Lewisham councillor Liam Shrivastava defects to Greens
Councillor Shrivastava said that Labour has abandoned its democratic socialist values, is aping far-right rhetoric and allowing Reform to surge in the polls. "Its gravest crime is its continued .. support for the genocidal Israeli regime which has killed over 55,000 including 18,000 children."
Cllr Liam Shrivastava, who sits for New Cross Gate ward, left the Labour Party this morning to join the Greens. He joins Cllr Hau-Yu Tam to form the council's Green group and only opposition.
He said that he joined Labour in 2015, inspired by anti-austerity, democratic socialist politics of Jeremy Corbyn, but the party is now "unrecognisable".
“Labour under Keir Starmer has cut winter fuel payments for pensioners, rowed back on net zero commitments, slashed welfare benefits for sick and disabled people, ramped up deportations, refused to scrap the 2-child benefit cap and aped the far-right with anti-immigrant rhetoric."
Not content with continuing the Tory government's punitive policies against migrants and asylum seekers, "Starmer's Powellite 'island of strangers' rhetoric legitimises the far-right politics that exploded during the racist riots last year," he added.
In September 2024, Shrivastava brought a motion to Lewisham council's Pension investment Committee to explore moving the council's investments away from "the arms trade and any companies implicated in human rights abuses or which operate in the Occupied Palestinian Territories".
Although the motion was passed unanimously, Srivastava reported that following the meeting he was disciplined and received a formal warning from Lewisham Labour Group, which accused him of "bringing the Party into disrepute".
He was removed from the Pension Investment Committee in May.
Shrivastava said today: "The members that bring Labour into disrepute are the ministers who continue to facilitate Israel's genocide against the Palestinian people."
At Lewisham council, the Labour group have created a "climate of fear" in which councillors are afraid to speak out, he added.
He had raised concerns about the council's engagement with the Universal Church of the Kingdom of God, which were dismissed as "uncomradely".
After wide media coverage, Cllr Kim Powell resigned from the cabinet, but Shrivastava says the Mayor and Council have remained silent and failed to apologise to victims, while he was told he would be "punished for raising the issue".
Shrivastava will join Cllr Hau-Yu Tam who sits for Evelyn ward, forming the council's Green group and only opposition. 52 out of 54 Lewisham councillors are members of the Labour Party.
Shrivastava's message to residents of New Cross Gate:
"I will continue to fight for your interests and work hard to improve the ward. I am proud of my track record as a responsive and active local councillor and I will strive to represent you as best I can."
Dorothy Stein
Dorothy Stein
Dorothy Stein
