A Labour councillor deemed ‘unfit’ to stand for re-election launched a blistering attack on his local party as he resigned during a town hall meeting. Coun Matt Wynne has been barred from running for Labour at Stockport’s ‘all out’ local elections in May after being rejected by a panel and then losing his appeal.
The furious Edgeley and Cheadle Heath representative last week claimed he had fallen victim to a ‘weaponised’ selection process following a ‘gradual takeover of the local party’s machinery’ by what he called the ‘far left’. And he took the opportunity to go out with a bang at Thursday night’s full council meeting, resigning as a Labour councillor and branding the party ‘not fit for purpose’.
“The whole saga has shown how out of control and out of touch the local party is at present while under the grip of a hard left cult led by the MP for Stockport and his office,” he told councillors. “I still hold Labour values, I always will. I’m a proud working class land and I’m of working class stock.
"To be told by retired middle class professionals that I’m not fit to represent Edgeley, without good reason, shows where we are at.” However, despite quitting Labour, Coun Wynne declared his intention to carry on serving residents in Edgeley and Cheadle Heath for the remainder of his term
“I will continue to represent and graft for our community with a strong sense of public service ethos, passion, respect, dignity and pride,” said Coun Wynne, who is currently vice-chair of the council’s licensing committee.
First elected in May 2019, Coun Wynne says he is proud of what Labour achieved while running the council, particularly the regeneration work he describes as ‘the talk of the nation’. But he added: “For my own dignity and the people I represent, I can no longer continue as a Labour Party councillor given the state it’s currently in and the motives behind my barring as a Labour candidate at the upcoming May elections.”
Coun Wynne was one of four Labour councillors deemed ‘not fit’ to stand in 2023, alongside Coun Amanda Peers, Coun John Taylor and Coun Kerry Waters - albeit the latter two won their appeals. But in a further incendiary contribution he suggested there could be renewed efforts to deselect members not in favour with the local party machine.
“I am informed they are now threatening to hold a second round of deselections and have a go at those they could not get the first time by drafting up new candidate contracts for councillors containing terms and conditions that would make Mike Ashley blush,” he told the meeting.
“I believe that by January there will be more independent councillors from the Labour ranks as the purge continues. One has to ask the question ‘when will the Labour Party nationally step in, what will be left after May?’”
He has also claimed Labour - who lost their grip of the council this year - could be finished as an electoral force in Stockport unless there is a radical change of direction. "Many good local councillors are themselves, in private, sharing their frustration and question whether Stockport Labour will ever be fit to lead the council again if this current trajectory continues - and admit they are no longer fit for purpose, locally,” added Coun Wynne.
“How can Labour, if it continues on this trajectory, be trusted to set a budget or be effective opposition.”
Stockport full council met at the town hall on Thursday night (October 6).
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