City councillor resigns from Labour group

A Nottingham councillor has quit the Labour Party to sit as an independent.

City councillor AJ Matsiko, who represents the Sherwood ward, announced his resignation on Monday.

Matsiko was suspended at the beginning of April, having posted a statement on social media alleging party officials had engaged in "unacceptable" behaviour at a local Labour Group meeting.

A Labour spokesperson said the party did not comment on internal processes, but added its councillors in Nottingham would continue to focus on "rebuilding the council's finances and delivering for our residents".

Matsiko told the Local Democracy Reporting Service he had stood down following two key incidents.

These include the rejection of a motion to stop three city libraries being handed over to voluntary groups at a meeting in January, and the "repeated imposition of leadership roles".

"After witnessing the lack of democracy and basic decency within the leadership of the Nottingham Labour Group, I have concluded that now is the appropriate time to leave the majority group and serve as an independent councillor," he said.

"The group has abandoned the core principles of the Labour Party, such as natural justice and sound democratic processes as well as continuing to make poor financial and other decisions."

Matsiko also criticised the process of selecting the authority's new leader, Neghat Khan, and deputy leader Ethan Radford

Labour's ruling National Executive Committee (NEC) stepped in to oversee the election of the leadership.

Potential candidates were interviewed and suitable applicants were due to be presented to the Labour Group for the final decision.

However, the NEC only selected Khan as a suitable candidate and she was installed as the new leader ahead of the meeting.

The Nottingham Labour Group referred to the statement from the Labour Party spokesperson when contacted for comment.

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