Results of search for Barnhill councillors
Sharp eyed readers may have spotted that Cllr Kathleen Fraser's party designation has changed overnight from Labour to Independent.
Cllr Fraser, like her predecessor, Cllr Diana Connolly, has also been removed from her role as Deputy Mayor and membership of committees.
She continues as a member of Full Council, albeit as an Independent rather than a member of the Labour Group.
Cllr Fraser was a popular choice as Deputy Mayor, with her experience and deep community roots seen as complementing the youth and comparative inexperience of the Mayor, Cllr Ryan Hack.
Hokey-Cokey style, Cllr Diana Collymore, in the wake of a formal warning by a Labour NEC Panel at the conclusion of disciplinary proceures, was yesterday readmitted to the Labour Group.
Labour sources are unable to give further details of the reason for Cllr Fraser's adminstrative suspension as the investigation is ongoing and confidential to Cllr Fraser herself and the Labour Group.
This latest news undermines Labour Party members who wanted to challenge the London Region's decision to remove rank and file members from having a say in selecting candidates to fight the 2026 council election.
Instead, selection will be be made by assessors from outside the borough and imposed candidates are expected to be in place by the end of July. See an account on Labour Hub Brent Labour members denied the right to choose candidates as Partyapparatus takes control of council selections
36 comments:
Wow. Who will be next? Perhaps the Leader next time?
To lose 1 Deputy Mayor may be unlucky - to lose two is sheer incompetence. It is hardly surprising that even the Labour Regional Party has lost confidence in the way the Labour Party and Labour Group in Brent is being run.
It is time to kick out Labour and put the letter 'R' back into Brent!
Why are you saying the mayor is inexperienced due to his age? Ageist much? Age is a protected characteristic in law.
So another working class Labour Councillor bites the dust. Social (Political?) engineering from Starmer's (or is it Tatler's) Labour at its best.
20 June 2025 at 21:12 i said 'comparative' inexperience - not age. Cllr Fraser was first a councillor in the 1980s and chairing Chalkhill Residents Association and part of the Chalkhill Community Centre etc for many years. I think Ryan is an excellent activist and experience comes in many forms - one of those is experience over time.
Well done Kathy on making the right move of leaving the blood red party
This is what happens in a "one-party-borough".
It's the voters' choice to make and give a borough a functioning opposition.
Of course experience comes with time and age, what is the matter with you 😂 😂
Cllr Fraser probably, and most likely, had a value that she stayed true too. They certainly wouldn’t like that.
Fraser was a one woman opposition before she even became a Cllr
What exactly is the point of another Deputy Mayor other than spending taxpayers money on another unnecessary allowance for a Labour Councillor paid by the local taxpayers. When the Council cannot find the money needed to keep our streets clean or pavements made safe is not the time to waste money on an unnecessary position.
I hope the Brent Labour Party will not be so daft as to try and impose another Deputy Mayor on us - much better to save the money and avoid another scandal.
Don't the Labour Councillors have to make a contribution to the Labour Party based on the amount of allowance they receive?
Yes, they have to pay 2% of gross allowances to the Labour Party, so the Labour Party will be keen to get another deputy mayor...
https://labour.org.uk/wp-content/uploads/2023/07/Guide-to-updating-group-returns.pdf
Whats the story why “Cllr Kathleen Fraser's party designation has changed overnight from Labour to Independent” - surely as the public voted for her as a Labour representative we should be allowed to know? It someone is deemed not fit to be a Labour councillor, and we know their quality vary, how do we determine that they are fit for general office and that we might need to petition their removal for a byelection? Please can the editor or Cllr Lorber do some digging.
Investigation and suspension can be over all manner of issues and can of course be unfounded allegations or malicious rumours or much else. In Labour it can even be an independent opinion or judgement that is contrary to Labour policy. Hopefully the investigation will be a fair process and the outcome communicated to the public. Unevidenced speculation won't help a fai process.
Virtually impossible to get a local councillor removed from office - one Brent Councillor is apparently in USA but keeps their job!
Hopefully fair? Without clear information, it’s hard to trust the process or the motives. Political parties often protect their own interests, so silence and secrecy is more of a tool to control or hide problems. Either way, the public deserves answers, not just quiet suspensions and this is the type of practice that feeds Reform.
They even took the time to scrub her from Brent Labour’s profile’s pages! https://www.brentlabour.co.uk/profile/
Who?
We’ll have to review all their attendance records and create a list of likely contenders
Sonia Shah - my Labour Councillor For Wembley Central - hardly ever around and Labour cover up for her to keep residents in the dark. I never see her doing anything for our area anymore even though the area is filthy, full of spitting and drinking with crumbling pavements and roads through Labour neglect. She should have resigned long time ago but getting £14,000 for doing virtually nothing is too good to give away.
I think it is more like 10%! If you tot up the numbers the Brent Labour Party is collecting around £100,000 a year! That is why there are 10 Labour Lead members in the Cabinet even though Brent now only has 5 Chief Officers
We may find out eventually. Unfortunately the public cannot demand a resignation through a Petition or similar and getting an elected Councillor removed is not easy. They can get disqualified if they become bankrupt or imprisoned. As already reported by Martin the Labour Party is so concerned about the conduct and running of the Brent Labour Party that they have taken away their right to be involved in the selection of their candidates in the May 2026 local election. We expect to see a lot of Starmer clones as a result.
Expect a lot of Labour deselections and probably a lot of defections to the Greens with the usual comment "I have been a Socialist all my life but Labour is no longer the Party I joined and campaigned for". Amazing how a deselection and the need to hang on to a £14,000 allowance motivates people to revise their loyalties and principles.
They’re more likely to join the lib dems, due to the shared politics
Would the Lib Dems welcome them after all the vitriol they have faced from our Brent Labour Councillors?
Thanks for asking. NO - Anyone wanting to join us better have some principled reasons and not just because they were deselected.
Re Anon 14.13 Cllr Sonia Shah has to attend only Full Council (every councllor has to attend) and one of the Scrutiny Committees. Her attendance this year is 50% at both: https://democracy.brent.gov.uk/mgAttendance.aspx?UID=13942
Would Greens welcome them?
Any socialists in Brent Labour to join th Greens? Let’s here from Lewisham this week.
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My Resignation from the Labour party
After over 10 years of membership, I am resigning from Labour and joining the Green party, which I will now represent on Lewisham Council. Labour is a party I have served, campaigned for and represented for several years. But the party I joined is unrecogniseable from what it has become. I joined after the 2015 Tory General Election victory because I wanted to see a change in our society. I was inspired by the leadership of Jeremy Corbyn who articulated an anti-austerity, democratic socialist politics that millions of people voted for in 2017 and 2019. A decade on, the Labour government has abandoned working people in service of wealthy donors, corporate lobbyists and private equity firms.
Labour under Keir Starmer has cut winter fuel payments for pensioners, rowed back on net zero, slashed welfare benefits for sick and disabled people, proudly ramped up deportations and refused to scrap the 2-child benefit cap, taking the whip from the seven MPs who took a moral stand against its shameful decision. Not content with continuing the Tory government's impunity against migrants and asylum seekers, Starmer’s Powellite ‘island of strangers’ rhetoric legitimises the far-right politics that exploded during the racist riots last year. As a councillor in London’s first Borough of Sanctuary, I cannot in good conscience remain a credible representative of this Labour Party.
This cynical, desperate strategy has allowed Reform to surge in the polls. As a committed anti-racist and anti-fascist, I believe the way to fight this threat is not to pander to it, but to confront it with a positive, eco-socialist vision. This is why I have decided to join the Greens - a party that stands up for ordinary people, that believes a better, more just society is possible and that is serious about confronting the environmental destruction of our world.
Labour’s gravest crime is its continued material, diplomatic and military support for the genocidal Israeli regime which has killed over 55,000 people, including at least 18,000 children. Labour has continued to deploy RAF surveillance flights over Gaza as well as selling weaponry and equipment used by Israel to commit war crimes against Palestinians. Even now, it continues to support the far right Netanyahu government as it escalates conflict with Iran, creating an even more dangerous regional war.
Whilst I have consistently urged the party to take action against the ongoing genocide, it has become increasingly untenable to retain my membership. I have tried to effect some small change, having seconded a motion that committed the council to ensure its pensions investments moved away from arms, human rights abuses and activities in occupied territories including Palestine. After passing the motion, I was disciplined by the Chief Whip, receiving an official warning suggesting I had brought the party into disrepute.
As many have said before me, I haven't left the Labour party, the Labour party has left me.
Cllr Liam Shrivastava
Green Councillor for New Cross Gate
Re 26 June 2025 at 19:42 There is a process to follow for any sitting councillors to 'cross the floor' that involves the local Green Party assessing the councillor and their commitment to Green values and discussing this with their Field Officer from the London Green Party before a decision is made. In Brent 'crossing the floor' isn't the right term because there are no sitting Green councillors as yet.
Any you’re tapping up?
And what's to stop them changing political parties, getting elected and then changing back to their original party? Residents deserve more say in this.
Cllr Butt was in momentum. Maybe Corbyn not being leader and the actions of Starmer will be too much for him, and he’ll cross the floor
Can't see any other political party welcoming him 🙃
Perhaps Reform? They seem to welcome anyone who has been or can get elected, however unsuitable they are to hold public office.
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