As recent former senior officers of the South Dorset Labour Party, it is with a degree of sadness we announce that from midnight tonight we will no longer be members of the Labour Party. We have always campaigned, represented and served the Labour Party to the best of our abilities with the sole aim of building a fairer society.
We have the utmost respect for the achievements of local Labour activists; however, the national Labour government has abysmally failed this country, the electorate, and those who need them the most. This government has failed to tackle child poverty; they have attacked pensioners and cut benefits to the disabled. Through foreign policy, they have been complicit in the massacre of thousands of Palestinian children, and even locally, government ministers have given the go ahead for the Portland Waste Incinerator.
We were concerned when Lloyd Hatton (MP, South Dorset) was imposed by the national Labour Party as our General Election candidate without having to face the due process of selection by the local membership. We were right to be concerned; our MP has failed to stand up for the people of South Dorset and has been an unapologetic supporter of Keir Starmer’s government whilst they have:
· Removed the winter fuel allowance for pensioners
· Continued the 2-child ceiling on family benefits
· Abandoned the WASPI women
· Viciously implemented disability cuts
· Inadequately responded to the genocide being perpetrated in Gaza by Israel
· Fuelled the flames of racism with Kier Starmer evoking the dark shadow of Enoch Powell
Keir Starmer, his government, and our own MP, Lloyd Hatton, have completely lost their moral compass, which has led not only to our decision to resign from the Labour Party but also to the decimation of Labour’s membership in South Dorset.
We are at a time in history where there is a fundamental shift in political attitudes. Already Jeremy Corbyn MP and Zarah Sultana MP are forming a new political party and mobilising people in their hundreds of thousands into a force that will fight for the young, the old, the sick, the disabled, the poor, the oppressed, for families, for communities, and for all the peoples of South Dorset, of this nation, and far beyond.
We intend to be part of this force.
Best wishes,
COUNCILLOR CARRALYN PARKES
Former Mayor of Portland
Portland Town Councillor
Leader – Portland Town Council Labour Group
Former Chair – Portland Town Council
Former Chair – South Dorset Labour Party
Former Secretary – Southport Labour Party
TONY PROWSE
Former Chair – South Dorset Labour Party
Ex-Councillor – Weymouth & Portland Borough Council
Ex-Councillor – Cherwell District Council
BERNY PARKES
Ex-Councillor – Portland Town Council
Former Leader – Portland Town Council Labour Group
Former Secretary – South Dorset Labour Party
Former Chair – Dorset Unison
Ex-Councillor – Sefton Metropolitan Borough Council
