Switching party and continuing to serve as a councillor should be against the law, Peterborough Conservatives say

A councillor’s resignation from the political party they represented when elected should trigger another public vote, Peterborough City Council’s (PCC) Conservative group says.

A motion backed by the party, which all councillors will be asked to vote on next week, says that a change in the law is needed to prevent the “undemocratic practice” of local representatives crossing the floor and continuing sitting as an independent or a member of another party without a by-election confirming that this is supported by voters.

Submitted by Cllr Rylan Ray (Conservatives, Eye, Thorney and Newborough) – the Conservative group’s chief whip and cabinet advisor to council leader Cllr Wayne Fitzgerald (Conservatives, West) – the motion says that PCC should write to Peterborough’s MPs Paul Bristow and Shailesh Vara to ask them to call for the change in the law in parliament.

The timing of Cllr Ray’s motion is significant.

It will be voted on at the same council meeting as a motion of no confidence in Cllr Fitzgerald, submitted by the leader of Peterborough First – a group of independents who are largely ex-Conservatives.

Cllr Chris Harper (Peterborough First, Stanground South), the leader, was once a Conservative, as were seven members of his group who left the party shortly after this year’s local elections. They are yet to be elected by the public under their new banner.

Peterborough First, backed by Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Greens, hopes to oust Cllr Fitzgerald and install a new leader, saying that the groups “no longer have trust or confidence” in him or his administration.

The motion is likely to pass – combined, the council’s opposition party members outnumber the ruling Conservatives – and Cllr Ray’s motion offers some insight into how his party’s reacted to this.

“It is simply not right that once elected, an individual councillor can abandon that manifesto and swap to another party or claim to be independent of the party they stood for and the promises they made, without displaying accountability by going back to the public to face a further vote in the ballot box,” the motion says.

“It betrays the trust of the people that voted for them when rather than displaying openness, individuals mislead the electorate by standing on a political platform, only to cross the floor within a matter of weeks or months.”

"The United Kingdom is known as the birthplace of democracy, and to remain true to that title we are today calling upon this council to support a change in the law that will seek to prevent this undemocratic practice in the future."

Cllr Fitzgerald made similar statements after the spate of resignations from the Conservative party in May and June this year.

The councillors who left the Conservatives said that they were concerned by the direction the party appeared to be taking.

Cllr Harper’s motion also refers to “political attacks” made against opposition members and a subsequent breakdown in the relationships that had allowed Cllr Fitzgerald’s minority administration to function with opposition support.

Votes on both Cllr Harper’s motion and Cllr Ray’s motion will be held on Wednesday, 1st November.