Labour councillor’s anger over selection “shambles”

A COUNCILLOR who was de-selected during Labour’s controversial “night of the long knives” at Warrington has spoken of his anger and bewilderment at what happened.
Cllr Paul Bretherton, who represents Rixton and Woolston says has outlined his anger in a letter to Cllr Terry O’Neill, leader of the borough council.
He says he is “bewildered” by the way he and others who had worked hard in their respective communities were sidelined suddenly and without justification.
He said: “For the most part I blame this on the long running and festering arguments which have blighted the Labour party in the town, continuing to this current day and which regrettably, have always provided a free gift to the local Conservatives and Liberals.
“From what I have witnessed at extremely close quarters this past decade, is the damaging relationship between the Labour group of councillors and the Warrington North MP (Helen Jones).
“This can be described at best as dysfunctional, and at worst, poisonous.  “Importantly, I would like to make it clear that I lay absolutely no blame at your door, or the Labour group of councillors for this infuriating sideshow.
“Over time I may have naively expected this relationship to improve, whether in the spirit of comradeship, or a real desire to  prioritise the focus on delivering a better council experience for local residents.
“Instead I have seen it only decline, ominously, further and deeper into the abyss.
“The decision to select a number of local election candidates on the basis that they are in the paid employment of the Warrington North MP, such as Morgan Tarr in Orford and Andrew Hill in Rixton and Woolston would seem to reinforce the view that the divisions that currently exist are now only set to degenerate further.”
Cllr Bretherton sayhs he had hoped there would be a damage limitation exercise following the “selection meeting shambles”.
But instead there has been a “deafening silence.”
“I do not think that I am alone in reaching the conclusion that surely now is the time for senior local Warrington Labour party figures to re-examine their own attitudes and behaviours towards each other,
and conclude as to whether this decades long, senseless atmosphere of hostility and undercurrent of sheer vindictiveness that permeates throughout, benefits the people of Warrington or merely massages certain individual’s egos.”
Cllr Bretherton says he hopes his comments will act as a wake-up call and provide a catalyst for real change in the future direction of Labour in Warrington.
“Recent actions locally, and the questionable direction of travel of the party nationally right now are making many people that I have been speaking to, openly question for the first time about whom they should be giving their vote to in future.”
The councillor says he has always prided himself on being a party loyalist and will continue to serve his community professionally, diligently and courteously until the elections in May and continue to promote the Labour ethos which, until recently, he had believed in.
Cllr Bretherton has been a councillor since 2007.
Fellow Rixton and Woolston councillor Bill Brinksman, who was also de-selected, has been expelled from the Labour Party after he decided to stand as an independent candidate in the elections.