Hartlepool councillor Steve Wallace quits Labour after 'fall out' with section of the party

Councillor Steve Wallace successfully stood as a Labour Party candidate in the Throston ward at the Hartlepool Borough Council local elections in May.

However, he has made the decision to resign from the party following a “falling out”, meaning he will now sit as an independent councillor on the local authority.

Cllr Wallace said: “The argument is not between me and the Labour Party, it’s between me and a certain section of the Labour Party, and it got very heavy and I took myself out of the equation.

“It’s pretty much internal stuff, it’s just I found myself in a place where I was just uncomfortable staying in, which is no place to be after so many years.”

Cllr Wallace, who was previously election agent for former Hartlepool MP Peter Mandelson, added he is now focusing on work in his ward as an independent without the “distractions” of politics.

He said: “There’s a significant workload of people in the ward with various problems that you can help with as a councillor, there’s lots of issues like street cleaning, social services, you name it, it’s going on.”

He added he "remains supportive” of the Labour Party’s values and leadership.

It leaves Labour with 17 councillors on the council, with the Conservative and Independent coalition having 18.

Cllr Wallace is not part of the leading group and instead sits as a separate independent representative.

Hartlepool Labour Party said they have “no comment at this time”.