A senior Labour councillor in Barking and Dagenham has said she is “not worried” after three of her colleagues defected to the Green Party this week.
Councillors Moin Quadri, Victoria Hornby and Faruk Choudhury announced they had left the Labour Party for the Greens on Monday (15 September).
They said Labour had “turned its back on the people it claims to serve” locally and nationally.
But Labour group deputy leader, councillor Saima Ashraf, said her party had a reputation of listening to borough residents.
Image: Barking and Dagenham Council)
She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): “I’m not worried. I think that we have been, to the best of our capabilities, in touch with our residents.”
Cllr Ashraf added: “We do canvas quite often as the Labour Party and that gives us that platform where we are in a position of listening to our residents.”
In a statement on Monday (15 September), the three councillors criticised the council’s record. They said: “Locally, residents are facing rising pressures on the cost of living while services are declining.
“Roads are unsafe, waste collection unreliable, housing neglected, and crime and antisocial behaviour are rising.”
The three also said that on a national level, Labour had “abandoned its moral compass” on issues such as Israel’s war on Gaza, benefits cuts, the cost of living crisis and by “adopting divisive anti-immigration rhetoric”.
In a Thames View ward by-election on 31 July, the Green Party candidate came second with just under 30% of the vote, while Labour’s candidate won with 36%. The Greens didn’t stand a candidate in that ward at the last election in 2022.
Cllr Ashraf said people in the borough should judge the Labour Party on local issues as well as national ones.
She said: “It’s like being in a marriage – there are a lot of things you will like and dislike. We should listen to people and say – this is national, what do you think locally?
“It’s always about having that balance and knowing what we can do.”
Cllr Ashraf also said the three had joined the Greens only after failing to be selected to stand again as Labour candidates in local elections next year.
Image: LDRS
A brief statement by Barking and Dagenham Labour Party said: “Unfortunately, these three councillors only found fault with Labour after failing to be reselected.
“Our Labour councillors remain focused on delivering for everyone in Barking and Dagenham, not personal agendas.”
But Cllr Choudhury said he felt the selection process had been “unfair”. He said he had been “serving the community” as a councillor since 2014, but that he was asked to describe “more achievements” during his reselection interview.
Cllr Choudhury also said there was “no freedom of speech” in the local party and that he and the others had been “targeted” during the selection process.
The three defections mean the Green Party will now be the official opposition group at the council.
Previously, 50 of the 51 seats were held by Labour. The remaining seat is held by independent councillor Lynda Rice who was elected as a Labour candidate in 2022.
The next local elections in Barking and Dagenham are set to take place in May 2026.
