Liverpool Councillor Alan Gibbons has been expelled from the Labour Party.
Cllr Gibbons represents the Warbreck ward and was suspended by the party in February, along with five other city councillors, after they signalled their intent to vote against the Labour group's council budget plan. The group went on to break the whip and vote against the budget, stating that they would not vote in favour of further cuts.
This weekend, the group of suspended councillors delivered an ultimatum to Labour bosses, telling them to make a decision on their future or they would take their own action. It has been widely rumoured that the suspended councillors will join with other ex-Labour members to form a new grouping on the council.
But ahead of an expected announcement, Cllr Gibbons has been informed that he has been expelled from the party altogether. However, the party said the decision was not related to the budget rebellion that he played a leading role in.
Cllr Gibbons, who was also the secretary of the Walton Constituency Labour Party having re-joined the party following the election of Jeremy Corbyn, was first suspended in 2020 after allowing a motion in support of the former party leader to be passed at a CLP meeting. He was later readmitted.
However, he was then told last year that he was again under investigation for allegedly showing support an organisation that had subsequently been proscribed by the Labour Party. The left wing Socialist Appeal group was banned along with Labour in Exile Network, Labour Against the Witchhunt and Resist last summer after a vote by the party's ruling National Executive Committee.
Cllr Gibbons said his show of support for Socialist Appeal came before they were proscribed and said he is highly suspicious of the reasoning given for his expulsion from the party. He suggested it is not coincidental that the decision comes ahead of an expected announcement of a breakaway grouping of rebel councillors this week.
He told the ECHO: "I find it suspicious that they told me about this investigation four or five months ago and then suddenly, on the eve of the announcement of a new potential grouping, this happens." He added: "It is McCarthyite, it is a distraction, it is an amateur way for a political party to act."
The news of Cllr Gibbons' expulsion was confirmed in an email sent to Liverpool Labour councillors by group chief whip, Cllr Ruth Bennett. The email, seen by the ECHO, stated: "I have received notification from the Labour Party that Cllr Alan Gibbons has been expelled from membership of the Labour Party."
The news is only likely to solidify the expected formation of the new political grouping on the council. With rebel councillors Alison Clarke, Rona Heron, Joanne Calvert and Alfie Hincks expected to join Cllr Gibbons and ex-Labour councillors Sam Gorst, Sarah Morton and former Lord Mayor Anna Rothery in the new set up. Former councillor Lindsay Melia, who joined the rebels in voting against the budget in February, has since resigned her council seat.
If this grouping does form, it will do so against a backdrop of major changes at the council as a result of last year's damning government inspection report, with the city map set to be dramatically redrawn into 71 new wards, with a majority represented by just one councillor. These changes could mean a new grouping of councillors could have an important impact in individual battles for council seats in next year's all out city elections.
