'Labour Party has lost its direction and ignores grass-roots members'

THE Labour Party has lost its direction and no longer pays heed to its grassroots members, the former leader of Caerphilly County Borough Council has said.

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Sean Morgan, who resigned as Labour leader in Caerphilly on ‘Thursday, levelled accusations at Labour of failing to honour its general election pledges and for being “complicit in genocide” in the Middle East.

The Nelson councillor accused the party of fixing the candidate selection process for the forthcoming Senedd by-election for Caerphilly, where Labour council deputy leader Jamie Pritchard was passed over for the nomination in favour of Welsh-language publisher Richard Tunnicliffe.

Mr Morgan, who became a Labour Party member at the age of 15, revealed he would now back the Plaid Cymru candidate, Lindsay Whittle, to replace the late Hefin David as Caerphilly's MS.

‘A Welsh Labour spokesperson stated the party was “focused on delivering for the people of Caerphilly” and maintained “robust due diligence processes” for selecting candidates.

Mr Morgan claimed he clashed with First Minister Eluned Morgan and former Caerphilly MP Sir Wayne David over the selection process for the party’s candidate to replace Hefin David as the area's Senedd Member.

He claimed that on the evening prior to last Saturday's party hustings, Welsh Labour officials informed Jamie Pritchard that he had not passed the initial vetting process for prospective candidates, citing various reasons from social media posts backing then-UK Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn to press reports about his council work.

Mr Morgan said the reasons given for excluding his “hardest-working” council colleague were “absolutely nothing of _ significance”.

He also questioned the qualifications of other candidates including Mr Tunnicliffe - whom he claimed he had never encountered before that day and had never heard discussed in local Labour networks,

‘Mr Tunnicliffe previously stated he became a party member at 15 and has lived in Caerphilly county since 1999.