Third councillor leaves Labour Party

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cllr daniel andersonEarlier today Southgate Green councillor Daniel Anderson became the third Labour member on Enfield Council to leave the party this year. He joins fellow former Labour councillors Dinah Barry (Winchmore Hill) and Derek Levy (Southgate) in the new Community First group on the council.

All three have stated that they remain committed to the Labour values that they were elected on, but can no longer work with council leader Nesil Caliskan.

Read the report by James Cracknell on the Enfield Dispatch website.

Statement posted to Facebook by Cllr Daniel Anderson on 5 August 2020

I have today resigned from the Labour Party.

On the 28th February 2020 the Labour Party’s Governance & Legal Unit (GLU) suspended me, for allegedly transgressing rule ( 2.I.8 ). However, and to date, the GLU has failed to explain the full reasons for my suspension. Nor have they had the decency to respond to any communications I have sent seeking clarification, which is a betrayal of natural justice. This, in spite of Cllr Nesil Caliskan, leader of Enfield Council, publicly stating that the reason for my suspension is directly related to the alleged findings of an internal investigation by Enfield Council’s monitoring officer that was and is still - 6 months later - subject to appeal to the councillor conduct committee.

Furthermore, though the said letter stated that I was to remain subject to the Labour Group whip, Cllr Caliskan nonetheless violated the terms of my suspension by choosing to remove me from all Group communications, and at the council AGM last month I was not put on any council committees or panels, which has limited my representational role.

Again, in spite of Cllr Caliskan’s actions, the GLU have failed to take any action against her.

Significantly, the GLU has not explained its somewhat hypocritical stance in suspending me - again for the alleged breach of the councillor code of conduct, which as I say is subject to appeal, whilst it has resolutely refused and continues to refuse either to sanction or suspend Cllr Caliskan, who was found guilty of numerous breaches of the same code of conduct on two separate occasions. This was for bullying of my colleague Cllr Yasemin Brett and also for directly interfering in the scrutiny process by attempting to instruct the then chair of the scrutiny committee Cllr Derek Levy.

I’m afraid, after six months, I am no longer prepared to accept this position. As far as I am concerned the Labour Party should hang its collective head in shame, not just for the way that it has treated me, given my many years of service, but also for its consistent failure to tackle the unholy mess within Enfield Labour Group and the unacceptable behaviour of Cllr Nesil Caliskan. Instead it has seemingly decided that political expediency is the path of least resistance.

It is for these reasons that I have resigned from the Labour Party.

However, I remain committed to the values and principles of the Labour Party and, in particular, the 2018 manifesto that I was elected on. I will not therefore be resigning as a councillor and will instead strive to hold the Labour administration to account. This I believe I can best do by joining my former colleagues Cllr Dinah Barry and Cllr Derek Levy as a member of Community First.

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Posts in discussion: Fourth councillor joins breakaway group
PGC Webmaster posted a reply
#5471
11 Aug 2020 00:11
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The fourth Labour councillor to leave the party and join Enfield Council's Community First group is Dino Lemonides, who represents Chase ward and is a former cabinet member.

Cllr Lemonides told Enfield Dispatch editor James Cracknell that he has "been unhappy with the bullying and harassment of the Caliskan regime". Like the other three Community First members, he says he still holds Labour values.

Read the full report on the Enfield Dispatch website .
PGC Webmaster posted a reply
#5487
25 Aug 2020 23:02
Tbere's more press reporting on the reasons for the departure of four councillors from the Labour Party and their formation of the Community First group. Community First is classed as the council’s minority opposition group. It gives the ex-Labour councillors the right to sit on committees and speak at full council meetings – which they would not have as independent members.

The report by Local Democracy Reporter Simon Allin (paid for by the BBC) is on the Enfield Independent website.

Not mentioned in this report,but on social media Derek Levy has stressed that the group is not a party and each councillor is politically independent and makes their own judgement on individual issues.
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