Former Labour mayor joins the Green Party

A FORMER Labour mayor has predicted the party will lose control of four North East councils in 2026, as he announced he is joining the Green Party.

- By DANIEL HOLLAND

Ex-North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll was unveiled as the Greens' latest recruit yesterday, with the party seeking an electoral boom under new leader Zack Polanski.

The 55-year-old was elected to the mayoral post in 2019 for Labour, before dramatically quitting the party in 2023 and finishing second as an independent in last year’s North East mayor election.

Speaking at a press conference at the Newcastle Bangladeshi Association in Elswick, Mr Driscoll said that he expected the Greens to be a “serious” force at a crunch set of local elections next May when Labour's dominance across Tyne and Wear is under threat and Reform UK will be hoping to replicate the success that swept it into power in Durham.

He told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have all-out elections in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland, and South Tyneside and people are not going to be voting Labour. Labour already know they have lost all those councils.

“They are all out elections which means the entire council can change. And there is a [Green] surge and people are looking for something different.