Two of the North’s other metro mayors say Jamie Driscoll “deserves to be treated with more respect” after he was barred from a Labour Party selection race.
The sitting North of Tyne mayor has been blocked from standing to become Labour’s candidate for the new, larger North East mayoralty next year. That shock ruling, first revealed by the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Friday, has been put down to Mr Driscoll’s recent appearance on stage with filmmaker Ken Loach, who was expelled by Labour in 2021 amid efforts to tackle antisemitism.
Mr Driscoll has branded the decision “anti-democratic” and urged Sir Keir Starmer to overturn it. And he has now been given the backing of two of his fellow Labour mayors, Greater Manchester’s Andy Burnham and Liverpool’s Steve Rotheram.
