\n In a post to Facebook last week, Cllr Pitt said he was no longer serving as a Labour councillor and will be standing as an independent, adding: \u201cThis has been a difficult and deeply considered decision. I entered politics to stand up for fairness, justice, and the rights of the most vulnerable.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cI believed the Labour Party shared those values. Unfortunately I have been unable to vote with my conscience on [a] few issues being told there is a bigger picture, I no longer [believe] that! And feel the national leadership fails to reflect the principles that once defined Labour.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n This means Wirral now has 28 Labour councillors followed by the Conservatives and Greens with 14 each, the Liberal Democrats on six, and three Independent Conservatives in Heswall. The local authority remains in no-overall political control.\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Pitt, who joined the party around the time of Jeremy Corbyn\u2019s leadership election, said issues that prompted his departure from Labour included the party\u2019s stance over the war and ongoing humanitarian crisis in Gaza, widening gaps between the richest and the poorest, and U-turns over proposed changes to winter fuel payments and disability benefits. The latter he said was influenced by the personal experiences of a family member.\n<\/p>\n
\n However, he also criticised the appointment of David Dinsmore, a former editor of the Sun newspaper, as the government\u2019s new communications chief. Cllr Pitt said that alongside reports the government may make changes to the Public Authority Accountability Bill, supported by Hillsborough families, \u201cis a slap in the face to everything the families and campaign groups have fought for.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Pitt told the LDRS his father was at the match in 1989 where a crowd crush resulted in the deaths of 97 Liverpool supporters and injured hundreds of others, adding: \u201cHe said that affected him more than anything he had seen in the armed forces, that day.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cThe watering down of the Hillsborough Law wasn\u2019t right, this was the last straw. I do not believe the incumbent government has the people at heart, not the people of Wirral, the people of Liverpool. That was it for me.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n The independent councillor made clear that his decision was not related to Wirral\u2019s local Labour party or its councillors, praising current Wirral Council leader Cllr Paula Basnett for doing what he sees as a good job. He said he would continue to support her leadership.\n<\/p>\n
\n He said councillors locally wanted to improve Wirral\u2019s communities, adding: \u201cAt a local level, whichever political party it is, we work towards that but the national government seems like it\u2019s a different entity. I just felt it was time to cut ties with the Labour Party and stand as an independent.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Criticising Sir Keir\u2019s leadership, he told the LDRS: \u201cSomething has got to give. I am not the first to leave the party and I certainly won\u2019t be the last.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Going forward, Cllr Pitt is likely to face calls for a by-election as he was elected under a Labour banner in 2023. However he argued values he said people associated with Labour, such as fairness and standing up for the most vulnerable, were ones he he would carry forward as an independent.\n<\/p>\n
\n He added: \u201cI will still stand by those values even if Labour do not. I think a lot of people will have thought the same up and down the country.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n Cllr Basnett said Cllr Pitt\u2019s decision was regrettable but respected the choice he had made, adding: \u201cRichie is a committed councillor who has spoken with sincerity on the issues that matter deeply to him.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cHe has been clear that his decision stems from national policy. While we may now sit on different benches, I remain open to working constructively with him in the best interests of the borough.\n<\/p>\n
\n \u201cWirral Labour Group remains focused on delivering our priorities for Wirral: restoring financial stability, investing in our communities, and ensuring that regeneration brings real benefit to local people.\u201d\n<\/p>\n
\n A Labour Party spokesperson said they would be making no further comment.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"In a post to Facebook last week, Cllr Pitt said he was no longer serving as a Labour…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":321659,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8815],"tags":[748,393,4884,179,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-321658","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-liverpool","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-liverpool","12":"tag-uk","13":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114980078693403524","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321658","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=321658"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/321658\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/321659"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=321658"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=321658"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=321658"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}