'I was locked out of Your Party conference over fear I'd storm the stage' - Lancashire councillors decide whether to represent new movement

The fractious official launch of the Jeremy Corbyn-fronted Your Party appears to have deterred some Lancashire councillors who had been set to represent it on the authorities on which they sit - with one branding it “too divisive”.

The new leftwing political movement had attracted the attention of the three Lancashire County Council members who operate under the unofficial ‘Preston Independents’ banner - as part of the main opposition group at County Hall - and a former Labour cabinet member on Preston City Council.

All four signed up to Your Party in the weeks after it was birthed by the ex-Labour leader, together with one-time Labour MP Zarah Sultana, in July - and indicated that they would officially join once it was formally established.

However, a series of public spats between Mr. Corbyn and Ms. Sultana - culminating in an at times ill-tempered launch conference at which it was decided neither of them would be leader - seems to have dented a degree of the initial backing amongst Your Party's prospective local authority representatives in Lancashire.

Having previously declared collective support for the embryonic entity back in August, the Preston Independents are now set to decide next week exactly what relationship they will have with ‘Your Party’ - if any.

County Cllrs Michael Lavalette (Preston Central East), Yousuf Motala (Preston City) and Almas Razakazi (Preston South East) - who are part of the Progressive Lancashire main opposition alliance of independents and the Green Party at County Hall - will choose between several options.

They could opt to: continue with their current official status as solo independents; register the ‘Preston Independents’ name with the Electoral Commission so that they can be identified as such on the ballot paper at elections; affiliate with Your Party for a two-year period during which they would continue to operate with some local autonomy and so would be listed as ‘Preston Independents/Your Party’; or completely subsume into Your Party with immediate effect.

County Cllr Lavalette told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) there was some disquiet amongst the broader Preston Independents membership about the tone set during Your Party’s first few months in existence.

“There is a remarkably friendly and supportive atmosphere [within Preston Independents] - I would be hard pushed to think of a single disagreement that we've had in the two years that we've been going. I've been involved in the Left for a long time and isn't always like that.

“So some of them are looking at the arguments around ‘Your Party’ and saying, ‘Do we really want to get involved in that?’” he said.

As a long-time Corbyn ally, County Cllr Lavalette has officially joined Your Party now that it has formally come into being - and favours the affiliate option on the table for Preston Independents.

However, even he has been concerned by the intemperate debate within the fledgling party - and found himself briefly banned from its inaugural conference in Liverpool late last month after being accused of planning to storm the stage.

The claim, which he says is categorically untrue - “I’m 63 years old, I’m not storming anything” - actually arose from an attempt he had spearheaded to calm tempers.

County Cllr Lavalette says he and others had put forward a motion which "basically said we really need to stop fighting”. When it was rejected by the committee that decided upon the proposals to be debated, some groups - unconnected to him and without his knowledge - had suggested protesting on the platform, a call which got back to the conference organisers and saw him locked out of the venue for several hours.

The veteran politician - who was a member of Preston City Council for various Left-leaning parties and as an independent for a decade from 2003 - said Your Party needed to coalesce around “the 80 percent that we have in common and create a safe space [in which] people can discuss the other 20 percent and move forward”.

The failure to do that to date has not impressed Preston city councillor Carol Henshaw - who was the Labour cabinet member for the environment until earlier this year and now sits as an independent for the City Centre ward at the town hall.

She had previously planned to move under the Your Party umbrella once the launch was complete, but says she has been “extremely disappointed with all the falling out and playing into mainstream media hands”.

Cllr Henshaw - who quit Labour after antisemitism allegations, which she denied, and is also part of the Preston Independents - told the LDRS that “egos and identity politics” had proved a "massive deterrent”.

“From 800,000 expressions of interest to 50,000 members shows I'm not alone, but also demonstrates a real need for a change - unlike Reform - and unity. They are currently too divisive.

"I support human rights for all, which is what Your Party should be about, in my opinion,” added Cllr Henshaw, who said she was glad that Your Party's conference delegates had voted to have a 'collective' leadership, with no single figurehead.

County Cllr Lavalette was also pleased that that path had been chosen - and said Your Party needed to keep its “eyes on the prize”.

“It has got huge potential [after] 40 years of increasing inequality, a massive cost-of-living crisis and privatised industries where shareholders have raked billions out of the system but not put in sufficient infrastructure.

“All of that, for me, means that we are in a prime position for a left of Labour alternative.” he said.

Lancashire revealed itself as a potential key target area for Your Party over the summer, when Jeremy Corbyn visited both Preston and Blackburn and spoke at two packed-out rallies

As the LDRS revealed at the time, he also held private discussions with independent councillors who were considering formally joining the party.

However, one of the most high-profile of those - Progressive Lancashire county council opposition leader Azhar Ali - later said he would "wait and see” what “the direction of travel” was for the moment before making any decision.

Last month, Blackburn independent MP Adnan Hussain pulled out of efforts to set up Your Party, citing concerns about factionalism and "veiled prejudice" against Muslims.

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