County council pair quit Labour

After a general election battering in County Durham, the Labour Party is facing further problems after a pair of county councillors announced they were quitting the party.

Jude Grant and Peter Brookes represent the Trimdon and Thornley ward within Tony Blair’s former Sedgefield constituency, which fell to the Conservative Party in last week’s poll.

But despite Jeremy Corbyn’s confirmation he will stand down as leader after overseeing the loss of 59 seats, both said they could not continue as Labour members and would instead sit as independent councillors.

In an open letter posted on Twitter, they said: “The Labourleaderandhisteamdidn’t have anything to offer them except unicorns and fantasy, yet abused people when they chosenottosignuptoworship at the altar of Corbynism.

“Unlike the current Labour leadership, we still believe in the traditional Labour values of fairness, equality, aspiration and patriotism at our core.

“Unfortunately, the current Labour Party has left us, abandoned these traditional values and moved to the far left. To a place where we and local voters cannot and should not have to go.”

The letter, posted on the night of December 16, blamed Labour’s dismal election campaign on a ‘hard left cult of Corbyn’ which had taken over the party.

“Those of us who tried to warn Labour what was to come if they continued down this path have been ignored and at worst silenced.”

And it also claimed they had been ‘warned’ not to comment publicly on the ‘current leadership’.

The Labour Party has been contacted for comment.