Councillor Kathleen Nickson to remain as an independent
Date published: 23 August 2019
Councillor Kathleen Nickson
Former Liberal Democrat councillor, Kathleen Nickson, has announced she will remain as an independent councillor.
In July, it was announced that Councillor Nickson – who represents Balderstone and Kirkholt – intended to join the Brexit Party, just six months after defecting to the Liberal Democrats from Labour.
In a statement to Rochdale Online on Thursday (22 August), Councillor Nickson outlined her intentions to remain as an independent councillor.
She said: “As a member of Rochdale Council for several years, I left the local Labour Party and the reasons for that are already documented. I joined the Lib Dems and that proved, also, to be the wrong thing for me because of the national policy on Brexit and I became an independent.
“I was approached by the Brexit Party to join them and agreed to apply. However, after a lot of soul searching, I have decided to remain an independent councillor.
“I will continue to serve my constituents, in the best way that I can, as always.”
Councillor Nickson left Labour in January claiming she was being ‘blocked from doing her job’ – while group leader Allen Brett said her relationship with the party had become ‘untenable’.
She was first elected in 2014 and was re-elected with 52% of the vote in May 2018.
The Brexit Party refused to comment.
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