A mother and daughter have resigned as councillors from High Peak Borough Council and members of the Labour Party, citing 'national issues' as the reason for doing so.

Kath and Shannon Thomson were elected on to the borough council in local elections held in 2019 to represent the Whaley Bridge ward.

They formally resigned on 9 September but did not make their decision public until 20 September. In a statement, they acknowledged how much good the local branch of the party have done but said the national Labour Party ‘does not represent our personal views and values anymore’.

In response, the High Peak Labour Party have accused the former councillors of ‘abandoning’ and ‘letting down’ local members and residents who elected them.

'Feeling alienated' 

In a lengthy Facebook post on their councillors page, Kath and Shannon Thomson said they have resigned ‘with a heavy heart’ but ‘make a stand we must’, claiming the party has 'sadly changed' since Sir Keir Starmer was elected leader in April 2020. 

They continued: “After we won the election, we had great expectations of ourselves and the party; of being able to help our villages and the people living and working in them.

“Since the change of leadership our party has sadly changed. The values we campaigned on when we spoke to you about the promises the national party gave you seem to have been abandoned.

“From the start, the leader’s undemocratic stifling of debate and suppression of disagreement was a warning. The alleged racist and sexist behaviour of staff at the top of the party towards party members as cited in the Forde Report left us feeling betrayed and humiliated after campaigning so hard for what we felt was a wonderful change to the party.

“We feel there has been a lack of effective opposition and support for ordinary people at a time of many real crises across the country. We felt the leadership’s actions to eliminate socialist policies was untenable. These are the very policies on which the Labour movement was founded.

“During the election for the leadership, promises were made, only to be broken once in office. Many great members including councillors, community activists and an MP, including the former leader Jeremy, were ejected from the party for very dubious reasons. We were sickened by this.

“All this has left us feeling alienated from the party as a whole. It frankly does not represent our personal views and values anymore. Therefore we feel we cannot stand on your doorsteps and support a Labour party we no longer believe in.

“We must say how much we have enjoyed the opportunity to help people in our community in so many ways during our tenure. Thank you to the many lovely people we have met and worked with. It has been an honour to help each and every one of you.”

'The people of Whaley Bridge have been let down'

Councillor Anthony Mckeown, Labour leader of High Peak Borough Council, said the local party ‘respect’ their decision but expressed his disappointment.

“It's obviously regrettable when colleagues decide they no longer wish to be part of the team, especially when it's related to national issues over which we have no control,” he said.

“Whilst we respect the decision Kath and Shannon have made, we are disappointed that they have chosen to take this path and abandon the hard work of local members and the local residents that elected them.

“Despite this, our focus will remain on delivering for residents across the High Peak and doing what we can to minimise the impact of poor decisions by our current Government.”

Councillor Fiona Sloman, Chair of High Peak Constituency Labour Party, said their decision was made ‘without discussion and with apparent disregard for the consequences’.

She commented: “High Peak CLP has a history of being a broad church - it is friendly, energetic and united in its twin goals of electing a Labour MP and a Labour council.

"I am therefore disappointed as the Chair of the local party, and indeed personally, that two Labour councillors have resigned from the party and the council without discussion and with apparent disregard for the consequences.

"Frankly the people of Whaley Bridge have also been let down but we will seek to ensure their proper representation."

What happens now? 

High Peak Borough Council said it would not comment on the resignations but confirmed a Notice of Casual Vacancies will be published this week. It is now expected that a by-election will take place. 

Kath and Shannon Thomson were elected in May 2019 to serve the residents of Whaley Bridge, Furness Vale, Fernilee, Bridgemont and Taxal, with an estimated population of around 6,568 people.

In total, nine candidates contested the Whaley Bridge ward to elect three councillors to represent the town. 

Long standing councillor David Lomax, a Liberal Democrat, topped the poll with 901, followed by the two Labour candidates. Kath Thomson received 790 votes and Shannon-Kate Thomson 744 votes. 

The candidates who contested the seat were three Lib Dems, three for Conservatives, two for the Labour Party and one for the Green Party.

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