Collapse, verb: to fall into a confused mass or into a flattened form by loss of rigidity or support. (Oxford English Dictionary)
Last week saw the Green Party win Newcastle’s South Jesmond by-election, coming from third place. Labour, defending the seat, fell from a 42% vote share to 17%. That’s a 60% reduction in their vote share. Collapse is the appropriate word:
They threw everything at it. I can’t ever remember a council by-election where the Chancellor of the Exchequer and the Secretary of State for Transport travelled hundreds of miles to knock on doors:
Out on the doorstep in Sandyford with @RachelReevesMP, @KiMcGuinness, Susan Dungworth & Alex Hay chatting to residents about Labour’s Plan for Change 💪
Great support for @uklabour’s Owen Bell in the upcoming South Jesmond by-election on August 14th pic.twitter.com/QrW1g7kI7D
— Catherine McKinnell MP (@CMcKinnellMP) July 28, 2025
Great to be out in South Jesmond with @Heidi_Labour and our brilliant by-election candidate Owen Bell.
Lovely to talk to residents about Labour’s Plan for Change on transport, ahead of the 14th August! pic.twitter.com/DNOkm5iPPs
— Catherine McKinnell MP (@CMcKinnellMP) July 30, 2025
Plus, an education minister, regional mayor, and police and crime commissioner. There was not a single ordinary member in the photos, only those who are paid politicians. In fact, there’s one photo where three of them are at the same door, button-holing some poor householder, their combined salaries totalling £375,000 a year. In retrospect, they might ask Rachel Reeves not to come back. Although I suppose the longer she’s away from the Treasury, the better for all of us.
Majority backed the Green Party in Newcastle by-election
Majority members voted, and chose to invite Dr Sarah Peters, the prospective Green candidate, to meet with us. After she’d answered everyone’s questions, in detail, the vote was unanimous. We chose to back her campaign rather than run a separate candidate. The Greens put in a shift and knocked every door, and Majority members leafleted pretty much the whole ward and pitched in with door knocking. She won by 55 votes, overtaking the Lib Dems. Residents like to see politicians who can work together.
And why wouldn’t we? Majority has loads of members who are Greens. Our political values align. Myself and other Majority members signed the anti-austerity Budget Statement last year with local Green councillors and progressive independents. We co-signed the Dignity Declaration in opposition to disability cuts.
Prospective Green Party leader Zack Polanski has been totally open that progressive alliances are the way to go. Zarah Sultana too, saying it should be the decision of members. In the North East, the Venn diagram of Your Party and Majority will be pretty much a circle. Zarah is speaking at our annual conference on Saturday 6 September. If you want a ticket, book quickly.
Labour’s vote collapse is an opportunity for progressive alliances
In May next year, every one of Newcastle’s 78 council seats is up for election, not just the usual one third. If the 60% loss of votes is repeated city-wide, Labour might just hold on to three wards. Although even that’s in doubt, since two of those wards are where long-standing Labour councillors resigned in protest over the Starmer government’s policies.
Majority will be running in a progressive alliance across the city. We comprise people who run food banks. Community leaders in local churches and mosques. Chairs of residents associations who get things done. Housing campaigners. This is what building from the grassroots up looks like.
We have experience, too. I ran the Combined Authority and led the creation of thousands of well paid jobs, and negotiated billions out of a Tory government. I’ll be running in my old council ward of Monument.
The most recent local elections, other than by-elections, were in May 2024, the same day as the North East Mayoral election. In Newcastle, I polled 25,018 votes to Labour’s 26,429. Based on last Thursday’s result, they’ll now poll just 10,565 votes city wide.
Victory is there for the taking
Every time I’m out campaigning, people tell me they want someone who will represent them, not their party HQ. We saw that last year too. The Lib Dems polled 16,524 votes in the local elections, but only 6,778 in the mayoral election, 60% of their council voters voted for me. As one ex-Lib Dem said, “they were never Lib Dem voters, they were people who wanted someone who worked for them, and once they the option of voting for you, they did.”
Victory is there for the taking. Imagine if in just nine months, a major British city like Newcastle has elected a progressive alliance where the councillors have no whips but just collaborate to serve their residents. What a breakthrough for democracy. If you’re up for the challenge, support progressive values, and believe representing your residents is more important than taking orders from a party HQ, then get in touch. We’re looking for candidates.
I’ve been impressed with Newcastle’s two Green Party councillors. They’ve been fearless in the council chamber and done a good job representing their residents, getting them an average £650 heating rebate, and mobilising against far-right racism. I’m confident Sarah will uphold those high standards.
Political parties that aren’t possessed by power, but moved to represent people
I can’t think of another major political party that would be willing to let a different political group vote whether to support them, and welcome them into their campaign, but the Green Party did. And that’s the point. Most political parties are obsessed with control. Control of the members. Control of the candidates. Control of the messaging. With a true progressive alliance, the people running for election want to represent you, not control you.
Featured image via the Canary
