London former Labour council leader defects to Greens

Southwark councillor James McAsh has defected to the Green Party from Labour with a blast at Starmer’s factionalism and red-Tory austerity politics. McAsh was elected as council leader in July 2025, but the central party moved to quash the result and installed a tame Starmeroid.

In his resignation from Labour, McAsh said that he can no longer ask Southwark residents to vote for Starmer’s party because the Labour-run council is:

planning for funding gaps larger than those faced in almost every year of Conservative and Liberal Democrat austerity, this time imposed by a Labour government.

Unless something changes, Labour cuts will devastate the local services that as residents of this fantastic borough, we all rely on.

McAsh added:

I grew up in a Labour household and I’ve devoted much of my adult life to the party. I’m proud of the work I’ve done in Southwark – but Labour is no longer the vehicle for social justice I once thought it was.

He is the fourth Southwark Labour councillor to join the Greens since last year’s scandal and the seventh to resign from Labour. Southwark is part of a London-wide phenomenon of Labour councillors flooding to the Greens since Zack Polanski won that party’s leadership — including at least one deputy mayor.

Featured image via SouthworkNews