‘It appals me’ — councillor resigns from Labour Party ‘to continue to fight for change’

The councillor rallied against what he described as Labour’s ‘hateful, xenophobic and dishonest stance on immigration’. Photograph: Google

A Hackney councillor has left Labour, saying he is “appalled” by the Party.

Cllr M Can Ozsen currently represents the London Fields ward alongside two more Labour councillors, Anntoinette Bramble and George Gooch.

However, Ozsen said he is finding it “increasingly difficult to see the difference between the Labour Party, the Tories, and the far-right Reform Party”.

In a statement seen by the Citizen, Ozsen said: “Labour’s hateful, xenophobic and dishonest stance on immigration appals me.

“Instead of choosing to explain the benefits that immigration brings – for example to our NHS and other public services – and instead of standing up for those seeking safety and dignity, this Labour government chooses to stoke fear and division”.

Last year the Labour Party deselected Ozsen – alongside Cllr Soraya Adejare – for reelection in the upcoming May elections despite serving in their respective wards for more than 10 years each.

This, he said, had been “unfair” and had left a “bitter taste in my mouth”.

Cllr M Can Ozsen. Photograph: Hackney Council

“I have been prevented, by those who run Labour in Hackney, from standing in the ward that I have been elected three times to represent”, he continued. “The case presented against me in the selection process was based on falsehood and lies.

“I was disciplined – alongside others who will be standing as Labour candidates in May – for voting according to my conscience for a procedural motion, not a substantive motion, for the council to consider a Green Party call for a ceasefire in Gaza”.

The councillor added he had been “necessarily absent” from the council due to a period of illness involving two surgeries. This, he alleged, was counted as an “avoidable absence”.

Beyond his own experience, Ozsen said his priorities no longer aligned with the Labour administration. He claimed the government “had to be dragged kicking and screaming to remove the two-child welfare benefit cap – preferring instead to see children go hungry”.

He also accused the government of “failing” to call out the genocide in Palestine. “All of this [is] supported in part by Hackney Labour Council’s refusal to divest its pension fund from firms that enable Israel’s war effort”, he added.

“I have come to the view that the Labour Party, both nationally and locally, has abandoned its core values and betrayed the very people whose interests it was set up to defend and promote”, he continued.

“It has become a career path for lobbyists, special advisers and apparatchiks whose commitment to socialist change and renewal is non-existent because it threatens their interests

“I am resigning now in order to continue to fight for the change that I originally joined the Labour Party to work for.

“It is clear that the Labour Party has now left me, and it is equally clear that I must now leave it”.

Cllr Penny Wrout, of the Victoria Ward, claimed Ozsen had been ‘shut down’ before he could make his statement.

Ozsen is not the first Hackney councillor to resign from the Party. In 2024, three former Labour councillors – Claudia Turbet-Delof, Penny Wrout and Fliss Premru – left after being suspended by Hackney Labour for voting in favour of hearing the same motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza Ozsen also voted for.

The trio formed Hackney Independent Socialist Collective (HISC), which in December 2025 became a registered political party. It now forms part of the Hackney Community Alliance (HCA) alongside the Hackney Greens, the Kurdish and Turkish Electoral Alternative, Revolutionary Socialism in the 21st Century (rs21) and the Socialist Workers Party (SWP).

When contacted for comment, Hackney Labour said: “We regret that M Can Ozen has decided to leave Labour. He has worked with us since 2022 to help fulfil our 2022 manifesto promises and it is difficult to lose such a valued colleague. 

“We do not see any political group he may join carrying out those promises and policies which the majority of people in Hackney have voted for, including those voters who elected him in good faith.

“We hope he will reflect on the negative impact his decision will have on his now former colleagues, on residents who voted for him, and on the trust placed in him by those voters. Such an action can only damage people’s trust in all those who are elected into positions of power. 

“We look forward to the next election in London Fields when we can once again see a Labour candidate win the trust of the voters”.