Resignation statement damning of lack of policies and vision
The leadership of Hastings Council has announced its resignation from the Labour Party to form a Hastings Independents group. A statement from the group summarising their reasons reads:
After long and careful consideration, we have made the difficult decision today to leave the Labour Party and become independent councillors.
There are many reasons, but our view is that standing up for Hastings, and especially for our residents, will be much easier as independents.
The national Labour Party no longer provides us with the policies, the support or the focus on local government that we need given the many local issues we are committed to tackling.
We will now concentrate on standing up for Hastings, to work in partnership with all those who are passionate to drive our town forward, and our work in our communities, which is why we all became councillors.
As a group, we will not be making any further comment until the New Year.
Cllr Paul Barnett Leader of the Council
Cllr Maya Evans Deputy Leader of the Council
Cllr Andy Batsford Cabinet member
Cllr John Cannan Cabinet member
Cllr Ali Roark Cabinet member
Cllr Simon Willis Cabinet member
HASTINGS INDEPENDENTS
The Hastings cabinet consisted last year of six Labour and two Green councillors, but the coalition fell apart with the Greens ‘booted out’. Labour was already a minority on the council, but the largest party with fifteen out of thirty-two councillors. Now the party has less than a third of Hastings councillors, having already lost Norwich, Oxford and Burnley councils over outrage at Keir Starmer’s support for Israeli war crimes. It remains to be seen in the new year whether the genocide in Gaza is among the Hastings group’s ‘many reasons’.
Update: Statements by two of the councillors include Gaza among the reasons for their resignation:
Statement Cllr John Cannan, Wishing Tree Ward, Hastings Borough Council
Cabinet Member and Chair of the Charity Committee
14th December 2023
In May 2022 I was extremely proud to be elected as Labour Councillor for Wishing Tree Ward. I worked hard to get elected and received great support from the Labour Group. That same group of Labour comrades provided me with so much encouragement as I found my feet as a new Councillor. Since that time I have worked hard for the residents of Wishing Tree advocating for them across a broad range of issues.
In October 2022 I was delighted to be invited to join Cabinet as Chair of The Charity Committee. It’s been a real pleasure to work with a cabinet group of such talented, energetic, creative, and hardworking people. I have thoroughly enjoyed the journey described above which is why it has been such a difficult decision for me to make to resign from the Labour party with immediate effect.
Unfortunately, during the time I describe above the Labour Party Leadership and officials have moved the party away from the core values that I hold dear; protecting the most vulnerable, fairness, co-operatively working for the common good, protecting the interests of workers, cherishing the NHS, green policies to fight climate change, international co-operation to name a few. This has been evidenced by a failure to support striking workers and their unions, rowing back on green investment, support for the continued privatisation of the NHS and an appalling response to the tragedy currently taking place in Gaza.
At a local level unelected party officials have undermined Hastings Borough Council leadership over and over again. They vetoed a popular co-operation agreement with the Green Party. They have prevented popular local politicians from applying to stand as the local MP and have ‘parachuted in’ their favoured candidate. What does all this say about local democracy? They have blocked the deputy leader of the Council from standing as a councillor in the forthcoming local election. Where once there was a broad church receptive to ideas from all perceived wings of the party, there is now a narrow-minded vindictiveness directed at those on the left.
I wouldn’t join the Labour Party as it presents and operates today, hence this decision.
I look forward to working with the very talented group of newly independent Councillors who, I know, will put what is best for Hastings at the very core of everything they do.
Statement by Cllr. Maya Evans, Hollington Ward, Hastings Borough Council
Deputy Leader of the Council, Cabinet member for Regeneration & Climate Change
14th December 2023
I would like to announce my resignation of the Labour whip.
I was proudly elected councillor for Hollington ward in 2018 and have taken great pride and honour in serving my residents. Hollington has proven to me the importance of community solidarity and how people who have been given the least in life, often give the most when it comes to helping others. I have been both humbled and inspired by residents who have twice elected me to represent them on the council, and to be the change they want to see.
Over the last few years, it has become increasingly apparent that the Labour Party has moved away from many of its core values and principles. To woo the Tory vote the Labour Party has lost its way, leaning into right wing policies and rhetoric which has become increasingly difficult to publicly justify and support.
I understand that Labour’s current election strategy is to mirror the Tories, and although I want rid of the current abhorrent Government, I cannot continue to volunteer hundreds of hours to an organisation which no longer represents working people, no longer stands up for the persecuted and oppressed, and no longer has a vision to radically improve life for a huge portion of society who are on low incomes, marginalised and vulnerable. I know lots of Labour supporters will feel confusion and maybe even anger at my decision, however it has now become impossible to continue with integrity.
Locally we have been micromanaged by Westminster centric unelected Labour Party officials who have barely visited Hastings let alone understand the town and its residents. The national Labour Party has denied Hastings’ members the right to select their own parliamentary candidate and selection of councillors; and there is now a well-established national pattern of the Labour Party blocking people of colour from leadership positions. It appears unelected Labour officials now have a very fixed idea around who is electable, sadly this tends not to favour people of colour, working class people, or local people from the community. I have personally been blocked by the Labour Party from standing as an MP and also to re-stand as a councillor, reasons given were spurious.
Labour’s policy position on Gaza has been completely unforgiveable, from not supporting a ceasefire, to silencing politicians from speaking out, expelling an MP, unofficially instructing councillors not to attend peace marches, and enforcing a three-line whip which led to the resignation of 10 Labour MP shadow ministers. To date 18,000 Palestinians have been killed in Gaza, 7,000 of which were children. To stay silent is to not support humanity.
I will continue to work hard for my residents as a Hastings Independent councillor, I will continue to uphold the values and principles I was elected upon, moreover I will continue to put Hastings first, prioritising everything I do for the furtherment of the town and its residents.
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How many of these 6 independent councillors are up for election in May24
Here is the current situation in Hastings.
Conservative – 11
Labour – 9
Hastings Independents – 6
Green – 5
Reform UK – 1
Total – 32
I wonder what the May24 elections will bring.
“I wonder what the 24 May election (in Hastings) will bring”
The party you defend steveh is on a path to voter boycott.
It’s not just Gaza, although ‘as Malik reminds us, what is happening in the Middle East is just two or three steps away for some of the British population. As for the party’s contempt towards its grassroots, it is hard to see Starmer’s policy of radical devolution of powers from Whitehall surviving contact with the trappings of power. In quite a few instances, the machinery has been unable even to tolerate its own party constituencies choosing their preferred candidates.’
Hastings, Liverpool, Enfield is just the start of the start.
Anybody surprised to see the jilted schoolgirl return so she can be the first one to chime in the usual scorned drivel?
No, me neither. Still…at least it didn’t include the usual lost deposits swipe.
How many’s that now, wee gobshite? How many common & garden members are spewing keef the toerag, as well as local councillors, hmm?
All of them for a chance of the vote of some mid-upper-class inbreds from deepest, darkest twottshire, who’s dad-cum-brother got off with a charge of sexually molesting woodland creatures in 2012 cos keef said there wasn’t enough evidence…
It’s a fair swap.
Toffee – Awww diddums, did you want to be first. 😔
I commented on the above article over 2 hours after it was published.
Why would I, or anyone else, mention ‘lost deposits’ when unlike PPCs there is no requirement for prospective councillors to pay a deposit?
For goodness sake grow up and stop embarrassing yourself.
Nobody’s arsed how longnthe post was up for before you commented. Doesn’t change the fact you were first – and will be the ONLY one to sneer at their principled stance. Something that evidently has you rattled.
Then again, I suppose these latest local councillors spewing keef’s ersatz-toerag clique don’t really matter, do they?
Course not. Nor do all those pro-palestinian ‘potentials’ that aren’t potential anymore. Nor do the rank & file grassroots (decreasing) membership or whatever you wish to address them as
So yes, let’s see how they do next may 24th. Three from eight were reelected in Liverpool. Something you scoffed at.
3/8 = 37.5%. Replicated across the land, that’s a fair whack to be denied. Best use that tissue paper for something other than the purpose you bought in bulk for, you dirty, horrible, nonce-enabling tripehound.
Now go away. Only this time, STAY away.
Toffee – In Liverpool they also started off with 6 councillors all of whom were elected as Labour councillors and then come the election they fielded 9 candidates but only won 3. 😘
Oh. Ok then, fair enough.
33.34% is also a mighty big dent,innit?
Just think, your opinion poll bollocks rings as true as a frog because there’s NO guarantee that candidates will see out their term as a smarmerite party member.
Then there’s the 33.3% that actually get elected as independents.
Plus the alienation of the muslim vote in many marginals, added to those non-muslims who are not only sickened by smarmerist views on events in the levant, but by keef’s domestic, toerag laissez-faire attitude now being commented on (albeit in-passing, but still more than it was) by certain sectors of the client journalist MSM.
…And the closer to the election, the MSM won’t become any closer to favouring keef over the rags, not while their (fiscal) policies are identical.
Which in turn will see keef adopting an even more anti-worker, pro-corporate, pro-toerag agenda (as if it were possible) to woo the inbred chipping norton set.
Thereby further alienating grassroots support.
So come next may let’s see just how keef does. AFAIC, he reached his zenith at the last locals, when he failed to do as expected.
And his by-election record doesn’t pull up any trees.
This time next year, (keef) Rodney, I expect you to be grovelling to the scotsnats like the piss poor del boy you truly are.
And they won’t wear his austerity measures. Let alone bunk up with a war crime enabling starver of children with a contempt of Scotland and Scottish politics.
And the Caribbean Goat Herder skulks away having been well and truly Toffeed.
The Norwich City Council Labour resignations have nothing to do with anything honourable, but simple internal fixing.