The citizens’ assembly aiming to ‘get the people back in charge’ in the North East

The Canary recently attended a people’s assembly in Newcastle involving former North of Tyne mayor Jamie Driscoll, his local party Majority, and Assemble. The theme was empowering ordinary people and putting them front and centre in the fight for a better country and world. And Driscoll said this is essential at a time when Keir Starmer’s Labour has left a big void in British politics with its massive shift rightwards.

At the packed event in the beautiful Discovery Museum, people living locally discussed the issues they’re facing and what potential solutions could be:

And the Canary sat in on one of the discussions attendees were having.

Assembly raises local issues that resonate nationally

The youngest voices on the table outlined the local challenges in Newcastle with particular clarity. Despite having experienced the negative effects of anti-social behaviour directly, they insisted on the importance of focusing on the reasons behind such behaviour. And one key reason was that there are very few places for young people to hang out with each other. The feeling was that the lack of funding for youth clubs, and for the local area in general, can contribute to a loss of pride and hope, and thus to problems like littering and anti-social behaviour.

Another issue they mentioned was the lack of worker protections, largely as a result of deunionisation. The nature of work has changed significantly since Margaret Thatcher’s brutal assault on unions and industry in the 1980s, with precarious work now increasingly commonplace thanks to consistently Tory and Tory-lite governments. And people in these jobs, who are generally younger, have little union representation. In turn, the weakening of the trade union movement seems to have helped secure the growing stranglehold of Thatcherite economics in parliament. So the sentiment at the Newcastle assembly was clearly that a trade-union revolution among young and precarious workers is of great importance.

These, of course, are not just local issues. Many parts of Britain will surely recognise these issues, along with others people raised in the assembly, such as poor public transport, the severe lack of truly affordable housing, and the rising difficulty in accessing physical and mental healthcare as a result of NHS cuts and backdoor privatisation.

The vast majority of attendees came with an open mind, listening respectfully to each other and focusing on how to improve their community. And a unanimous show of hands at the end confirmed that it had been worth their time and effort.

Jamie Driscoll in Newcastle on ending corruption in politics

Speaking at the 18 May Newcastle event, Driscoll highlighted that:

A whopping 88% of Britons don’t trust political parties, not least because governments respond to the demands of big money over individual citizens. When the majority of citizens disagree with the economic elites or with organised interests, they generally lose.

One example he gave was a recent story about how the corporate lobbyists at the Food and Drink Federation succeeded in pushing the government to drop measures aiming to reduce junk food consumption.

With this in mind, he emphasised that “Majority has the Nolan Principles built into its DNA”, “on an equal footing with our political values statements” in the party’s constitution. The Nolan Principles theoretically underpin public service with honesty, incorruptibility, and accountability, but in reality are sorely lacking in British politics today.

Driscoll: Ordinary people need to be front and centre – not just in Newcastle either

Also in Majority’s DNA, Driscoll said, is that “all candidates will develop their manifesto in conjunction with the public” via assembly consultation. And on that point, he clarified that:

A citizens’ assembly isn’t just a lottery. You don’t just throw a load of ideas out and pick them out at random. It is deliberative democracy. It’s about structured evaluation of policies based on the advice and lived experience of the community. It is the wisdom of crowds.

The central role of ordinary people in the political process is not something we should fear, he insisted. Speaking about the citizens’ assembly he ran on climate change when he was North of Tyne Mayor, he stressed that “every single recommendation they came up with was practical, effective, and fair”. That’s why “trusting the public is the heart of democracy”.

Meanwhile, he criticised the wastage of resources, lack of public involvement, and the ‘we know better than you’ attitude in politics that has led to numerous failures locally, including the dodgy new Metro trains.

Labour has left a void. Social power must drive the movement to fill that space.

Regarding the purpose of the 18 May Newcastle assembly, Driscoll asserted that:

today we are kickstarting a process to get the people back in charge

He also argued that Labour’s drastic shift rightwards has left a void, saying:

the people’s party that was founded by Keir Hardie is now a pro-genocide, pro-billionaire, neoliberal party under Keir Starmer. And if we don’t fill that void, fascists will.

He lamented that “person after person that I talk to tells me that they feel politically homeless”, adding that “it is dangerous to leave a void”. With that in mind, he said:

I hope some of you here today will be brave enough to… stand up for democracy, and put the citizens’ manifesto to the people of Newcastle

With the attendees, volunteers, and campaign groups backing the assembly, he stressed:

This is what social power is.

And he insisted that an organisation to unite them and represent them in elections must be “built on social power, not sitting around passing resolutions”.

You can see the Canary’s interview with Driscoll at the 18 May event here, and watch all his speeches below:

Featured image via Jamie Driscoll