Six defectors say it is the 'beginning of the end' for Labour in city

FRUSTRATED COUNCILLORS FORM A NEW INDEPENDENT GROUP

- By OLIVER PRIDMORE

NOTTINGHAM Labour has been branded “unfit to hold power” by six former members who have left the group in what they say is the “beginning of the end” for the party's grip on the city.

The group that has had an unchallenged hold on the city council for nearly 40 years has been described as being led by a “small clique” who are “surrounded by their besties”.

Labour still has more than enough members to hold its majority on the council, but the new Nottingham People’s Alliance group has left the party with its smallest majority in the city for nearly 15 years.

It has been accused of failing to deliver 80% of the commitments contained in the manifesto it put forward before the 2023 election.

Local issues including the city’s effective declaration of bankruptcy in 2023 have been blamed for the resignations, as well as issues with Keir Starmer’s Labour leadership nationally.

The Nottingham People’s Alliance will be registered as an official political party and its formation was announced yesterday.

All of the defectors were elected to the city council for the first time at the last elections in 2023, apart from AJ Matsiko, who has represented Sherwood since 2019.

The five defectors are Mapperley's Kirsty Jones, Bilborough’s Faith Gakanje-Ajala, Lenton and Wollaton East’s Imran Jalil, the Hyson Green and Arboretum ward’s Naim Salim and Anwar Khan, who represents St Ann's.

Councillor Gakanje-Ajala says she came to the UK from Zimbabwe as a political refugee in 2002 and quickly joined Labour as they offered her a “hope” that she says has now been “crushed”.

Councillor Anwar Khan said: “I felt for years that I was betraying the people who supported me and I just can’t do it any more. We have not left Labour, Labour has left the people of Nottingham?”