SOLIHULL Greens have welcomed Marcus Brain as their newest councillor to join them on Solihull Council.
Coun Brain, who defected from Labour last Friday, becomes the second Green councillor in Kingshurst and Fordbridge after the election of Nathan Moses in May of this year.
He said: “This has been such a difficult decision for me – I joined Labour as a 16-year-old, over 30 years ago, and I’ve been active from the day I first got involved.
“But Labour has lost sight of its core values. Local politics is irrelevant to Keir Starmer – there’s no interest in making change on the ground.
“The modern Labour Party has forgotten about working for its working-class roots.
“Labour is no longer the right party for the area so after much consideration I’ve decided to join Solihull Green Party, whose values I think are far closer to mine.”
Coun Steve Caudwell, Green group leader in Solihull, said: “Marcus has been an absolute stalwart for the people of Kingshurst and Fordbridge.
“He’s been helping our local foodbank to do amazing work and has been incredibly focused on helping the local community.
“By working with the much bigger Green Group on Solihull Council, we will be able to achieve so much more for the community and hold the Conservative Council to account who have let down Kingshurst and Fordbridge for so long.”
The defections mean Solihull Green Group moves to 16 councillors, Conservatives to 30 with the defection of Coun David Cole from Labour, plus there are three Liberal Democrat councillors and two Indepdents.
There are now no Labour Councillors for the first time since the inception of Solihull MBC in 1974.
