On 18 May, Newcastle held a people’s assembly with former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll. The Canary went along to the exciting and packed event, where people living locally discussed the issues they’re facing and what potential solutions could be.
Driscoll spoke to the Canary after the event. And the plan is clear: listen, prepare, and act.
Jamie Driscoll: planning, fighting, and winning for Newcastle in 2026
Candidates with Jamie Driscoll’s majority party are “intending to fight and win” next year’s local council elections in Newcastle. And he said that, while it’s important to be angry about what’s going on both at home and abroad, the really key question is “what are we going to do about it?”
That’s why a clear plan is essential. Because the idea isn’t to ask voters locally to “agree with us that you should be angry”; it’s to say “vote for us because this is what we’re going to do”. And if you actually want to deliver for people, he stressed:
the best way is to have the people right at the heart of it. Because if you want to know how to speed up the buses, ask a bus driver – they do it for a living every day!
As mayor, Driscoll listened to people living locally and, where he had “the power and the funds”, he took action. Even when it wasn’t his role, he spoke up. Where the council had the power, for example, he worked with councillors to encourage action. And on bigger national issues, he spoke up and lobbied.
If he and his team “take control of Newcastle City Council next year and the Labour government isn’t gonna stump up the cash that is needed and it’s not gonna tax billionaires”, he promised they won’t stay quiet:
What you won’t get from us is a lot of hand wringing, ‘oh it’s terrible’, ‘oh national government’s made us do it’… What you’ll get is a 40ft banner down the side of the Civic Centre saying ‘these are the people responsible’. And you know what? If you wanna take our school crossing safety off us, we’re all gonna get in a bus as councillors and we’re gonna lie down outside parliament. We’re gonna make a fuss. So you’ll still get a fight back.
Putting people at the heart of the movement
Driscoll asserted that:
the role of a councillor is to be a shop steward for the community inside the Council, not a cheerleader for the Council inside the community
And the idea of community assemblies is precisely to make sure people living locally have a central role in determining what the priorities are and how to address them.
The 18 May assembly brought together many dozens of people who were passionate about participating and sharing their lived experiences locally. They discussed insights into the problems and potential solutions to the challenges facing them. And this collaborative agenda will become the key message ahead of the local elections next year. Campaigners will then use that to “get out there, get a coalition together, and win, and then implement it”.
One key issue that came up for people was the urgent national need for a wealth tax – something that has widespread support across the country. But people also discussed local issues that had a clear connection to elite plunder via “big corporations lobbying government” and “billionaires’ wealth extraction”.
Jamie Driscoll: we have the same concerns, and mustn’t let grifters exploit our differences
Though we all have much in common, there are clearly cultural divides in Britain. And that can create tension sometimes. But we can diffuse that tension and come together around shared goals, Driscoll stressed, if we listen to people with an open mind. We need to focus on “hearing what they’re saying and not projecting your opinions onto them”, he said.
Recently, Driscoll explained, he was talking to someone in a neglected nearby town. And the feeling of “why is no one listening to us?” was clear. As he said:
you talk to them and actually they’ve got exactly the same concerns. Why isn’t my bus on time? Why is it so bloody expensive? Why is it there’s so much month left at the end of the money? Looking in their supermarket trolley thinking, ‘I used to be able to buy twice this much’.
Another person he spoke to said he was thinking of voting for Reform, despite disagreeing with the party on immigration. Why? Because he felt Nigel Farage was “the only one shouting”. And that’s something to take stock of. Sometimes, people just appreciate someone who’ll stand up and fight, whether they agree on everything or not.
Driscoll knows that Reform will disappoint people. Because it won’t actually fix any of the key issues affecting people’s daily lives. And fixing things is “what really matters”. As he argued:
when they look at politicians, what the voting public want is two things: 1) Do I think these people could run the country? 2) Have these people got my back?…
And that’s the whole point of the detailed manifesto. It’s gotta fix something…
So yes, be angry, but have a plan that works.
Watch the full interview below:
