A former Labour councillor in Wirral is now challenging the party as an independent candidate after she was deselected.
Yvonne Nolan, a councillor for Rock Ferry since 2019, claims she was dropped by Labour ahead of next month's elections for speaking out against alleged discrimination aimed at fellow councillor Chris Davies.
Cllr Davies was barred from running for not meeting party campaign requirements outside of Rock Ferry but said this was because he’s a carer for Cllr Nolan. Cllr Nolan said she was later dropped for publicly criticising Labour on the issue.
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A former social worker, leader of Wirral Council in the 1990s, and deputy leader from 2021 to 2022, Cllr Nolan was last elected in Rock Ferry in 2019 and is currently the council’s health committee chair.
Now she is running as an independent candidate with Labour set to only running two candidates for a potential three seats in Rock Ferry, usually considered a safe area for the party.
Cllr Nolan, who uses a wheelchair, said: “I am standing is because as far as I am concerned I am the councillor for Rock Ferry. I am the candidate selected by the Rock Ferry branch and I believe I have done a very good job in the last four years.”
Cllr Nolan said she believes that by not backing down, it will show the people of Rock Ferry “I will fight for them like I wasn’t prepared to be put down by the Labour Party.”
Asked why people should vote for her, Cllr Nolan said: “I am somebody who gets stuff done. I have been fighting for Rock Ferry for the last four years on a local and regional level and I am not afraid to go in on their behalf.
“People still want someone who would advocate for them, to have someone on their side. I want to try and make things better and that is what I will carry on doing as I have done for the last 50 odd years.”
She said this involved tackling issues like flytipping, overgrown alleyways, tackling health issues, housing issues, and working with police and community groups on issues like gang crime and antisocial behaviour.
She added: “Things like that really matter because that affects people’s everyday lives. It is not always the big things. It is often the simple things that really make a difference."
Cllr Nolan also pointed to a campaign against Rock Ferry Library closing and the expansion of opening hours there to five days a week as key successes.
When asked about Labour dropping her as a candidate, Cllr Nolan said: “It is very sad. I have been for more than 40 years in the Labour Party and have always been Labour through and through.
"I would never have believed it if you had told me that even five years ago that this would ever happen, I would have said don’t be ridiculous.
“It happened for reasons I find inexplicable. I stood up for somebody I felt was being discriminated against. Once I got over the initial shock and hurt of that decision, I thought long and hard and decided I wasn’t just going to accept this or take this lying down.”
The move to stop Cllr Nolan and Davies from running has also been publicly criticised by the Rock Ferry branch of the Labour Party who said they would not be campaigning for the “imposed candidates.”
However a Labour source said: “The two candidates standing for Labour in Rock Ferry have strong local links to the community and will be excellent local champions if elected.”
Cllr Nolan said she believes he campaign requirements for Labour candidates are discriminatory and criticised the party for “ a very outdated attitude” on disability issues.
After raising difficulties campaigning as a disabled person within Labour, she alleged someone in the campaign team told her: “Well I was out campaigning with someone in Liverpool and he was in a wheelchair and managed perfectly well.”
Cllr Nolan said: “All the words about how the party is committed to equality, it demonstrated to me that it didn’t mean that much.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Party does not comment on internal party matters and any complaints from Party members are investigated in line with our rules and procedures.
“The Labour Party selections in Wirral have been followed in accordance with our rules and there are no questions from a Party perspective on how the process has been run.”
The other candidates in Rock Ferry are as follows:
Susan Amyes (Conservatives)
Paula Basnett (Labour)
Frank Doyle (Liberal Democrats)
Margaret Kalil (Conservatives)
Craig McDonald (Green)
Tony Murphy (Labour)
Helen O’Donnell (Green)
Gareth Rowlands (Green)
Tony Stanley (Reform UK)
Paul Taylor (Conservatives)
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