Welsh Labour councillor quits party over benefit cuts
A Welsh Labour councillor has quit the party in protest at the £4.8billion of benefit cuts announced last week by the Chancellor Rachel Reeves in her Spring Statement.
Wrexham councillor Anthony Wedlake, confirmed his resignation on Sunday and says he will instead sit as a councillor of the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC).
Core values
Councillor Wedlake said: “The Labour Party under Keir Starmer’s leadership has been moving further and further from the core values Labour is meant to represent.
“I have been concerned about the direction of the party for some time, but to take money from the poorest in our society to spend on armaments is the final straw.
“I cannot in all conscience remain a member of a party that attacks the working class. I have not left Labour so much as Labour has left me.
“I believe that we need a new party of the working class that will stand up for the rights of working people and fight the austerity policies of all the other parties: Labour, Tory, Plaid and of course Reform – all of whom would cut spending on services for working people while the richest 1% amass colossal wealth. That is why I will be sitting as a Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition councillor.
“I will continue to represent the people of Coedpoeth to the best of my ability, and I believe that is best done by leaving a party committed to cutting public services and benefits and instead fighting in their interests as a TUSC councillor.
“It is also clear that being an independent councillor on Wrexham council means coalition with the Tories which is clearly not an option for me.”
Bob Crow
The Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) was set-up in 2010, co-founded by the late Bob Crow, the General Secretary of the National Union of Rail, Maritime and Transport Workers from 2002 until his death in 2014.
The primary goal of the party is enabling trade unionists, community campaigners and socialists to stand candidates against pro-austerity establishment politicians.
Dave Warren, secretary of TUSC Wales, said: “I am delighted to welcome Anthony Wedlake to our ranks. I believe that there are many sincere activists in the Labour party who are coming to the conclusion that Labour can no longer be regarded as a party that fights for working class people. A new party based on the trade unions and committed to socialist policies is needed, and TUSC is the first step towards that objective.
“TUSC Wales welcomes any other Labour councillors who cannot stomach Labour’s commitment to austerity, nationally and locally, to come under the TUSC umbrella. We will be campaigning for a new workers’ party to contest the Senedd and Welsh council elections in 2026 and 2027.”
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Nice to see a man with both a conscience and a backbone.
I have no doubt that more will follow his move
It would have been a better decision to join the party of Wales.
Plaid Cymru is opposed to the austerity of the UK established parties.
The TUSC is a English based party.
Would give us our own Welsh nation ?
Or would it make the same mistake in creating a British soviet union: A centralised monopolised state ?
It is for the TUSC to answer this question.
Anthony Wedlock a man with the courage to stand against Starmer if only other councillors and MPs had his guts then we might have a chance against this faux Labour PM bringing misery to the most vulnerable. Well done Mr Wedlock.
It is time for The Trade Union Movement to defund the Labour Party and to get involved with the TUSC in looking to form a New Political Party
Why do you brand Plaid with the same brush as Labour Conservative and Reform, Anthony Wedlake? You have NO justification for doing so ( apart from a Labour councillor’s automatic aversion to branding Plaid with any old accusation!
Starmer appears to have judged that future ongoing electoral success in Westminster elections requires Labour under his leadership to move decisively away from any sort of distinctively ‘leftist’ stance. But surely the inevitable price of that decision is that Labour risks losing the support, not just of councillors like Mr Wedlake, but also of traditional ordinary Labour voters who have distinctively left-wing convictions. It’s simply a matter of political calculation; but whatever decision the party leadership makes there are likely to be downsides as well as upsides which come as a consequence. The snag for Labour, at present, is that… Read more »
The oroblem for Labiur Wales is that while they are on the whole to the left of British Labour, they haven’t the power yo influence Starmer’s mob of pinko Tories. All the disadvantages of devolution without any advantages- they need to be FAR more assertive and demanding – but even then risk Starmer’s deaf ears