the same day as council elections within the region, as well as local elections across England and Wales.

Background

The North East Mayoral Combined Authority is due to come into existence 4 days after the completion of this election on the 6th of May 2024.[1] The authority will replace the North of Tyne Mayoral Combined Authority and the North East Combined Authority.[1]

The mayoral combined authority has a budget and powers relating to growth, adult education and skills, housing and regeneration.[2]

Electoral system

This election will be the first to use first-past-the-post to elect the mayor as a result of the changes made by the Elections Act 2022.

All registered electors living in the North East aged 18 or over on 2 May 2024 will be entitled to vote in the mayoral election. Those who are temporarily away from the North East (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) will also be entitled to vote in the mayoral election. The deadline to register to vote in the election will be announced nearer the election.

Campaign

Tyneside was suggested as a potential location for another barge like Bibby Stockholm to be used to house asylum-seekers. The Labour candidate Kim McGuinness and the independent candidate Jamie Driscoll both said they opposed any such proposals.[3]

On transport, Driscoll proposed a "total transport network" covering buses and the Tyne and Wear Metro. McGuinness said she would get public control of buses and "build new ralway infrastructure". The Conservative candidate Guy Renner Thompson said he would turn the A1 road into a dual carriageway.[2]

Driscoll said he would work to achieve full employment in the region. McGuinness proposed a "mayoral development corporation to drive green energy investment in the North East's ports and rivers". Renner-Thompson said he would remove Newcastle's Clean Air Zone, which local authorities said the mayor would not be able to do. The Green Party candidate Andrew Grey said he would improve housing installation.[2]

Candidates

Labour Party

On the 17 July 2023, Labour announced it had selected Kim McGuinness as its candidate for mayor.[4] McGuinness was elected Northumbria Police and Crime Commissioner in 2019. She had served on Newcastle City Council since 2015. She said that everything she would fund as mayor would need to contribute to ending child poverty.[5] She also proposed a £1-per-night hotel levy to raise money to invest in culture and events.[6] She is considered to be aligned with Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.[7]

The mayor of the North of Tyne Jamie Driscoll applied to be the party's candidate for the new role. His role was due to be subsumed by the new North East mayoralty. On 2 June 2023, he announced that he had been excluded from the longlist without any explanation. The longlist included the police and crime commissioner Kim McGuinness, the former MEP Paul Brannen and the city councillor Nicu Ion.[8] It was suggested that Driscoll was excluded due to sharing a platform with the director Ken Loach who had been expelled from Labour.[9] Driscoll is a figure on the left wing of the Labour Party, and is frequently associated with the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn. The former shadow chancellor John McDonnell called the decision not to longlist Driscoll "out of control factionalism".[10] Several Labour Party figures and trade unionists criticised the decision to exclude Driscoll, including his fellow mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram, as well as some Conservative politicians.[9][11]

Paul Brannen served as an MEP for North East England from 2014 to 2019. He said he would use green industry to achieve full employment in the region.[12] Nicu Ion is a maths teacher who was first elected to Newcastle City Council in 2021, becoming the first Roma migrant to be elected in the UK.[13] Ion was not shortlisted, with members choosing between Brannen and McGuinness.[14] McGuinness won selection with 76% of the vote.[5] 11 of 22 constituency Labour parties in the region refused to endorse any mayoral candidate in protest at the exclusion of Driscoll,[5] and the turnout in the selection contest was just under 50% of eligible party members.[5]

Candidate Votes  %
Kim McGuinness
76%
Paul Brannen
24%

Independent

Jamie Driscoll, the mayor of the North of Tyne, left the Labour Party after being excluded from the party's selection of a North East mayoral candidate.[15] He will sit as an independent for the remainder of his term.[15] He said he would run as an independent candidate for the North East mayoralty if he could raise £25,000 in campaign funds, which he did in two hours.[16] Five Labour councillors resigned from their party to support Driscoll.[17]

Conservative

Charlie Hoult, who was the Conservative candidate in the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election, said he would not seek his party's selection and that he hoped the candidates would be more diverse than in the 2019 election.[18] On the 26th November 2023, it was announced that Guy Renner-Thompson, the children's and education chief for Northumberland County Council would be the Conservative Party candidate for the election.[19]

Green Party

Andrew Gray, a 55 year old archivist at Durham University, was announced as the Green Party candidate in December 2023.[20]

References

  1. 1 2 "North East devolution deal". GOV.UK. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  2. 1 2 3 Holland, Daniel (2023-12-30). "North East mayoral election 2024 - candidates and big campaign issues explained". Chronicle Live. Retrieved 2024-01-11.
  3. ↑ "Election rivals vow to oppose plans to bring 'inhumane' asylum barges to North East". The Northern Echo. 2023-08-10. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  4. ↑ "Kim McGuinness: Labour selects PCC as North East mayor candidate". BBC News. 2023-07-17. Retrieved 2023-07-18.
  5. 1 2 3 4 Holland, Daniel (2023-07-17). "Labour confirms Kim McGuinness as candidate for North East mayor election". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  6. ↑ "Kim McGuinness proposes new hotel guest levy to kickstart new era in North East". Hexham Courant. 2023-06-21. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  7. ↑ Holland, Daniel (2023-07-17). "Jamie Driscoll and Kim McGuinness set for battle after latest Labour drama". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  8. ↑ Badshah, Nadeem (2023-06-02). "'Last Corbynista in power' excluded from North East mayoral contest". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  9. 1 2 "Labour: Jamie Driscoll blocked from North East mayoral list". BBC News. 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  10. ↑ "Serving Labour mayor blocked from running in 'out of control factionalism'". Yahoo News. 2023-06-02. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  11. ↑ Pidd, Helen (2023-06-04). "Labour mayors say party undemocratic for blocking Jamie Driscoll's candidacy". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  12. ↑ "'Green revolution' promised by Northeast's potential mayor". Hexham Courant. 2023-06-23. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  13. ↑ Holland, Daniel (2023-06-07). "Rival has 'no say' over Jamie Driscoll exclusion from Labour contest". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  14. ↑ Robinson, James (2023-06-16). "Labour unveils two-candidate shortlist in North East mayoral race". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  15. 1 2 "Jamie Driscoll quits Labour Party with swipe at Sir Keir Starmer". Sky News. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  16. ↑ Sparrow, Andrew (2023-07-17). "Jamie Driscoll to stand as independent candidate for north-east mayor after quitting Labour and raising £30,000 – as it happened". the Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  17. ↑ Pidd, Helen (2023-07-24). "'Labour are scared': north-east party members quit to back Jamie Driscoll in mayoral vote". The Guardian. ISSN 0261-3077. Retrieved 2023-08-28.
  18. ↑ Holland, Daniel (2023-01-05). "Ex-Tory candidate rules out bid to become North East mayor". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-07-21.
  19. ↑ "Northumberland councillor Guy Renner-Thompson named as Conservative candidate for North East mayoral race".
  20. ↑ Holland, Daniel (2023-12-09). "Green Party joins North East mayoral election race with Andrew Gray announced as latest candidate". ChronicleLive. Retrieved 2023-12-16.
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