Deborah Merryweather said that she agrees with ’98 per cent’ of what Restore Britain’s Rupert Lowe says
06:00, 02 May 2026Updated 07:00, 02 May 2026
The married couple originally defected from the Labour party in 2024(Image: Bassetlaw District Council)
Two Nottinghamshire councillors have been blocked from representing Rupert Lowe’s Restore Britain – due to previously being members of the Labour party.
Deborah Merryweather and her husband Fraser sit for Worksop East and Worksop North East respectively on Bassetlaw District Council as independents.
Two weeks ago, the pair informed the council’s CEO that they wished to defect to Restore, and their affiliation was updated on the council’s website.
But it has since been reverted to say independent.
Mrs Merryweather revealed this week that she had received a phone call from the national branch of Restore informing her that a vetting process had taken place and that, due to their previous affiliation with Labour, she and her husband were not permitted.
The couple, who have been on Bassetlaw District Council since 2015, represented Labour until 2024, when they joined the Bassetlaw Independents group.
Now, because of their affiliation with Restore, they’ll have to sit as independent Independents, rather than being part of the group they were part of until a fortnight ago.
Mrs Merryweather told the Local Democracy Reporting Service: “It is what it is. They have a vetting process and I can’t knock that. l’ll still be backing them. We’re staying independent because we’re in the middle of sorting out what we can be known as. We wanted to know if we could be Independent Restore but have been told we can’t as that would confuse people.”
The pair had originally defected from Labour to independent after becoming disillusioned with the party’s policies.
Mrs Merryweather said: “I didn’t believe in what was happening within Labour. I didn’t like Keir Starmer and that he was going to be voted in as our next leader. He wasn’t my choice, and then starting doing things like hitting the pensioners and things like that.
“My husband moved not long after me because of the pensioners and the WASPI women. We didn’t agree with it. We did get asked if we wanted to join Conservative or Reform and they were quite nice about it, but I said no.”
Restore Britain was founded in mid-2025 by businessman and former Southampton FC chairman Rupert Lowe as a political movement and became a registered political party in March.
Rupert Lowe founded Restore Britain in 2025(Image: Getty)
As of Wednesday, April 29, it sat at three per cent in YouGov voting intention polls.
Mrs Merryweather said: “I was treading water with Independent because it meant I could vote the way I wanted to for my constituents. And then Restore Britain came along and I started listening to Rupert Lowe and actually, at least 98 per cent of what he had to say, I agreed with. I thought: This is my kind of politics.
“I did keep looking at it because obviously I’m not anti-Muslim. I never have been. But I think we should be able to live alongside each other, not dictate to each other. As daft as it is, I know there’s been this big thing about the (St George’s) cross but at the end of the day the cross on our British flag has been there since well before I were born.
“Why should we take it down? After all, it is Britain and that’s what the flag stands for. Why should somebody be able to come along and tell me that I’ve got to stop doing that, or that I’m offending them because I’m eating pork? I’m sorry but this is stuff I’ve done for 64 years and I’m not about to change it.”
Restore endorses policies such as the mass deportations of millions of illegal immigrants, banning Kosher and Halal slaughter, holding a referendum on the reinstatement of the death penalty, legalising pepper spray and abolishing inheritance tax.
On her reasons for wanting to join, Mrs Merryweather added: “If I’m honest, I don’t like the fact we’re getting so many illegal immigrants coming in that we’re not vetting. We don’t know what they’ve done and it’s showing because we’re having so much more crime. It’s quite scary.
“There’s a lot of things. If someone wants to call me racist, let them do it. I’ve never been racist in my life but I’m also not going to be dictated to in my life either, not when it’s things I’ve been brought up to believe in.
“I think what’s happened is in political correctness, we’ve done things to be okay with different religions, but I think now they’re starting to kick back and say: hang on a minute we’re not satisfied with just this, we want this as well. That’s the trouble at the moment. They’re asking for too much and it’s taking away our birthrights.”
Mrs Merryweather, who has worked for the NHS for 22 years, said that she and her husband had become members of Restore by signing up as members of the public, and she had thought that it would make them automatically eligible as councillors.
She said she believes that the national party was informed of their defection by somebody else, which subsequently led to her receiving a phone call advising her of the process.
A week later she was told that they could not stand for Restore.
But Mrs Merryweather says she has “no animosity” against Restore, still wants to work with the party and will attend meetings.
She said: “If anyone contacts me to help them, I am letting them know that I have joined Restore. I’ll still fight for my constituents. I don’t care whether they’re Labour, Conservative. I was elected to look after them and that’s what I do.”