Big news broke on 17 December 2025 when Jamie Driscoll, Majority leader, former Labour and independent North of Tyne Mayor and independent candidate for the role of North East Metro Mayor last year, announced that he was joining the Green Party.
In a post on social media, the leader of the Majority movement cited the “mess” British politics is in and “serious work” needing done.
But why did Jamie join the Greens? What does all this mean going forward? And can they take on the governing Labour Party and the insurgent Reform UK?
Why did Jamie join the Green Party?
The state of the country and the state of the world. What kind of nation and planet will future generations inherit? A number of things played a part in Jamie Driscoll’s decision to join the Green Party and the kind of world that generations to come will inhabit is one of them. “The people deserve better”, says Jamie.
Over 3,000 miles across the Atlantic Ocean and another factor comes into play: Trumpism. But it isn’t so much about who is the President of the United States of America but rather people like him in Britain and the possibility of them taking power. Jamie is concerned that the UK is facing the same fate as the USA with the very real prospect of a Reform UK victory at the next general election. Closer to home and closer in time, local elections are taking place next year in Newcastle, Gateshead, Sunderland and South Tyneside. Jamie worries about the “possibility of a fascist party taking control”, one which is “making a mess of everywhere that they’re in power”.
Called into question by Jamie was Labour’s ability to hold onto these areas in the local elections. He has no confidence in the governing party both locally and nationally, who he says that everybody believes has “sold them out”. On their ability to win, he says “the Labour vote is collapsing”. With recent by-election losses in South Jesmond (Newcastle) to the Greens and Hetton (Sunderland) to Reform UK, as well as a poor performance in the opinion polls, things aren’t currently looking good for Keir Starmer’s party.
Meanwhile, elsewhere on the left of the political spectrum and the Green Party is making an impact. The party is campaigning for water and utilities to be brought into public ownership, the introduction of a wealth tax, an integrated public transport system and properly insulated homes to name a small number of things. The leader, when pushed by the media on these issues and others, is standing his ground and refusing to row back, something which is getting him more and more noticed in the eyes of the public.
Through all this, the Green Party have convinced Jamie Driscoll that they are “a serious party” and are a party “looking for power”.
What does this mean for Majority?
In October 2024, Jamie Driscoll led the charge as a new political movement was founded. The Majority movement was created as a political alliance to support progressive, left-wing candidates in elections as long as they adhere to the NOLAN Principles. Members have included people of no party affiliation, members of the Green Party and even a few further left-wing members of the Labour Party and the Liberal Democrats.
When asked about his future role in the alliance, Jamie references this and support it has given to Green Party candidates including Sarah Peters, the victorious candidate in the South Jesmond by-election in august. With the organisation acting as an independent, pluralist and progressive alliance to support candidates it sees as progressive, Jamie Driscoll’s position in Majority will not be compromised by his membership of the Greens and vice versa.
Can the Greens take on Reform?
Currently, under Zack Polanski, support for the Green Party has ballooned. The Greens have overtaken the Liberal Democrats in average opinion polling for the next UK general election, come second five times in these polls and are beating Labour and the Conservatives on and off as well in them. Membership is now over 180,000, taking them higher than the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. Even before Polanski’s leadership, the Greens were rising in popularity with the last general election seeing them take three new seats in parliament; one from Labour and two from the Conservatives. But can they take on Reform UK?
Almost every Reform voter that Jamie talks to has not said that they like Reform’s policies and believe they would make them better off but rather talk about the rest of the political parties “being the same”. He says that half of them don’t even agree with Reform’s policies on immigration. With that in mind, Jamie recognises that the Greens are coming into the public consciousness now, with Zack Polanski and the Green Party’s policies getting out there more than before.
Being liked and offering good policies is one thing, but to win, the Green Party need to answer positively to the question of the public: can they deliver? Jamie says that if they can, they’ll win.
A week is a long time in politics and this is evidenced Jamie’s recent decision to join the Green Party. This has big ramifications for the politics of the North East and it will be interesting to see how it plays out. With an alternative left-wing party on the rise under Zack Polanski now supported by Jamie Driscoll, could this spell trouble for Labour? And with his rising popularity, coupled with Jamie Driscoll’s influence in the region, could Zack Polanski cause a headache for Nigel Farage and Reform UK in the North East?
