Leader says it’s sad to lose councillors but the group remains united
Four have quit Labour over the party’s direction
Friday, 27th September 2024 — By Isabel Loubser
Cllr Diarmaid Ward, Rachel Blake and Cllr Kaya Comer-Schwartz
THE leader of the ruling Labour group running Islington Council has said members will not let “internal conversations” divide them – after a year which saw four councillors quit the party over its direction.
Councillor Kaya Comer-Schwartz said she thought it was “very sad” that the councillors had left the Labour group, but added that the remaining 44 in the council chamber were undeterred.
She said: “We are the governors of our borough. It would be really wrong of us as Labour members to represent the people that come to our surgeries and instead of getting on with supporting them, to have internal fights and conversations, and that’s not where our group is.”
Asked whether she was disappointed that the four ex-Labour councillors no longer felt welcome in the Labour Party, Cllr Comer-Schwartz said: “I think it’s very sad. I have a lot of empathy for every single one of them, but they’ve taken that choice.”
She added: “They had some personal issues with the national party on big issues and we have to respect that.”
Matt Nathan, Asima Shaikh, Ilkay Cinko-Oner, and Phil Graham had cited grievances ranging from Keir Starmer’s response to Israel’s actions in Gaza, to the party’s treatment of Jeremy Corbyn and the refusal to scrap the two-child benefit cap.
They now sit as the official opposition on the Town Hall benches as a group of four independent councillors, but have said they want to be a constructive opposition to the huge Labour majority that controls the council.
“All of the independents were very clear at the full council meeting last Thursday that they’re very respectful of the manifesto that they stood on and they want to enact that,” said Cllr Comer-Schwartz.
The council leader added that Labour councillors were already making plans ahead of the 2026 elections.
“We’re going to make sure our next manifesto is even bigger,” she said.
Despite currently having no seats in Islington, the Tribune heard from the Islington Liberal Democrats last week that they felt they were in a good place to challenge Labour in the boroughwide vote.
In response, Cllr Comer-Schwartz said: “I’ll say that that’s very nice for them to think those thoughts.” She added: “We’re going to fight for every seat, so let them bring it on.”
