Independent Councillor Goes Green

Cllr Ian Barker

The sole independent member of Oldham Council has revealed he’s joined the Green Party. Cllr Ian Barker becomes the party’s first-ever first representative on the council since the 1990s.

Cllr Barker was first elected in Failsworth West as a Conservative, but left the party earlier this year following an investigation into the alleged misuse of council e-mail accounts. Cllr Barker was suspended by the Tory group but, after he was cleared of any wrongdoing, party bosses told him he wouldn’t be allowed to return unless he re-applied and won a vote among the Conservative councillors. He decided to sit as an independent instead.

In a statement released to the media, Cllr Barker said: “Over the past few years I have become increasingly concerned about the environment and social justice and have campaigned within the council and my local community for action on things like road safety, cutting waste and tackling climate change.”

He went on: “I am impressed by the Green Party’s policies to create a fairer society without harm to the environment. I am committed to doing all that I can to put these principles into practice. I will of course continue to represent residents in Failsworth West to the best of my ability.”

Emily Heath, who chairs the North West Green Party, added: “Ian is a hard-working community activist, and I am really pleased that he has decided to join the Green Party. We look forward to working with him to try to improve quality of life for residents in Oldham.”

Cllr Barker was elected to his seat in 2008, which means he’ll be up for re-election in 2012. Should he decide to stand again past results suggest he’d have a decent chance of holding on for the Greens. Two years ago the party’s candidate Warren Bates came a reasonably close third behind Cllr Barker and Labour’s John Johnson.

Cllr Barker’s decision means the make-up of Oldham Council is now the Liberal Democrats and Labour on 27 seats apiece, with five Conservatives and one Green. The Lib Dems and Tories are running a coalition administration.

There’s an article on this from the Oldham Advertiser here. You can follow Cllr Barker on Twitter here.

(UPDATE 14/6: Following information posted in a comment, the first line of the article has been changed to reflect that two Labour councillors defected to the Greens in the 1990s)

Author: Jude Gidney - Editor

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