Seventh Hastings councillor quits Labour to join new group

Nigel Sinden says he wants to be able to "speak up" for his residents

A seventh councillor on Hastings Borough Council has resigned from Labour and joined an independent group.

Nigel Sinden said he had followed council leader Paul Barnett and five others so he could "speak up" for the residents of his Silverhill ward.

The group previously said Labour no longer provided the "policies" or "support" they needed.

A Labour party representative said "gesture politics" had driven the council "to the brink of bankruptcy".

Mr Sinden said he would now be part of the Hastings Independents group on the council and could now "speak up for myself" on residents' concerns without "putting a political party's views first" or "being told what to do".

"As an independent, I can now involve others to get things done," he added.

Mr Sinden joins Mr Barnett and fellow councillors Maya Evans, Andy Batsford, John Cannan, Ali Roark and Simon Willis in the group.

They said Labour no longer provided the "policies, support or focus on local government" they needed.

The Labour representative said the group's "performative gesture politics" had driven the council "to the brink of bankruptcy".

They said under Sir Keir Starmer's leadership, the party had changed "fundamentally" and the "fact that these councillors, all hold-outs from the previous regime, no longer feel the Labour Party is their home is conclusive proof of that".

Hastings Borough Council, which Labour runs as a minority administration, declined to comment.

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