Overview
- Harbi Farah, Iman Ahmadi-Moghaddam, Mary Mitchell, Tony Ethapemi and Erica Gbajumo left Labour for the Greens, including a former cabinet member and a former chief whip, making the Greens the third-largest group on Brent Council.
- The councillors said Labour has abandoned its core values, with several noting they were deselected for next year’s elections and citing disappointment with the party’s direction.
- Zack Polanski welcomed the defections as reflecting national sentiment, highlighting Green membership at roughly 180,000, which party figures say makes it the UK’s third-largest by members.
- The Greens are concentrating on London in May, including an effort to win the Hackney mayoralty and to loosen Labour’s grip on multiple councils across the capital.
- The Brent move follows earlier London defections in Barking and Dagenham and Southwark; no sitting Labour MPs have crossed to the Greens, while polling cited by The Independent shows Labour near 20%, Reform about 30% and the Greens around 12%, with some analysis warning local losses could heighten pressure on Keir Starmer.