CEREDIGION’S ‘Red Wall’ is in dire need of repair following the mass resignations of eight local party members in a continuing row over Sir Keir Starmer’s leadership.

In a shock move, six members or former members of the Ceredigion Labour Party Executive Committee have quit along with two supporters.

Among the signatories of a resignation statement bitterly criticising the party leader are Cardigan’s Jan Culley, newly-elected Chair of Ceredigion Preseli CLP, and branch treasurer John Egan, of Aberystwyth.

Also departing are women’s officer Viv Eden, of Lampeter, communications and social media officer Hannah Holtom, of Cardigan, former Ceredigion branch secretary Maurice Kyle, of Aberystwyth, and ex-interim secretary Jill Oke, of Lampeter, along with Tom Kearney, of Cardigan, and Abeth Kyle, of Aberystwyth.

The walkout comes just three weeks after Ceredigion Labour Party became the first branch in Britain to call for Sir Keir’s resignation over his refusal to back calls for a ceasefire in Gaza.

Those departing now say that his widely-reported apparent words of approval for the late Margaret Thatcher last week were the final straw.

“We have arrived at this decision after a great deal of discussion, thought, and soul-searching; it has not been taken lightly,” runs the statement.

“However, we feel that the Labour Party is no longer an organisation with which we can identify or represent. It has inexorably moved away from its founding principles and values during the tenure of the current leadership.

“Under Keir Starmer internal Party democracy has been steadily and drastically curtailed, lifelong activists have been suspended or even expelled for factional reasons, and legitimate and measured political positions have been outlawed.

“The leader has moved away from the ten pledges, or statements of principle, that he made in order to secure a majority in the last leadership election.

“Therefore we feel that he is in breach of trust and should have resigned when he decided to abandon his commitments.

“The ‘final straws’ which have brought this situation to a head are the leader’s recent statements on the Gaza situation, with his refusal even to call for a ceasefire, and his words of approval for the political actions of the late Margaret Thatcher, which should be anathema to all progressive-minded people.”

Dinah Mulholland, Acting Chair for Ceredigion Preseli Constituency Labour Party, said members were ‘saddened’ by the departures.

“We understand that for some on the left of the party the present UK Labour leadership approach can be problematic, and one apparent solution to this can be a temptation to leave the party and to ‘go it alone’,” she added.

“However, there are few, if any, differences between members and ex-members at a local level.

“The number one priority for Ceredigion Preseli Labour Party members is to get rid of this discredited, desperate and shambolic Tory government and get a Labour government elected at Westminster.”