Northampton mayor quits Labour
Cllr Paul Joyce has become independent
By Sarah Ward
Northampton’s mayor has quit the Labour Party after not being selected to stand in the upcoming council elections.
Paul Joyce, who is Northampton’s mayor on the town council and also a unitary councillor on West Northamptonshire Council, has left the party and will become independent after deciding he no longer wants to contribute towards the campaign costs.
Cllr Joyce, who has been a member of the party since 2014, lost out in the selection rounds that took place in October, and was not selected by local party members to go forward on the ballot for the upcoming May local elections. Cllr Koulla Jolley, is his fellow ward member was selected along with two members who are not existing councillors. Recent boundary changes have unsettled the selection process, with other serving Labour councillors Cathrine Russell, Janice Duffy and Winston Strachan also not being selected to stand on the ballot in their current wards.
Cllr Joyce told NN Journal yesterday that as he had not been selected he did not want to pay the monthly subs each Labour councillor pays from their basic council allowance towards a campaign fund.
He said:
“You know what I’m thinking. Why am I paying £80 a month towards a campaign I’ve not been selected for?
“In my heart I feel I’m still Labour, but I’ve felt compelled to do this. I’ve still got to make up my mind on what I’m going to do next.
“I feel disappointed in the process. I worked very, very hard and I felt quite upset that I was de-selected. Obviously I fell foul of the process.”
Before the unitary came in he was a councillor on the former Northampton Borough Council.
Leader of the Labour group at WNC Wendy Randall said she would miss Cllr Joyce in her group, but it was for the members to decide.
She said:
“The same thing happened to my own mum when she was mayor, and unfortunately that is just how it is.”
In the past three years of unitary governance in West Northamptonshire there have been a number of councillors who have swapped political allegiances.
Independent Cllr Sue Sharps joined the Labour group last month and former Conservatives Cllr Paul Clark, Cllr Richard Solesbury-Timms, Cllr Louisa Fowler along with disgraced former leader Cllr Jonathan Nunn have quit the party and become independent.
Long standing councillor Conservative Lizzie Bowen quit the authority altogether last month, but due to the timing of her departure there will not be a by-election to replace her.
What a foolish decision of some members of my old party. With the chaos and crass political posturing of the existing Tory administration the one thing the Labour group needed was experience and competence. This action smacks of organisational ineptitude and in my humble view is an example of the headless chicken school of politics .Foolish, foolish children !
Mr Joyce could cause quite a ripple locally were he to stand as a Green candidate. Labour are no longer progressive anyway and we have a pretty active local Green Party.