Rebel claims Labour “lost the plot”

CLAIMS from rebel councillor Kevin Bennett that his former colleagues in the Labour Party on Warrington Borough Council have “lost the plot,” have been strongly refuted.

Cllr Bennett, the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition councillor for Fairfield and Howley was responding to the news that Cllr Tony Higgins had remained the Chair of Warrington North Labour Party when his name was pulled out of a hat.

“What I have been told by Labour sources is astonishing,” said Cllr Bennet. “Labour members were unable to reach a decision on who should be elected as the chair of their local party and so ended up drawing names out of a hat!”

“By allowing Cllr Tony Higgins to remain in post, the Warrington Labour Party have lost the plot,” he added.

He claimed some councillors actually boycotted the meeting in protest at Cllr Higgins even being allowed to enter the race.

“The divisions in Labour are deeper than ever.”

“Their internal feuds are getting more and more bitter and it is the people of this town who suffer as a result.”

Cllr Tony Higgins (pictured left) declined to comment but Labour colleague Hitesh Patel, Labour’s media spokesperson on the borough council said:”I am not a member of the Warrington North Labour constituency and so I was not at the meeting but colleagues have told me that they totally reject Kevin’s account to you.

“It was an “all member” meeting to elect a number of different positions, one of which was the Chair.

“As per the Party rules any Labour Party member can put themselves forward to be a candidate and that is regardless if the sitting incumbent is an elected Councillor.

“In the eyes of the Party, all members are equal. There were two candidates for the position of Chair and after the first ballot the votes were tied. There was then a re-vote, which resulted in the same tie.

“Therefore to bring matters to a fair conclusion the presiding officials (from the Labour Party’s national office) decided to draw a name out of a hat.

“This is nothing different to what happens in formal elections, where the presiding officer has to find a way to make a decision in the event of an electoral tie.

“We reject the accusation that the meeting was conducted in anything other than an orderly manner; Party members were home by just after 8pm.”

*Cllr Higgins and Cllr Bennett both represent the Fairfield and Howley ward, alongside former Mayor Peter Carey.