Sir Keir Starmer has been accused of “abandoning the working class” by a longstanding Nottinghamshire Labour council leader who has quit the party in a dramatic announcement. Milan Radulovic, who has led Broxtowe Borough Council for a combined 22 years and has served as a Labour councillor for nearly 40 years, made the comment about the Prime Minister earlier today (Thursday, January 2).
Councillor Radulovic will continue to lead Broxtowe Borough Council, but under the banner of his new Broxtowe Independents group. The group so far consists of 20 former Broxtowe Labour councillors who have all quit over issues including the decision to start means-testing the winter fuel allowance and to deny compensation to the WASPI women.
Explaining the decision at an event in Beeston this afternoon, Councillor Radulovic said: “It is not good enough for a parliamentary group to suddenly think that they can impose their will upon the people of this country because they have a majority at an election. This country is a democracy and we’re very proud of our democracy at local and national level.
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“The more and more that power is concentrated centrally in the hands of fewer people, the closer we get to a dictatorship. The hope of the previous 14 years of austerity and mismanagement of this country’s finances and resources was an opportunity for a new beginning.
“The word was change. What we didn’t realise was that they meant change for the worse.
“What we have seen since July is the abandonment of the working classes in support of the Westminster elite and those people who take an enormous amount of this country’s wealth for themselves and leave people in need of care, support and vital services to their own devices”.
Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live about the winter fuel allowance changes, Councillor Radulovic said: “The majority of people in this country, particularly pensioners, have worked all their life in industries, the coal and steel industry in our area in particular. They worked damn hard, 50 years they’ve paid National Insurance contributions, and yet the burden of taxation always seems to fall on the poorest people in society, those that have the least pay the most and that cannot be right”.
Six councillors now remain in the Broxtowe Labour group and the Broxtowe Independents will be running the council as a minority administration, meaning they are the largest group but do not currently have enough councillors to form a majority. This means they will be reliant on the support of opposition groups to get measures passed.
The Broxtowe Independents will now run Broxtowe Borough Council
(Image: Reach PLC/Joseph Raynor)
The name has caused outrage among another group of Broxtowe independent councillors. Councillors Richard MacRae, Donna MacRae, Steve Carr, Barbara Carr and Elizabeth Williamson launched their ‘Broxtowe Independent Group’ at the end of December.
The Broxtowe Independents are separate to the existing Broxtowe Independent Group. It is understood that both groups, the latter only containing five councillors, have registered with the Electoral Commission to become official political parties and a decision on both should be made by the end of January.
Cllr MacRae, who represents Stapleford, said they have been left angered and deeply upset following the announcement that 20 former members of the Broxtowe Labour Party have left their party and adopted the Broxtowe Independents name.
“The decision by this newly formed group of former Labour Party members to label themselves ‘Broxtowe Independents’ is not only misleading but undermines the integrity and clarity of political representation in our area,” he said.
“It appears to be an attempt to capitalise on our well-established reputation, creating ambiguity among voters who may struggle to distinguish between our organisation and this new, unrelated entity.
“We are currently working with the Electoral Commission to secure the official registration of our name, Broxtowe Independent Group, to protect it from misuse and to ensure that our identity remains distinct.”
The remaining Broxtowe Labour councillors include Will Mee, Tyler Marsh and Helen Faccio – the latter of whom works for Bolsover’s Labour MP Natalie Fleet. In a statement, the remaining Broxtowe Labour councillors said: “It is incredibly disappointing that some Broxtowe councillors have decided to leave the Labour Party and sit as independents when they were elected on a Labour ticket just over 18 months ago”.
There have been years of open disagreement between the Broxtowe Labour group and the Labour Party nationally since Keir Starmer became leader. Past issues included Greg Marshall, Broxtowe Borough Council’s deputy leader, not being allowed to run as Labour’s candidate at the 2024 general election.
More recently, Broxtowe Borough Council was the only Labour-led Nottinghamshire authority to publicly criticise the winter fuel allowance changes. Issues then came to a head as several Broxtowe members unsuccessfully tried to stand as Labour candidates in the upcoming Nottinghamshire County Council elections.
The Broxtowe Independents say 10 former Labour members were told they were not the right calibre to stand for the party in May, with one of them being Councillor Teresa Cullen, who was previously a Labour member for more than 20 years. Councillor Cullen says she felt “livid” and “insulted” when told that she would not be standing in the county council elections for Labour. It is understood that only nine of the former Labour members actually went through the interview process.
Greg Marshall, another one of those blocked from standing in May, said: “I’ve campaigned in every general election for every Labour Party leader since 1983. Unfortunately, we haven’t now got that reciprocal support, trust and indeed loyalty”.
The shock announcement also means that Jason Zadrozny has become the sole official opposition leader at Nottinghamshire County Council, currently run by the Tories. Councillor Zadrozny’s Nottinghamshire County Independent Group previously had the exact same number of councillors as Labour.
Yet Councillor John McGrath is one of the Broxtowe councillors to have now left Labour and given that he is also a county councillor, it means Labour are now no longer the official opposition at the county council. Councillor Zadrozny said: “I am proud to welcome such experienced and dedicated councillors to independent politics, where the needs of residents and communities come first.
“This is a pivotal moment for Nottinghamshire. The May elections offer a clear choice: more of the same from national parties who have failed our residents, or bold, independent leadership focused on fixing our broken roads, repairing the dire state of local finances, and delivering real investment in vital services.
“Ashfield has shown what independents can achieve when they put people before party politics. It’s time to bring that transformative change to the whole of Nottinghamshire. Only independents can be trusted to stand up for residents, hold failing parties to account, and deliver the future our communities deserve”.
The Broxtowe Labour councillors added: “These defections have no effect on the commitment of the remaining Labour councillors in serving our residents. We, together with our Labour colleagues including MPs Juliet Campbell and Alex Norris, will continue to work to make Broxtowe a healthier, greener, safer and more prosperous place for everyone as change begins under this Labour government”.