Jamie Driscoll | |
|---|---|
 Driscoll in 2021 | |
| Mayor of the North of Tyne | |
| In office 6 May 2019 – 6 May 2024 | |
| Preceded by | Norma Redfearn (as interim mayor) |
| Succeeded by | Kim McGuinness (as Mayor of the North East) |
| Councillor forMonument | |
| In office 3 May 2018 – 2 May 2019 | |
| Leader ofMajority | |
| Assumed office 16 December 2024 | |
| Personal details | |
| Born | April 1970 (age 55) Middlesbrough,North Riding of Yorkshire, England |
| Party | Green Party of England and Wales (since 2025) |
| Other political affiliations | |
| Alma mater | Northumbria University |
| Website | jamiedriscoll |
Jamie Driscoll (born April 1970[1]) is a British politician who served as themetro mayor of theNorth of Tyne Combined Authority from 2019 to 2024. He represented Labour until June 2023 and then became an independent. He was previously a Labourcouncillor onNewcastle City Council for theMonument ward from 2018 to 2019.
Driscoll was one of the directors ofYour Party's operating company, but resigned in October 2025 following a financial dispute amongst the party's founders.[2][3] He foundedMajority in 2024 and joined theGreen Party of England and Wales in December 2025.
Driscoll was born inMiddlesbrough,North Riding of Yorkshire in 1970.[4][5] His father was atank driver in theBritish army before becoming a shift worker atImperial Chemical Industries, while his mother was ayouth worker and aunion shop steward who served as a women's officer forCleveland County Council and founded the firstwomen's refuge fromdomestic violence in Middlesbrough.[6][7][8] Driscoll stated that his politics was influenced by his mother.[9][6] He has three siblings: an older brother who served in theRoyal Navy; a sister who was ahealthcare assistant for theNHS; and a younger brother Jon, who is afootball commentator,podcaster and author ofThe Fifty: Football's Most Influential Players, andGet it Kicked! The Battle for the Soul of English Football.[citation needed]
Driscoll left school at 16. He worked as anurse at theUniversity Hospital of Hartlepool, at aplumbing factory, and as a traineeengineer makingbreathing apparatus inBlyth, Northumberland, among other jobs.[6][5][9][10] At the age of 22, he secured a grant to studyengineeringpart-time atNorthumbria University, which he combined with work as a nightclubbouncer.[11][12][6]
After university, Driscoll worked as aproject engineer in theelectronics andinformation technology sector, and oversaw largecompany integrations.[9][6] He became a manager and company director for asoftware development firm, and after selling the business he dedicated himself to political activity whilehomeschooling his children.[5][13] He was ajiu-jitsuinstructor for twenty years before retiring in 2018,[11][10] and earnedwine knowledge qualifications.[14]
Driscoll joined theLabour Party in 1985,[15][16] and theTransport and General Workers' Union in 1986.[6] He later switched toUnite the Union.[6] He was an organiser for the Tyne & Wear Anti-Fascist Association,[6] formed in 1983.[17]
In 2015, he campaigned forEd Miliband inDoncaster North during the2015 general election and forJeremy Corbyn in hisLabour Party leadership bid.[11] Prior toCorbyn's election, Driscoll acted as hisbodyguard during a visit to thenorth east of England.[11] After Corbyn's victory, Driscoll started the Newcastle branch ofMomentum, trained activists and helped organise Momentum's inaugural national conference, Building to Win, inBirmingham in March 2017.[11] In January 2018, he founded Pits & Politics Festivals Ltd,[1] and in July 2018 hosted the first People, Pits and Politics festival in the days preceding theDurham Miners' Gala; the event, sponsored by theCommunication Workers Union (CWU), featuredClive Lewis MP,Ken Loach,Paul Mason andHilary Wainwright as speakers.[18][5]
He was elected toNewcastle City Council in theMay 2018 elections to representMonument ward. He was a member of the campaigning group and the chair of the Newcastle branch of Momentum.[5][19] He also served as branch secretary of the Labour Party in theEast Gosforth ward.[5]
In February 2019, Driscoll stood for selection to be Labour's candidate in the2019 North of Tyne mayoral election, defeating Newcastle council leaderNick Forbes.[20] He ran being supported by figures on the left, including shadow chancellorJohn McDonnell,Noam Chomsky,Paul Mason,Clive Lewis andLaura Pidcock. He also had organisational support fromUnite the Union,Momentum,RMT,Fire Brigades Union,TSSA andAslef.[21][22][5]
Driscoll won the election ahead of theConservative candidate Charlie Hoult.[23] TheGreen Party did not stand a candidate against him.[24][25] He appointed Hugo Fearnley as hispolitical advisor.[26]
As mayor, Driscoll led theNorth East devolution deal from 2019 onwards, striking an "unlikely political alliance" withMichael Gove,[11] who was appointed theSecretary of State for Levelling Up, Housing and Communities in 2021.[27] The deal was signed in December 2022 and resulted in the creation of the North East Combined Authority in May 2024. Driscoll was described inThe Guardian at the time as "the most influential modern Labour figure you have never heard of".[11]
In June 2023, after interview by a panel of theNational Executive Committee of the Labour Party Driscoll was unsuccessful in progressing to a ballot of Labour Party members in the selection process to determine a Labour Party candidate forMayor of the North East. Labour Peer Jenny Chapman defended the decision as "simply guaranteeing the highest quality candidates".Unite the Union and its general secretary,Sharon Graham, criticised the decision to exclude Driscoll.Andy Burnham andSteve Rotheram described the Labour Party as undemocratic, opaque and unfair. Aditya Chakrabortty wrote inThe Guardian that Driscoll was a "victim ofMcCarthyism".[28][29] He resigned from Labour and later announced that he would stand in the inaugural2024 North East mayoral election as an independent.[30] He was backed by the former chair of theSocialist Campaign Group of MPs,Lynne Jones,[31] and received support from Green New Deal Rising[32] (a youth organisation with 5 Labour, 4 Green and 3 independent MPs as patrons,[33] linked to theGreen New Deal Group[34] led by Colin Hines[35]). Driscoll finished second, 58,399 votes behind Labour candidateKim McGuinness.[36]
Driscoll joined the Common Sense Policy Group – aninterdisciplinary research team organised ahead of the2024 general election by the Northumbria Universitypolitical scientist Matthew Thomas Johnson – as a contributor toAct Now: A Vision for a Better Future and a New Social Contract (2024),[a] a book-length policy proposal centred onuniversal basic income and modeled on the 1942Beveridge Report.[37][38][39][40][41]
On 16 December 2024, Driscoll registered the new organisationMajority with theElectoral Commission to field candidates acrossGreat Britain.[42] He called on Labour members with "a social conscience" to leave their party.[43]
Driscoll and Majority have been involved in discussions around the setting up of a new left-wing party, known by the interim name ofYour Party.[44] In April 2025, alongsideAndrew Feinstein andBeth Winter, Driscoll became a director of the company MoU Operations Ltd that was set up to manage supporter data for the new party project.[45][46][1] He addressed a Majority conference in Newcastle in September 2025 alongside Your Party's leading figureZarah Sultana.[26] Later that month, MoU Operations received the funds raised throughSultana's Your Party membership launch,[47] which were speculated to have exceeded £1m.[48]
In August 2025, Jamie Driscoll announced he was standing2026 Newcastle City Council election inMonument ward, and said that a progressive alliance of Majority, the Green Party andindependents could win control of Newcastle City Council.[49] Driscoll also announced that Majority had almost 1,000 due-paying members.[49]
In the context of a row with theIndependent Alliance-affiliated directors of Your Party over the control of donation money, Driscoll resigned from MoU Operations in late October 2025, entrusting the company to Sultana.[50] He announced in November that he was not a member of Your Party and did not intend to join.[51]
In December 2025, Driscoll announced he had joined theGreen Party,[52] planning to stand for election to Newcastle City Council as a Green candidate.[53] In January 2026, he was selected by Newcastle Green Party to contest the Monument ward in the2026 local election.[54]
Driscoll lives with his wife Caroline, who is anNHS doctor inGateshead, and their two sons.[55][9]
His children attendedprivate schools followed byhomeschooling.[56]
He is a member ofGreenpeace andAmnesty International,[6] an ambassador for theWhite Ribbon Campaign,[8] and a former member ofMensa International.[16]
Driscoll, Jamie; Broadbent, Rachel (16 August 2017).The Way of the Activist.CreateSpace Independent Publishing Platform.ISBN 9781974094929.OCLC 1313868367.