2024 North East mayoral election

The North East Mayoral Combined Authority is due to come into existence four days after this election, on 7 May 2024.^[3] The authority will replace the North of Tyne Mayoral Combined Authority and the North East Combined Authority.^[3]

The mayoral combined authority has a budget and powers relating to growth, adult education and skills, housing and regeneration.^[4]

While previous mayoral elections in the United Kingdom have used a supplementary vote (SV) system, this election used a first-past-the-post (FPTP) system 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 were entitled to vote in the mayoral election. Those who were temporarily away from the North East (for example, away working, on holiday, in student accommodation or in hospital) were also entitled to vote in the mayoral election. The deadline to register to vote in the election was 11:59pm on 16 April 2024.^[5]

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.^[6]

On transport, Driscoll proposed a "total transport network" covering buses and the Tyne and Wear Metro. This would mean he would "take the buses back under public control, open new rail routes around the region, integrate public transport and make one ticket for rail, bus and metro and lower fare, making them free altogether for under 18s".^[7] He also proposed "on demand" bus services for rural areas.^[8] McGuinness said she would get public control of buses and "build new railway infrastructure".^[4] The Conservative candidate Guy Renner-Thompson said he would turn the A1 road into a dual carriageway.^[4] He supported integrating bus and rail transport but opposed public ownership. The Reform UK candidate Paul Donaghy proposed 50% public ownership of public transport. The Green Party candidate Andrew Gray said he supported 15-minute city principles that would reduce demand for transport.^[9]

Newcastle implemented a Clean Air Zone in the city centre in 2022. Renner-Thompson said he would remove it, which local authorities said the mayor would not be able to do.^[4] The Reform UK candidate Paul Donaghy, Driscoll and McGuinness all criticised the model, saying that public transport was a better way of improving air quality. The Green Party candidate Andrew Gray and the Liberal Democrat candidate Aidan King both supported the use of Clean Air Zones.^[10]

The Conservative UK government proposed using money that had been planned for High Speed 2 to re-open the Leamside line, estimated to cost close to £2 billion. They later said that the combined authority could fund it. Renner Thompson said that the suggested cost was far too high for "some metal rails on some gravel". Driscoll and McGuinness said they were seeking central government funding for the estimated £20 million cost of producing a business case to reopen the railway.^[11]

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". Grey said he would improve housing installation.^[4] King said he would "build the UK's largest on-shore wind farm", revenue from which would fund public transport investment, and buy low quality farmland in "every town and village" to build modern housing.^[9][12]

A film company proposed establishing a large film studio in the region contingent on public funding. McGuinness said that the UK government should supply the necessary funding, while Renner-Thompson said he would use combined authority funds to support the proposal.^[13]

Tony Gillan in the Sunderland Echo highlighted that most of the candidates were from or closely associated with Newcastle rather than other parts of the region.^[14]

Driscoll was endorsed by the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers.^[15]

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.^[16] He will sit as an independent for the remainder of his term.^[16] 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.^[17] Five Labour councillors resigned from their party to support Driscoll.^[18]

Four candidates were nominated. Serving North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll. PCC Kim McGuinness. Former MEP Paul Brannen. Newcastle City Councillor Nicu Ion.^[19]

Driscoll was elected to Newcastle City Council in 2018 to represent Monument ward.^[20] Driscoll stood for selection to be Labour's candidate in the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election, defeating Newcastle council leader Nick Forbes in February 2019.^[21] He ran as the more radical candidate after being supported by left-wing figures, including shadow Chancellor John McDonnell, Noam Chomsky, Paul Mason, Clive Lewis and Laura Pidcock. He also had organisational support from Unite the Union, RMT, Fire Brigades Union, TSSA and Aslef.^[22]

Driscoll ran on a platform with five primary pledges: Community Wealth Building, Green Industrial Revolution, Setting up Community Hubs, Building Affordable Homes, and Meaningful Adult Education, winning the 2019 North of Tyne mayoral election with 56.1% of the vote.^[23][24]His role was due to be subsumed by the new North East mayoralty.^[25]

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.^[26] She also proposed a £1-per-night hotel levy to raise money to invest in culture and events.^[27] She is considered to be aligned with Labour Party leader Keir Starmer.

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.^[28]

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.^[29]

In June 2023, Driscoll was barred from the selection process to determine a Labour Party candidate for Mayor of the North East. The controversial decision was defended by Starmer-ally Baroness Chapman of Darlington as "simply guaranteeing the highest quality candidates". Unite the Union and its general secretary, Sharon Graham, criticised the decision to exclude Driscoll. Andy Burnham, and Steve Rotheram described the Labour Party as undemocratic, opaque and unfair. Aditya Chakrabortty wrote in The Guardian that Driscoll was a "victim of McCarthyism".^[25][30] It was understood that the decision was based on appearing at an event with Ken Loach.^[31] He later resigned from Labour and has since announced he will fight the 2024 North East mayoral election as an independent.^[32]

Subsequently, 11 of 22 constituency Labour parties in the region refused to endorse any mayoral candidate in protest.^[26]

Ion was not shortlisted, leaving members to choose between Brannen and McGuinness.^[33] McGuinness won selection with 76% of the vote. However, the number of votes in the selection contest was never published, unlike the 2019 selection. A Labour source said under 50% of eligible party members voted.^[26]

On 17 July 2023, Labour announced it had selected McGuinness as its candidate for mayor.^[34]

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.^[35] On 26 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.^[36]

Aidan King, an NHS doctor at Newcastle's Royal Victoria Infirmary,^[37] former Newcastle City Councillor and candidate for the European Parliament, was selected as the Liberal Democrats candidate.^[38] He was their candidate in Stockton North in the 2019 General Election.

Andrew Gray, an archivist at Durham University, was announced as the Green Party candidate in December 2023.^[39]

Paul Donaghy, a councillor on Sunderland City Council, was announced as the Reform UK candidate in January 2024.^[40] He had defected from the Conservative Party in 2023.^[41]

On 28 April, the campaign group More in Common released opinion polling placing McGuinness and Driscoll as the front runners, stating "a win from either candidate would be well within the margin of error."

They cited the 2019 Conservative vote fragmenting and Driscoll voters saying they are more likely to turn out than McGuinness voters as the cause of the independent vote, describing the race as a "dead heat."^[42]

Source: ^[43]