Wirral councillor Jo Bird expelled by Labour party over banned group

Councillor Jo Bird represents Bromborough ward and will now be an independent councillor

A Jewish councillor has said she is "delighted" to be expelled by the Labour party, claiming it was "racist".

Wirral Councillor Jo Bird said the action had been taken against her for speaking at a Labour Against the Witchhunt (LAW) meeting in 2018 and signing a petition in 2020.

Ms Bird said the "retrospective punishment" after Labour banned the organisation in July was "appalling".

Labour confirmed Ms Bird's expulsion on Friday.

LAW was an organisation proscribed by the party's National Executive Committee "due to it being incompatible with Labour's rules or our aims and values", a spokesman said.

The left-wing group was founded in October 2017 to "oppose the purge of pro-[Jeremy] Corbyn supporters in the Labour party", and it was one of four groups expelled by Labour in July.

'Freedom of expression'

Ms Bird, who represents Bromborough ward, said: "I'm delighted the Labour Party have expelled me.

"They say it's for speaking at a meeting more than three years ago and signing a petition in early 2020 organised by Labour Against the Witchhunt, which was banned by the Labour Party only four months ago."

The now independent councillor added: "I'm now free from the Labour Party's hostile environment, where Jewish people like me are 31 times more likely to be investigated for talking about the racism we face.

"I'm free from fear of disciplinary action for exercising my human rights to freedom of expression and freedom of association - to speak and meet with other people."

She said LAW was a "legitimate organisation just like hundreds of thousands of other organisations which are part of a healthy democracy".

"This racist Labour party is so different to the party I joined in 2015," she added.

The Labour party has not responded to Ms Bird's comments.

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