Polls show Newcastle Greens surge ahead

Newcastle Green Party are on course to trounce Labour in their heartlands. The JL Partners poll for the Telegraph puts the Greens far out in front on 30%, with Labour and Reform neck and neck on 21% and 19%. The LibDems are on 7%.

Vote Green

The message is simple: vote Green if you don’t want to split the progressive vote. Labour aren’t progressive, of course. But some voters still think historical traces of Labour’s working-class soul linger on. Today’s neo-Labour oppose even the simplest progressive policies like bringing water into public ownership.

It’s quite sad, really. Labour has lost all trust. The lies defending Peter Mandelson’s association with paedophile Jeffrey Epstein are just the latest insult. If Starmer had kept to his ten pledges, we’d be living in a much better country.

Refuse Reform

The public are turning away from Reform, too. By recruiting a load of ex-Tory MPs, it’s quite obvious they are the exact opposite of anti-establishment. Add in their general air of chaos and inability to get anything done in the councils they control, and it’s hardly surprising the Greens are taking seats off them in flagship Reform councils like Kent.

Last week’s council by-election was triggered when ex-Reform councillor Daniel Taylor was jailed for 12 months after admitting controlling and coercive behaviour towards his wife. The prosecution said Taylor had told his wife he would hunt her like prey and kill her, and that he would “put you in the boot and set fire to the car“. So much for protecting women and children.

The Greens took the seat from Reform with a huge surge from 12% to 39% while Reform fell from 40% to 33%.

The only poll that matters is the election

I should point out that JL Partners poll uses MRP. This means they didn’t go and talk to people in Newcastle. They sliced and diced existing data sets in intricate ways based on demographics. For a statistically robust poll, you need to speak to about 1000 people. Given that there are 6,584 voters in Monument where I’m standing, that would require an answer from 15% of the electorate. It’s often said: the only poll that matters is the election.

Still, polls are not just idle curiosity. They are used to influence the outcome. People do switch to who they think can win. Or to stop someone they really dislike. But what is the choice for Newcastle’s voters?

Labour are failing Newcastle

Despite having a Labour government, Newcastle’s Labour council still plans to cut a further £62.8 million before 2028. This means more overflowing bins. More cafes closed in parks. More homeless people sleeping in doorways.

They made a huge mess of the parks. Their plan to take them out of council ownership and into a profit-making trust was hugely controversial. The outsourcing venture went bust, leaving council tax payers with a bill of around £6.7 million. Now Labour are closing the cafes in the parks. Grandparents wanting to take kids to play on the swings can’t get a cup of tea or go inside if it rains. They were warned this was a bad idea. I saw Labour politicians dismiss the concerns of community groups like Friends of the Parks.

Under Labour, Newcastle built 124 council homes in the ten years to March 2022, the latest figures I could find. Over the same period 1,819 social homes were sold and 1,257 were demolished. That’s a net loss of 2,952 social homes in ten years. In one city.

Greens commit to community wealth building

Newcastle Greens are committed to community wealth building. Until central government changes the destructive “right to buy at a huge discount” policy, we have to work around it. We should be taking empty but structurally sound buildings and turning them into good quality apartments. Then, we should be selling them to community asset trusts. These are collectively owned by the tenants, but in a legal framework that keeps rents fair and prevents sales to landlords. It builds a stock of social housing that’s protected from privatisation.

We should establish local finance institutions for business lending that recycle money in the local economy. Cambridge County Council did this in 2012. Now it’s owned by the council pension fund and one of the Cambridge colleges. In addition to boosting small businesses, it makes over £40 million a year for the pension fund. Imagine if we created assets like that to reinvest locally.

Arts institutions like Newcastle’s Live Theatre run fantastic courses so local kids can get a break in the arts. The Theatre owns nearby buildings that are run as pubs and restaurants. Those rents now serve as public good for the people of Newcastle rather than disappearing off into private equity funds in tax havens. It’s a model we should replicate.

If you want your city run in the interests of local people, we’ll need a majority Green council. Otherwise, you’ll get more of the same old same old. So yes, vote Green to stop Reform. Vote Green to stop Labour. But mostly, vote Green for a better city.

By Jamie Driscoll

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