Interview: Driscoll on his manifesto, secret talents and ‘Corbynista’ tag

Jamie Driscoll has said he has received “literally thousands of messages of support” following the decision to exclude him from the longlist to be the Labour candidate for the new North East mayoralty.

The move has attracted considerable criticism, with fellow metro mayors Andy Burnham and Steve Rotheram joining union leaders and left-wing MPs in condemning the decision in recent days.

LabourList had interviewed Driscoll last week about his campaign shortly before it was revealed the sitting North of Tyne mayor had been left off the longlist. We have decided to still publish the interview in full below, but his answers should be seen in that context – save for the first two questions, which are additional questions he answered following the decision.

He spoke candidly about the ‘Corbynista’ label, his secret talents, why he wants to share a lift with Jeremy Hunt and his personal Labour journey, including what inspired him to join the party and Labour’s best and worst traits.

LabourList has also approached Kim McGuinness – who officially launched her campaign to be Labour’s candidate for North East mayor over the weekend – for a similar interview.

McGuinness, the police and crime commissioner for Northumbria, is widely seen as Keir Starmer’s favoured candidate. She has reportedly made the next round alongside former MEP Paul Brannen and Newcastle City councillor Nicu Ion, who LabourList will also offer interviews.

Writing on Sunday, Driscoll said he identifies as a socialist and argued that this “sometimes… puts [him] on a collision course with the party leadership in London”. But it is his decision to share a platform with Ken Loach that has been cited as the main reason behind his exclusion.

A party source said Driscoll had caused “great hurt and upset” over his appearance with the filmmaker – who was expelled from the party in connection with Labour’s antisemitism scandal – with the selection panel “unanimously” rejecting Driscoll. The source confirmed that there is no right to appeal.

What are you going to do now following not making the longlist?

Other mayors have asked the national executive committee to look again at the decision, and MPs and union leaders. LabourList readers who agree this is undemocratic might also want to write to the NEC. Most people aren’t comfortable with Labour HQ deciding on candidates in the North East. I’m not asking for special treatment, just for a chance for members in the region to make their own minds up. I trust their judgement.

What do you make of the response so far to that party decision?

The party have still given no explanation. The wider support has been overwhelming. Including support from across the political spectrum. From trade unions to Tory ministers. Not everyone will agree with my personal politics – nor would I expect them too – but almost everyone agrees in the need for fair and transparent process. The people of the North East need to choose their own candidate, or we’ll alienate them if we take away their voice.

What do you make of being called one of the last surviving ‘Corbynistas’?

The media love shorthand labels. But it’s inaccurate in pretty much every way. I’ve been a socialist since my teens. My first general election campaign was out doorknocking to make Neil Kinnock Prime Minister (unsuccessfully).

Now I’m a metro mayor in power proving socialist polices work. Businesses in my patch have signed up to our voluntary Good Work Pledge, which now improves the pay and working conditions of over 50,000 workers. I’ve set up a venture capital fund owned by the combined authority. I’ve landed big companies to set up here. That’s at odds with the press image of a Corbynista. But it is true that I am 100% anti-austerity.

You shared a stage with Ken Loach in March. Why? 

Ken Loach had just finished filming The Old Oak in the North East, and as part of the Live Theatre’s 50th birthday celebrations, we were invited to do an ‘In conversation…’ event. We spoke about his films, my favourite films, how he got started. And what films like I, Daniel Blake and Sorry We Missed You meant to the North East. The audience loved it.

What is the best and worst thing about the Labour Party today?

The best thing is the Labour members. There’s such depth of experience and compassion. Every time I’m at a meeting, I learn something new and valuable.

Worst thing? Arcane procedures. For example, if I was an MP whose boundaries were being changed, I’d get a territorial claim, and be automatically shortlisted. But the fact that I am the only current metro mayor in the area – with a solid track record of delivering jobs, homes and community projects – counts for nothing in the rules.

You’ve been mayor since 2019. What is the key lesson being in power has taught you?

Don’t get elected just before a pandemic. And if you work with the people who are affected by your polices and programmes, they’ll be twice as effective. Co-design and co-production seem like extra work – but they’re totally worth it.

What’s the best thing and most challenging thing about being a metro mayor, candidate or specifically Labour mayor/candidate?

As a mayor, I’m in power, not opposition. I’ve opened youth centres that turn young people’s lives around. Funded community gardens and programmes for veterans. Ran a citizens assembly on climate change. Built homes. Boosted local businesses.  Set up workers’ cooperatives. And proved that socialist policies work in practice and are economically sustainable.   

I really feel for our MPs, who have to sit opposite the Tories, knowing that even though we have the arguments and the policies, the Tories still vote through Budgets that asset strip our country and stir division and hatred.

If victorious in the next election, what one thing would you make a day one number one priority? 

Create a total transport network under public control. Buses are slow, expensive and irregular. The Metro needs to be extended. Too many places have no effective public transport on an evening. There’s serious anti-social behaviour that puts people off – we need guards on trains. And the system is a chaotic mix of different operators with no cross-ticketing.

In my 2019 manifesto, I said I’d bring the whole North East together so we could get transport devolved, and that’s happened now. I went to Treasury, argued the case and got the money and the powers.

I’ll make transport free for under 18’s – which reduces child poverty. I’d integrate the whole system with bike hire and secure bike lockers and a car club. I want to make public transport so convenient, so reliable and so safe that people voluntarily give up their cars. We can’t combat the climate emergency without it.

What other two things would you try to do if elected that would make the most tangible difference to voters’ lives?

Full employment. If everyone has a secure, well-paid job, it would transform our region. Parents will no longer have to raise their kids in poverty. Crime will fall. Health inequalities will close. That means a secure, well-paid job for everyone who wants one. That means more job creation, more access to training for workers. I’ve made a cracking start as mayor already – creating over 5,000 direct jobs in just four years through our investment alone. Plus thousands more in supply chains.

And a green new deal. The climate emergency is real and urgent. But if you don’t know how you’re going to feed your children, the climate emergency is not going to be top of your priorities. We must have a just transition that brings a fairer economy as well as a greener one. As North of Tyne mayor, our green new deal fund is already installing solar panels, insulating buildings and funding industrial innovation – creating good jobs too. I’ll turbocharge this across the bigger region.

What one power that isn’t currently devolved to any council or metro mayor would you devolve to either?

Job Centre Plus. A lot of the workers in there do a great job, but they’re stuck in a punitive system. If we can integrate the training courses we run as a devolved authority with our links to job creation, we can get everyone meaningful, properly paid, secure jobs.   

What’s the issue that voters and residents raise with you most?

Transport. I do loads of town halls, and about 80% of the questions are about transport. The North East has been massively underfunded for decades – along with most of Britain, to be honest. For example, Seahouses is on the Northumberland coast – part of my current mayoralty – and from Newcastle, it’s quicker to get to London by public transport than to Seahouses. We need a total transport network.

What do you need to do most if you win, and what more does the party nationally need to do most, to help Labour win more seats in your region in the general election?

Deliver. I’ve been mayor for four years, from a standing start, through a pandemic, four Prime Ministers and six Chancellors.  We’ve increased training courses from 22,000 a year to 33,000 a year. Built affordable homes. Implemented a groundbreaking child poverty prevention programme across 90 schools. Created over half our 30 years jobs target in 4 years.

For every £1 I invest, we return over £3 to Treasury in payroll taxes alone. Last year, we were the number one region for inward investment in the whole country.

Labour should be shouting about the economic competence of our mayors on every broadcast. It’s evidence Labour delivers in power.

Tell us about your first experiences of joining the Labour Party.

My younger brother and I joined the Labour Party in 1985, after seeing a party political broadcast featuring Roy Hattersley.

My mam was a Labour member and NALGO lay official, and the depths of Thatcher’s economic slash-and-burn policies had devastated the North East. My dad, a former army tank driver and later ICI shift worker, was made redundant. My older brother was in the Royal Navy during the Falklands (though not in battle).

Watching images of the miners’ strike night after night on TV news made me angry. I felt I needed to stop being angry at the TV and do something. Yes, it seems improbable now that Roy Hattersley inspired me, but it’s true. In those days, there was no such thing as email. So you wrote, by post. I became Langbaurgh Constituency Labour Party youth officer at the age of 16.

What Labour politician do you most admire?

Nye Bevan. Creating the NHS makes anyone a legend. But driving forward the welfare state and council housing too? An ardent opponent of fascism and oppression even before World War Two. And what a way with words. I have a postcard in my office that says: “I do not represent the big bosses at the top. I represent the people at the bottom.” Nye Bevan.

Which Tory politician would you least like to be stuck in a lift with?

I’d actually quite like to be stuck in a lift with any Tory Secretary of State. I spend a lot of time negotiating to get money and powers devolved. I’ve got millions of pounds out of them – and spoke to dozens of ministers to land our £4.27bn devolution deal – but it takes me months normally. So half an hour in a lift with Jeremy Hunt could be worth a fortune for the North East!  

What’s your secret talent?

I can change a nappy one-handed. Our boys are close together in age, so you’d need one hand free to deal with one of them, while changing the other!

What’s your favourite novel?

Catch-22. It’s set in WWII of course, but it’s also a great depiction of the crazy, contradictory and frequently pointless way that this country is governed.