James McAsh has defected to the Greens, seven months after his victory in Southwark Council’s leadership election was overturned by the central Labour Party, the News can reveal.
In a scathing statement announcing his defection, McAsh, the council’s Cabinet Member for Clean Air, Streets and Waste, said he could “no longer in good conscience” encourage residents to vote for the Labour Party, which he accused of thwarting his leadership bid for “transparently factional reasons.”
The local Labour Party will be reeling after the defection of McAsh, a councillor for Goose Green ward since 2018. He is the fourth councillor in Southwark to have made the jump from Labour to the Greens and the seventh councillor to resign from the party since last summer’s crisis-ridden leadership election.
Explaining his decision to defect, McAsh said: “I grew up in a Labour household and I’ve devoted much of my adult life to the party. I’m proud of the work I’ve done in Southwark – but Labour is no longer the vehicle for social justice I once thought it was.”
He added that the council was “planning for funding gaps larger than those faced in almost every year of Conservative and Liberal Democrat austerity, this time imposed by a Labour government.
“Unless something changes, Labour cuts will devastate the local services that as residents of this fantastic borough, we all rely on.”
A senior Southwark Labour spokesperson hit back: “Local residents can draw their own conclusions about Cllr McAsh’s swift move from Labour leadership hopeful to the Green Party, after he didn’t get his own way. While he’s thinking about his own career, Southwark Labour are delivering for residents.”
The left-wing councillor also took aim at the local Labour party, which he claimed “cannot and does not stand up to the government. But the Green Party and Zack Polanski [the Leader of the Green Party] are already speaking the truth and standing up for Southwark residents. Austerity hurts no less when packaged in red.”
The government recently announced changes to the local government funding model, which will leave Southwark facing a financial black hole of between £60 million and £90 million over the next three years.
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Continuing to pour scorn on his former party, McAsh, a primary school teacher and trade unionist, blasted Labour as “tragically out of touch, deeply unpopular and seemingly indifferent to the suffering their decisions cause.
“Despite this, I long believed that it was worth remaining in the party because of the potential to change it from within. I am leaving because I no longer believe this change is possible.”
Referring to last summer’s chaos-ridden leadership election – which saw left-wing McAsh briefly elevated to the Labour leadership before being swiftly deposed under the orders of the party’s regional command – he added: “I was elected Leader of Southwark Council, only for that result to be overturned for transparently factional reasons.”
The first ballot held on June 30 following the sudden resignation of Kieron Williams a few weeks earlier initially saw James McAsh elected following a closed-door vote of the local party which was supervised by representatives from the central party.
But that result was subsequently called in and an online run-off was ordered, after party figures including MP Neil Coyle raised concerns about the casting of two proxy votes, which was later revealed to have been a breach of Southwark Labour’s own rules.
In the run-off vote held the following Monday July 7, the previous runner-up Sarah King was elected the party’s next leader who had lost out by two votes in the first round.
King later revealed that both she and McAsh jointly wrote to Labour high command to ask for the run-off vote to be held in person. The suggestion seems to be that she wanted to preclude any allegations of a possible stitch-up, rather than because she had any doubts about the authenticity of the online voting system.
McAsh went on to say that “as a primary school teacher, trade unionist, and socialist, my values and principles have not changed, but they are no longer consistent with the Labour Party,” but added that they “are consistent with the Green Party”.
The defection marks a huge blow for Southwark Council leader Sarah King, who has lost seven of her councillors since she became leader last July and is now short of one of her most prominent Cabinet colleagues just three months ahead of the May local elections.
Sam Foster, Kath Whittam, Reginald Popoola and now James McAsh have all defected to the Greens. Three councillors – Laura Johnson, Darren Merrill and Ketzia Harper – resigned from Labour to sit as independent councillors.
Meanwhile the Greens are rapidly gaining strength in Southwark, with a membership roll that currently stands at 2,000 locally compared to 500 in January 2025, and 200,000 across the country.
Zack Polanski, Leader of the Green Party, said he was “hugely proud” to welcome McAsh into the fold, adding: “I cannot wait to work with James, and many others like him, for an agenda of real hope and real change.”
Cllr Victor Chamberlain, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Opposition on Southwark Council said: “Labour’s own psychodramas are once again proving to be its downfall, with controversial Labour MP Neil Coyle’s interference now coming back to bite his party. They are in political freefall, and the writing is on the wall for them in the local elections in Southwark and across the country.
“Everyone knows that after May the council will be led by either the Labour Party or the Liberal Democrats. Whilst Labour collapse into self-indulgent political chaos and scandal, Liberal Democrats are laser focused on serving our residents, and campaigning on the housing crisis, rising crime, and the cost of living.”
