Labour councillor quits to see out rest of term as an independent

DECISION LEAVES PARTY WITH ONLY 38 SEATS OUT OF 78 ON CITY COUNCIL

- By DANIEL HOLLAND

LABOUR now controls fewer than half of the seats on Newcastle City Council, after another of its councillors quit the party.

Monument ward representative Jane Byrne announced on Sunday night that she would see out the rest of her term as an independent, claiming that Labour was “no longer the party of ordinary people”.

Her decision leaves Labour, which has run Newcastle City Council since 2011, with only 38 of the authority's 78 seats.

The council has been in ‘no over-all control’ since last November, when former leader Nick Kemp and five others also quit Labour to become independents.

While the 40 non-Labour councillors now outnumber those from the ruling party, the prospect of them banding together to take power in a coalition administration seems highly unlikely.