Sefton Council in disarray as 5 Labour Cllrs defect to form their own political group

The Labour Party have lost five of their Councillors who have defected to form their own political grouping on Sefton Council

 We believe there has been growing disenchantment with the behaviour of the Labour Leadership especially in Sefton and concern that the current Cabinet system of local governance, is being used to prevent Councillors being included in the decision-making process and so undermining local representation. The outcome has meant that the wards of the disaffected Labour Councillors have been ignored and their only recourse has been to leave the Sefton Labour Group.

 There has recently been the suspension of a Labour Councillor in Southport, who has now been forced into resigning her seat as she was up for election on 5 May and they have a new but unknown candidate in her place.

The loss of such confidence by this number of Labour members in their local leadership about the way the Council is run was further highlighted by the Conservatives at the full council meeting when they called for an investigation of Cllr. Ian Maher (Leader of the Council)  for a possible ‘Code of conduct’ breach, when he sent out a highly political letter with the council tax bills - paid for with public money – which should not be used for such purposes, as is clearly stated in the rules.

 The people of Sefton deserve better and the Conservatives have been at the forefront on issue after issue in exposing a combination of incompetence and serious misjudgements not the least of which is the £3 million per year to cover the losses at the Strand.

 The Leader of the Council Conservative Group, Tony Brough said,

“It is obvious that Sefton’s Labour group are fractured, they are having difficulty in managing their own Members who have desperately chosen to leave the group so that they might better represent their residents. All Sefton councillors share their frustration with the Labour Group’s management of the Council’s affairs. Unilateral decision making and denial of information makes scrutiny of Cabinet member decisions almost impossible – the only way to change the dynamic of Sefton Council is to vote Conservative”