Do councillor resignations spell trouble for Starmer?

Eleven councillors in Burnley, including the council leader, have resigned from Labour over its stance on the conflict in Gaza and Israel, describing membership as “untenable”. They support a ceasefire and council leader Afrasiab Anwar has called for Keir Starmer to resign.

While Labour remains the largest group on Burnley council, it has fallen from 22 of 45 seats to 12. The resigned councillors will sit as independents. The constituency is represented by Andrew Higginbottom, a Conservative who took the seat from Labour in 2019 with a narrow majority, and Labour has picked Oliver Ryan to fight the seat next year. It’s considered a likely Labour gain, although the turmoil on the council will not be making things simpler for Ryan and his campaign.

The news suggests headlines about internal party tensions will continue this week. Yesterday pro-ceasefire protestors gathered outside the constituency office of Shadow Health Secretary Wes Streeting. After Starmer’s speech at Chatham House last week setting out his firm opposition to ceasefires, for now at least, internal pressure seems unlikely to have much impact, with Starmer appearing more responsive to the actions of US president Joe Biden.

There is also support for Starmer’s position, with the Jewish Labour Movement and Labour Friends of Israel yesterday penning a joint letter to Labour councillors stating they “wholeheartedly support the position”. Highlighting a rise in Islamophobia and antisemitism, the letter calls on councillors to take a leadership position and notes: “Protecting all minority communities (and safeguarding the reputation of the party) is all our duty.”

Selections: New seats and a guilty MP

Another week, more selections. If you’re very quick – applications close at noon today – you might just make the bidding to be Labour’s candidate in the new border seat of Penrith and Solway, and you have a few days yet to apply for Earley and Woodley, another new seat stuck together from bits of Reading and Wokingham. Rachel Eden, a local councillor, has announced that she will be seeking selection in the seat.

Further south, in East Worthing and Shoreham, the selection is at the shortlisting stage, and local councillors Cat Arnold and Carl Walker have both announced their failure to make the long list, as has Stuart Brady, who fought Loughborough in 2019. Taking the council in Worthing, which Labour did last year, was an achievement long in the making, and one imagines the (as it looks like there may well be) lack of local councillors on the shortlist will draw some ire from the local party. Labour advisor Scott Gilfillan has, he has announced, made the shortlist.

Attentive readers of our site will know that last week we spent some time covering the selection in Beckenham and Penge. We’re expecting a longlist to emerge later this week, but in the meantime there’s been a development on the other side of things that’s sure to have some impact: Bob Stewart, the current Conservative MP for Beckenham, who has been selected to fight the new Beckenham and Penge seat next year, has been found guilty of a racially aggravated public order offence.  The conviction is unlikely to impact Stewart’s status as an MP, but in electoral as well as moral terms it is, as Humza Yousaf might say, “not great“.

In other Labour news…

GOVERNMENT SLACKING: Before tomorrow’s King’s speech, Labour has published new research showing parliament has consistently knocked off early and across this session 134 hours of parliamentary time have gone unused. Shadow Leader of the House Lucy Powell said: “Whilst the government flails around, Labour MPs are desperate to use this time the Tories are wasting. Labour has a plan for a mission-led government.”

DOLPHIN’S TRIUMP: Conservative MP Lee Anderson has had to issue an apology about statements he made on Twitter/X about an NHS doctor, Tom Dolphin, and will also be paying just under two grand to the BMA’s strike fund. Please like and share!