Drama at City Hall as Sunderland Conservatives councillor 'crosses the floor' to join Labour

Ryhope councillor Usman Ali has left the Conservative Group and will now sit as a Labour councillor on Sunderland City Council.

The announcement was made at the beginning of a full council meeting on Wednesday, March 22, along with a wider media announcement from the city’s Labour Party.

Cllr Ali outlined his reasons for defecting before physically crossing the council chamber to the Labour benches and shaking hands with councillor Graeme Miller, leader of the council.

Cllr Ali told the meeting: “I would like to inform the chamber that as of today, I have cancelled my membership with the Conservative Party.

“I can no longer attach my name to this party, especially after everything that has happened nationally and the carnage the Conservative Party have caused nationally, I just can’t be a part of that anymore.

“I’m sorry I have had to bring this here today but I had no other place to go.

“I would also like to put on record how disgusting I feel it was how Cllr Helen Greener was treated by the party locally and I completely disagree with that.

“So I have taken the decision to step down from the Conservative Party and I have now become a member of the Labour Party.

“I would like everybody to know in Ryhope I will carry on doing the great work that I’m doing and will carry on delivering for the people of Ryhope.

“With this being said Madam Mayor I would like permission to cross the floor and go be with my new colleagues”.

Cllr Ali is the latest Conservative councillor in Sunderland to quit the party this year.

Previous defections have included Washington South councillor Paul Donaghy who joined Reform UK in January and Barnes councillor Helen Greener who quit to sit as an independent councillor shortly afterwards.

During a debate on a Labour motion later in the meeting Cllr Ali also appeared to criticise his former party.

He said the “freedom of speech on this side feels like much more my kind of thing” and that the “air seems cleaner on this side as well”.

A statement posted on the Ryhope Conservatives Facebook page said it was “upsetting” that Cllr Ali had defected to the Labour Party.

It added that “Labour has let down Ryhope” and that by defecting, Cllr Ali had “endorsed a party that raised our council tax [and] neglected our areas”.

The statement also referenced former Ryhope Labour councillor Michael Essl, who was previously given a formal warning by the party after making false allegations about a member of the public in a Facebook group.

The Ryhope Conservatives statement added: “We will continue to fight for residents in Ryhope, Leechmere, Hollycarrside and Grangetown.”

A Sunderland Conservatives spokesperson added the councillor’s public Facebook page “documents a record of Labour failures”

The new make-up of Sunderland City Council is now 43 Labour, 15 Conservative, 14 Liberal Democrats, two independents and one Reform UK.