Around 20 councillors from Broxtowe Borough Council, including the council leader, have resigned from the Labour Party in protest against Keir Starmer’s leadership.
The councillors, who were previously part of a 26-member Labour group, plan to form a new independent party and temporarily manage the borough council as a minority administration.
The decision to resign follows Labour’s refusal to allow 10 councillors to stand in the upcoming Nottinghamshire County Council elections in May, after they criticised the party’s cuts to the winter fuel allowance.
Council leader Milan Radulovic, who had been with Labour for 42 years, described the decision as “utterly disgraceful,” leaving him in an “impossible position” and prompting his departure from the party.
Radulovic also condemned Labour’s proposed local government reorganisation, stating that the concentration of power in fewer hands and the potential abolition of local democracy would lead to a “dictatorship.”
In a joint statement, the group of councillors accused Starmer’s leadership of abandoning traditional Labour values.
They pointed to several issues including cuts to the winter fuel allowance, the retention of the two-child benefit cap, increased bus fares, the ‘betrayal’ of Waspi women, and what they saw as a weak response to the genocide in Gaza.
Additionally, one Nottinghamshire county councillor and over 100 local party members have also resigned from Labour.
The ongoing resignations highlight growing discontent with Labour’s policies under Starmer and reflect a broader dissatisfaction with the party’s direction.
