Reform say end of Sheffield council's Labour and Green leadership is "potentially excellent news for our city"
“But only if Labour does things differently”
Reform UK’s local leadership has said that Labour need to “rid our city of the extreme left-wing Green ideas” as an alliance between the two parties ends.
Sheffield City Council leader Fran Belbin has put forward her plans to form a minority Labour leadership at a meeting in town hall on Wednesday, November 4, after weeks worth of debate with the Green Party has reached a boiling point.
Both Labour and the Greens currently have a leadership arrangement to run the council, however arguments between the two erupted after the national Green Party passed a controversial ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion in early October.
Coun Belbin, who represents the Firth Park ward, described the motion as “shameful and antisemitic”, while local Green leader Angela Argenzio said that “conflating Zionism with Judaism is itself antisemitic.”
Now, as the two party’s leadership arrangement, John Hesketh, leader of Sheffield Reform councillors group, has called on Labour to “do things differently.”
The Stocksbridge and Upper Don councillor said: “The announcement that Labour and the Green Party are going their separate ways on Sheffield City Council is potentially excellent news for our city. But only if Labour, still the largest group on the council, does things differently.
“Hopefully, we will now see Labour ditch some of the more excessive and controversial Green Party policies that have taken hold at the town hall recently.
“For too long Labour in Sheffield has been pulled by their Green Party coalition partners to be more concerned about flying the Palestine flag, making us a sanctuary destination, and restricting Sheffield’s road network so that our residents and businesses can scarcely move around their own city.
“Only time will tell if Labour grasps the opportunity to rid our city of the extreme left-wing Green ideas and starts to manage the council in a moderate and sensible manner.”
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