A former mayor of Redcar and Cleveland Council who resigned from the Labour Party has confirmed he will stand again as an independent.
Councillor Vic Jeffries was one of 10 Labour councillors who resigned their membership in a protest outside the office of Anna Turley, Labour’s candidate for Redcar in the General Election.
The resignations came after Cllr Jeffries, along with council leader George Dunning, deputy Sheelagh Clarke, and cabinet member Cllr Mark Hannon became the latest councillors to be told by Labour that they could not stand again in their wards in May’s elections.
Cllr Jeffries, who was the authority’s mayor last year and represented the Longbeck ward, said: “I have always felt that party politics should not come into local elections and this decision against me has proved me right.
“In the four years serving as your councillor I have been very proud and privileged to have been elected as mayor, but that was only secondary to me because the people of Longbeck voted for me to work and represent them as their councillor. In may, in the local elections, I will be standing as an independant councillor and if you feel you have the trust and faith in me to represent you, I will endeavour to work for the needs and the good of the people.”
On Monday, Cllr Doreen Rudland, the current deputy mayor, also resigned from the Labour party.
It leaves them with 18 councillors ahead of Thursday’s full council meeting, where council leader George Dunning faces a call to stand down.
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