Dudley Labour group announces interim leader following shock resignation
Councillor Shaukat Ali has been announced as the interim leader of Dudley Council's opposition Labour group following the shock resignation of Pete Lowe.
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Councillor Lowe, a Labour Party member for 41 years, quit the party last night (Wednesday, March 19) in protest at the Government's plans for welfare cuts.
He becomes Dudley's fifth Labour councillor to leave the group since last year's 'all-up' election, when all 72 council seats were up for grabs.
He said he could not in good conscience criticise cuts being made by the Conservative-led council when his own party was doing the same thing to pensioners, the sick and the disabled.
A spokeswoman for West Midlands Labour Party said Councillor Ali would be the group's interim leader until a leadership election was held. No date has yet been set for a contest.
Councillor Lowe, who twice served as leader of the council, announced his resignation from the party in a withering letter to Prime Minister Sir Keir Starmer.
He said he would now sit as an independent alongside former Labour colleagues Councillor Steve Edwards - expelled from the party for his comments about the Prime Minister - and Councillor Karen Westwood, who resigned earlier this week. But he said he would not rule out forming a new group on the council.
