Labour's spiteful reaction to defections to the Green Party in perspective. Defectors speak out as they form second opposition group in size

 

 

 

The Brent Labour Party rushed out a message to members when they got wind of potential defections to the Green Party  today, instructing members to treat the defectors as political opponents and enforcing a 24 hour lockdown on members making any comments publicly.

 

The first officical comment was to the BBC is above and rather spiteful. In contrast this is what Zack Polanski said at the Press Conference:

 

 

 

Contrary to the Labour comments, there is a thorough established process on accepting potential defectors to the Green Party looking at their record and establishing their understanding and adherence to Green values. The usual checks are made on social media and elsewhere.

 

There are interviews at both local and regional level and the national party is consulted. Not all applicants make it through the process.  The process is friendly, but challenging.

 

Fortunately the Brent Green Party has issued statements from all the councillors so people can make uo their own minds.

 

 

 

 

 

From Brent Green Party 

 

Following a surge in the polls and with membership growing to over 180,000 in just a few months, the Green Party is today announcing the biggest block defection yet to the Greens, with 5 Labour councillors coming over to the Green Party,  

The 5 Brent Councillors are: 

  Cllr Harbi Farah (Former Labour Cabinet Member, Welsh Harp) 

Cllr Iman (Former Labour Party Whip, Wembley Park) 

Cllr Mary Mitchell (Welsh Harp) 

Cllr Tony Ethapemi (Stonebridge) 

Cllr Erica Gbajumo (Brondesbury Park) 

 

These latest defections come on the back of seven previous defections in London alone since September, with two in Southwark in the last month.  

Zack Polanski, Leader of The Green Party of England & Wales, said:  

The Green surge has just widened in London. What we’re witnessing in Brent mirrors what we’re hearing across the country on doorsteps and in polls. Good Labour councillors can see Labour has abandoned any sense of progressive politics and is showing absolute cowardice in its doomed attempt to out Reform, Reform with the politics of division and scapegoating.   

Increasingly, people are finding the alternative they need by joining the Green Party and working for a better world shaped by hope rather than fear. 

In the elections in May, it is the Greens who will be taking the fight to Reform and we show our intent today in Brent. This is just the start.”  

Brent Green Party said:

Brent is the most diverse borough in London, rich in history and culture, yet years of Labour and Tory austerity have taken a heavy toll. Services continue to shrink, in-work poverty is rising, families are under pressure, and local businesses face growing uncertainty. In one of the world’s wealthiest cities, such inequality is indefensible. 

By joining the Brent Green Party, Tony, Iman, Mary, Erica and Harbi are now able to speak out and push back. They are dedicated councillors who work hard for their communities, and Brent Greens stand ready to support them as they fight to put the needs of residents back at the heart of local government. 

Statements from Councillors 

 

 

Cllr Iman Ahmadi-Moghaddam (Former Labour Party Whip) 

Ward: Wembley Park 

I joined Labour to build a fairer society, but Starmer’s government has abandoned any ambition to change the system. This government has doubled down on austerity whilst the cost of living devastates families, sides with big developers instead of fixing Brent’s housing crisis, and scapegoats migrants to distract from its own failures. And whilst Israel commits genocide in Gaza, this government arms the perpetrators and criminalises peaceful protest. 

 

Throughout my time as a Councillor, I stood up for and organised for Palestine, for renters’ rights, leaseholders’ rights, for human rights, for an end to austerity, and for a fairer Wembley Park and Brent.  

 

I am joining the Green Party, which is now home to the values of compassion, social justice and community power. I will continue serving Brent with those values at my core. 

 

Cllr Mary Mitchell 

Ward: Welsh Harp 

I’ve been a Labour party member for a decade, and a Labour councillor for four years. I have always believed that a Labour Party in power was worth fighting for. 

Instead the Labour Party has left the values that I stand for, and what the Party historically has stood for and achieved. 

In copying far-right policy and rhetoric on migration, scrapping jury trials and the draconian policing of protest, we have seen the Labour Party move to the right.  

In downgrading investment in the energy transition and deepening fossil-fuel interests, the party has gone against manifesto promises on tackling climate change and nature depletion.  

The appalling complicity in Israel’s genocidal actions in Gaza and suspension from the party of those who call this out is a stain on Labour’s historic record of free speech and human rights advocacy. 

Where positive change has happened it has been tinkering around the edges. Yet the challenges that we face as a nation, and locally, are so significant that we require systematic change. I no longer believe that the Labour Party is capable of, or willing to fight for, the level of change it historically brought about. 

In the Green Party, I find a party that recognises the interconnectedness of people and planet and the importance of radical systems change. 

I know many residents I represent will welcome this news. It is a privilege to be part of a new era of Green Politics in Brent, and to give Brent residents a real choice at the ballot box for a greener, fairer future. 

 

Cllr Harbi Farah (Former Cabinet Leader for Safer Communities) 

Wards: Welsh Harp 

For many years, the Labour Party was my political home. It was a place I deemed represented the ideals of social justice, equality, and collective well-being. I dedicated my public life and my hope to the vision of a fairer Britain, one where the most vulnerable were protected and the powerful were held accountable. 

Over recent years, however, an overwhelming and accumulating sense of disappointment has taken hold. This decision to leave the Labour Party is not one made lightly, but out of necessity and a deep-seated conviction that theparty no longer serves the principles it once championed. 

My primary disillusionment stems from what feels like a consistent pattern of broken manifesto promises. We were offered a transformative agenda, a genuine shift in power dynamics, but time and again, when faced with political headwinds or internal pressures, those commitments seemed to vanish such as welfare reform, scapegoating immigrant, race to the far right, scrapping jury trials and silencing internal debate dissent  

The gap between rhetoric and reality widened into an unbridgeable chasm. It became increasingly difficult to reconcile my values with a party that appeared to compromise on core principles for the sake of perceived electability, often leaving the most radical and necessary changes behind. 

I am leaving the Labour Party because my values have not 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.  

My hope now rests with the Green Party. I look forward to working alongside others who share an unwavering commitment to a compassionate, sustainable, and truly socialist future for our country. 

 

  

Cllr Tony Ethapemi 

Ward: Stonebridge 

 

I left the Labour Party because the party is no-longer the Party I joined over twenty-five years ago. Over time it has let me down in the values we shared - fairness, social justice, humanity and democracy. These principles guided my involvement and inspired my commitment, but I no longer feel they are upheld in the way I had hoped. The party I thought was broad and inclusive is no longer, it has lurched to the far right. 

 

The Green Party now reflects my values of social justice, humanity and fairness. I have in recent times been inspired by the socialist values imbibed by the leader of the Green Party and desire to serve the community as a Green Party member. 

 

Cllr Erica Gbajumo 

Ward: Brondesbury Park 

After nearly twenty years of membership, I have taken the difficult decision to resign from the Labour Party. Over time, I have felt that the party I joined has changed in both tone and direction, moving away from the values and principles that originally inspired my involvement.  

I have also grown increasingly concerned about the internal culture of the party, which in my experience has become more centralised and restrictive, leaving less space for open debate and genuine representation. 

My responsibility is to act with integrity and to put the residents I represent first. After careful reflection, I believe the Green Party offers a clearer and more consistent commitment to social justice, community wellbeing, and accountable politics. It is for these reasons that I will continue my work as a councillor under a new political home.