Spelthorne Labour Councillors quit and may link up with far-left TUSC

 

Two Corbyn supporting Labour Coucillors in Spelthorne have quit the Labour party and formed an "Independent Labour Group". Surrey Live reports:

Spelthorne Borough Council has lost half of its Labour Party councillors, who claim they were forbidden from showing any support for former national party leader Jeremy Corbyn.

The former group leader Veena Siva, and former deputy Jenny Vinson, said they are stepping down due to misgivings about current leader Keir Starmer, who they claim "has succeeded in tearing the party apart".

Spelthorne Labour said they should give up their seats on the council, and expect them to repay their campaign expenses on quitting the party, 20 months after election.

Cllrs Siva and Vinson say they will remain on Spelthorne Borough Council (SBC) in a new independent group, and "continue to defend policies promised to their ward residents" in 2019.

Their joint statement claimed (extracts):

After a great deal of agonising and soul-searching, we have been left with no option but to resign from the Labour Party.

For some months now we have been concerned about the direction the party has taken, as we see Keir Starmer and other members of the shadow cabinet row back on a number of policies in the Labour manifesto. This includes pledges Keir Starmer himself made in his leadership campaign with respect to social and economic justice, human rights, and uniting the party, to name but a few.......

Furthermore, instead of uniting the party, Keir Starmer has endorsed the decision to suspend Jeremy Corbyn. As a result, a number of Constituency Labour Parties (CLPs) have passed motions of no confidence in Keir Starmer and David Evans, general secretary of the Labour Party.

The final straw, which led us to leave the Labour Party, has been the suppression of free speech, debate and democracy in the party. Evans issued emails preventing CLPs from tabling motions showing solidarity with Jeremy Corbyn or calling for the restoration of the whip. CLPs and members have been threatened with suspension if they exercise their democratic right to table these 'forbidden' motions or even discuss the topics concerning them.

Showing their true political colours the Socialist Party (Militant) has announced:

Two Spelthorne Borough councillors; Veena Siva, Jenny Vinson, and CLP chair Sue Bryer, have resigned from the Labour party ahead of May's local council elections. They have entered into discussions with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition about standing as part of the coalition.

The TUSC is a coalition of the far-left anti-Labour Party that includes the Socist Party, Socialist Workers Party and the RMT trade union.

By linking up with organisations that are opposed to and committed to overthrowing parliamentary democracy these two councillors have crossed the line into political extremism and illustrate why the hard line tendency that they were part of does not belong in the Labour Party.