Slough councillor suddenly quits Labour to become independent

That’s what councillor Madhuri Bedi (Foxborough) said at a full Slough Borough Council meeting on the budget – as she resigned as a Labour member to become an independent councillor.

At the meeting on Monday, March 8, she also scolded her former colleagues for choosing to increase council tax to the maximum this year.

She said the 4.99 per cent spike will “prove too much for too many” and this rise “could’ve been avoided” if the council’s reserves were more “robust” and if the finances were managed better.

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In her speech to councillors, Cllr Bedi said: “I have always maintained every resident matters and this is not the first time I have been left saddened to see we’re moving forward without listening to residents’ concerns.

“I joined the Labour party because I believed it stood ‘for the many, not the few’. Sadly, I do not see that being played out in current leadership.

“So, on this International Women’s Day I choose to challenge by resigning as a Labour member.

“A journey of a thousand miles starts from one step and today I take that step with my head high. Free from the shackles of the whip.”

Slough Borough Council

However, the deputy leader of the council, councillor Sabia Akram (Lab: Elliman), put her former colleague’s resignation speech down to a “political broadcast”.

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Cllr Akram brought up Cllr Bedi’s low attendance record from the previous year, saying Cllr Bedi could make changes, develop policies, or criticise the administration if she attended meetings.

She said: “Unless you’re in the room and are attending the meetings where decisions are made, you simply cannot criticise a budget where you have no real understanding of some of the challenges and nor have you put an alternative forward at any given moment within the municipal year.”

Council Leader james Swindlehurst 180327 Labour Party Manifesto Launch 2018 - Pictures: Mike Swift.

While not naming Cllr Bedi, the leader of the council, councillor James Swindlehurst (Lab: Cippenham Green) said members who leave the party are ‘never heard of again’ after losing at the next local elections.

He said: “The public don’t put their faith in traitors, quitters, and splitters. They put their faith in people who stand by their principle, have the courage of their convictions, and are prepared to put it out there for public offer.”

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During the vote on the 2021/22 budget, the leader of opposing Conservatives, councillor Wayne Strutton (Haymill and Lynch Hill) said it was “disappointing” to see Cllr Bedi be “forced” to leave the meeting because of the leader’s comments.

That comment spiralled the meeting into temporary chaos as multiple councillors began arguing over one another and the mayor ordered everyone to be quiet so the vote could continue.