Four councillors have resigned from the leading Conservative group at Brentwood Council.
Cllrs Russell Quirk, William Lloyd, Phil Baker and Nigel Clarke (shown L-R above) all resigned the Council party whip on Monday 17 December in protest over the Council’s leadership, and will now sit as independent Conservative councillors.
In a joint letter to Brentwood Council Leader Cllr Louise McKinlay the four councillors said they were resigning the Conservative group whip with immediate effect.
The councillors went on to criticise Cllr McKinlay’s policy approach labelling it “haphazard, ill thought out and void of good ideas”.
The four confirmed they will remain Conservatives and will remain members of the party, as well as supporting Tory Brentwood MP Eric Pickles, adding: “We will continue to serve the residents who elected us to represent them, their interests and the interests of out Borough. Our number one priority has and will always be the people of Brentwood”.
Brentwood Council confirmed the shake-up saying: “There will be some change in committee membership at Brentwood Borough Council as a result of the recent election of Councillor Cohen in the Shenfield by-election as well as the resignation today of four Members from the Majority Group and who will now sit as independent Members. Committee places are determined by the number of councillors from each political group (as well as the previous single independent councillor).”
Cllr David Kendall, Leader of the opposition and the largest opposition group on the council, said: “We have watched the Tories fight like ferrets in a sack for the past couple of years and it was only ever a matter of when, not if, this major split was going to happen. The Conservatives running Brentwood took their eye off the ball some time ago and are totally out of touch with the people of Brentwood.” Leader of the Labour group, Cllr Mike Le-Surf, added: “The Town Hall is currently run more like a dictatorship than a democracy so it’s heartening to see that some Conservatives are putting Brentwood residents’ needs before the party whip”.
