I WAS interested to hear the deputy Labour leader of Gloucestershire County Council and former Labour Police and Crime Commissioner candidate Cllr Barry Kirby announce on BBC Sunday Politics West that he would not be offering himself for re-election as a Labour candidate in next May’s county council elections as the party had “turned in on itself”, and because hard working moderate Labour activists had effectively been told they were “no longer required.”

This rounded off a week which saw Jeremy Corbyn strengthen his position and renew his mandate as Labour’s leader with a significantly increased majority in the leadership election – although, unlike the Conservatives, at least Labour did have an election.

Many Labour veterans throughout the UK have actually already left the party and resigned the Labour whip.

As the grip of Jeremy Corbyn, John McDonnell and the Momentum group has been so significantly tightened, it seems certain many moderate Labour MPs and councillors will soon be deselected in favour of hard left candidates, so the House of Commons and local councils will be stacked with those crafted in the leadership’s own image.

Labour under Jeremy Corbyn has less and less relevance for the ordinary men and women whom it was set up to represent over 100 years ago.

Richard Ford, UKIP Gloucester