WHO's NEXT TO JUMP SHIP ????

Remember they were not deselected, this is a brand new council, they did not make it because there were some very good labour councilors in Blyth Valley, and some very good members of the party who wished to serve on the new council.


Male Labour councillors fall foul of drive to recruit women
Mar 31 2008 by Dave Black, The Journal
FOUR senior Labour county councillors in Northumberland are to stand as independent candidates in the looming unitary elections after falling foul of the party’s national drive to get more women into the corridors of power.
Bill Ashbridge, David Montgomery, Ivan Hayes and Paul Kelly are quitting Labour to contest the May 1 poll as independents after seeing nominations for their county council seats handed over to female candidates.
In a move which will potentially split the Labour vote in their four wards, they will stand against the official Labour candidates in the battle for seats on the county’s new all-purpose super council, which will take over in April next year.
The four councillors’ decision to go independent follows months of bitter internal Labour feuding over who gets the nominations to contest the elections for the 67 seats on the new authority. Coun Hayes has represented the Cramlington West ward for 15 years and is currently a member of the powerful Labour executive at County Hall in Morpeth. Coun Montgomery has represented the Hartley ward for seven years and chairs the county council’s Blyth Valley area committee.
Coun Ashbridge, from Bedlington East, has been a county councillor for more than 25 years and is a former chairman of the social services committee. Coun Kelly, the former Labour group whip at County Hall, represents the Bywell ward in Tynedale and chairs the council’s planning committee.
Couns Hayes, Montgomery and Kelly have seen their seats allocated as women-only shortlists for May’s elections, while Coun Ashbridge failed to be re-selected by the party and saw his seat go to female candidate Val Tyler.
The furore over Labour’s drive to get more women into politics recently saw the entire constituency party in Easington, County Durham, suspended over its refusal to toe the line. The “positive discrimination” move has also caused ructions in Northumberland.
Yesterday Coun Montgomery said: “I am resigning from the Labour Party after 22 years and standing as an independent because I am opposed to women-only shortlists in principle, as I believe Labour should be a party of equal opportunity. To deny anyone the opportunity to become a Labour councillor because of their sex is wrong.
“Those who are in favour of women-only lists would be the first to complain if there were male-only lists. This form of discrimination has no place in the 21st century and should clearly have no place in a modern political party. The idea of getting more women councillors is laudable but we also need younger councillors.”
Coun Hayes said: “If I was beaten in a fair ballot that would be OK but I have not even been allowed to throw my hat into the ring. I have been a party member for 20 years and this is not a decision I have taken lightly. I feel the Labour Party has turned its back on us.”
Coun Ashbridge said after 27 years’ service on the county council it had been embarrassing to be snubbed by the party.
And Coun Kelly, who has been a county councillor for 11 years, said: “The policy of bringing more women into politics is laudable but the tool being used here is crude and self-defeating. It means that good sitting councillors are being replaced by women who could very well lose the seat because they are not local, might not have the experience and because the policy offends a great many Labour supporters, including women.”
Current and former county council leaders Peter Hillman and Bill Brooks have also missed out on selection by the party for May’s elections but have said they will not be standing as independent candidates.