UKIP say Sunderland voters feel ‘betrayed’ by Labour after winning three council seats in local elections

Voters in Sunderland turned away from Labour because they feel ‘betrayed’ over Brexit, UKIP’s leader in the city has claimed.
By The Newsroom
Published 3rd May 2019, 18:51 BST
Updated 3rd May 2019, 18:56 BST

The eurosceptic party was one of the big winners on a tough night for the city’s ruling political party, winning in three wards and coming second in several more.

Richard Elvin, the party’s leader in city, who came second to Labour in Shiney Row but who will be back at the polls for European elections later this month, said his group was back with ‘a vengeance’ after a year in the ‘wilderness’ saw them field no candidates at all last year (2018).

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“A lot of people feel totally betrayed by the Labour Party,” he said.

“Sunderland is an area which highly voted to leave, but all the MPs want to remain and that’s an insult to their electorate.

“There’s been a growing groundswell of opinion that Labour is not doing the job it was elected to do and hasn’t for decades.

“The current Labour Party is not the Labour Party of old – in many respects it’s Tory-lite.”

 

James Harrison

James Harrison , Local Democracy Reporting Service