North East mayor Kim McGuinness branded Reform UK “charlatans” as Labour mounted a fresh attack on Nigel Farage ahead of a local election showdown, writes Local Democracy Reporter, Daniel Holland.
The upcoming polls on May 7 could radically reshape the region’s political landscape, with ‘all out’ elections threatening Labour’s grip in power in Newcastle, Sunderland, Gateshead, and South Tyneside.
Pollsters predict that Sir Keir Starmer’s party is on course for severe losses across the UK, while Mr Farage has forecast victory in both Sunderland and Gateshead for Reform.
Standing in front of a Labour campaign van bearing the Clacton MP’s face and the words “not on your side” on Thursday lunchtime, Ms McGuinness told Labour councillors and activists on the Newcastle Quayside that Reform were “charlatans who will lie and cheat their way into power”.
The mayor clashed with Mr Farage last week over her plans to create 10,000 new jobs in the region’s wind farm sector, while Labour has also alleged this week that Reform would pose a threat to promised regeneration works in Gateshead.
A Reform spokesman called the attack “desperate” and said Labour was facing “near total wipeout” in the North East.
Ms McGuinness told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “We have already heard Reform say they simply don’t believe in energy and green jobs. The message is ‘drill, baby, drill’. That message would cost this region 25,000 jobs that already exist. They do not care about the people of this region.
“So when we are starting to think about the major regeneration projects and places like Gateshead town centre that desperately need attention, building Crown Works, we have done all the work we can ahead of time to stop anybody interfering in that and make sure we are delivering for the region.
“I will not let them stand in the way. But we have to be realistic – they are a risk, they are a threat. Those things are not in Reform’s interests, their interests are in dividing people and not uniting people.”
Ms McGuinness defended Labour’s record in power since the 2024 general election, but said she understood that voters felt the pace of change was “slower than they want to see”.
She praised the lifting of the two-child child benefit cap, reduced NHS waiting lists, and fare caps on buses and the Tyne and Wear Metro.
A shift in power among the region’s councils could potentially have major implications for Ms McGuinness’ own agenda.
Currently, her cabinet is made up of five Labour council leaders and one each from the Conservatives and Reform.
Asked if she feared the potential for more Reform faces in her cabinet to derail her manifesto promises, the mayor said: “I would sincerely hope that anyone elected to a council would respect the mandate that the people of this region directly voted for. They voted directly to bring our buses under public control, to reduce our costs on the Metro, to tackle the cost of living crisis, to increase the number of green jobs, to create more culture, to lean into the pride in this region that people so desperately feel… that is what people voted for and I would hope anybody elected would respect that mandate.”
Mr Farage chose Houghton-le-Spring to launch Reform’s local elections push last week and described the May 7 polls as a “referendum on Keir Starmer and this Labour government”.
A Reform spokesman said on Thursday: “Labour’s lies are getting desperate. They know they face near total wipeout in the North East because they’ve betrayed voters time and time again.
“They promised no taxes rises on working people, yet hammered them anyway and vowed to smash the smuggling gangs, yet presided over record illegal migration. In May, Labour will finally face the reckoning they deserve at the ballot box.”
Daniel Holland
Reporter for the Local Democracy Reporter Service.
South West Durham News covering news across County Durham.
