Five sitting councillors in the North London borough of Brent have defected en masse from Labour to the Greens with a blast at Starmer’s party that it is “no longer serving the principles it once championed”. Greens leader Zack Polanski announced the defections on 15 December, describing it as part of a “Green surge”.

The defectors include a council cabinet member and Labour’s chief ‘Whip’: Welsh Harp councillors Mary Mitchell and Harbi Farah – Farah is ‘Cabinet Member for Safer Communities’, Jobs and Skills – chief whip and Wembley Park councillor Iman Ahmadi Moghaddam, Stonebridge’s Tony Ethapemi and Brondesbury Park’s Erica Gbajumo.

Green Party surge

In a statement, Farah said he had left Labour because the party had abandoned its principles:

I am [not] leaving the Labour Party because my values have changed; the party has. I still believe in a society structured around solidarity and genuine systemic change. I am a socialist, and I seek a political home that unambiguously champions these ideals.

It is with this renewed clarity that I have decided to join the Green Party. In the Green Party, I have found a movement that not only understands the urgency of the climate crisis but also fundamentally embraces socialist principles. The Green Party’s commitment to public ownership, wealth redistribution, strengthening public services, and championing a universal basic income aligns precisely with the socialist vision of an equitable society.

Starmer’s decision to push even further to the right than Reform UK has seen a spate of similar defections across the UK.

Featured image via the Canary

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