Doina Cornell leaves Labour Party

This comes just a few weeks after she was removed from the longlist in the running to be the next candidate for the party for the Stroud constituency. 

"Today I made the very difficult decision to leave the Labour Party," said Ms Cornell.

"I will write elsewhere about my reasons.

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"Having been excluded from the longlist... I will not be participating [in tonight's selection] in what I regard as a "flawed and undemocratic" process and will not be attending."

"A great deal of damage has already been done to the local credibility of the Labour Party by the news that a person such as myself is fine to lead a district of some 120,000 people for Labour, but not stand for parliament.

"I have always said for Labour to succeed in elections voters must trust us; and there is precious little trust for all political parties these days.

"Having a local person such as myself with a good track record of achievements, is a way to earn that trust back."

Ms Cornell then went on to speak about tonight's crunch vote which will see the selection of either Dr Simon Opher or former South West MEP Clare Moody as the Labour politician to stand for the Stroud constituency at the next general election. 

A Stroud District Council spokesperson said: “Following the resignation of Cllr Doina Cornell from the Labour Party, the council administration will be reviewing the current Cooperative Alliance arrangements and will confirm before the next Council meeting on 21 July.

"In the meantime everything will continue as usual.”

A Labour spokesperson previously told British magazine LabourList: “Voters deserve the best representatives for their communities in parliament, and with Keir Starmer’s leadership Labour expects our prospective candidates to uphold the highest of standards.”