LABOUR'S purge of the left from the party was condemned by Britain’s communists at a political committee meeting on Monday night.

Communist Party chairwoman Ruth Styles told the committee that North of Tyne Mayor Jamie Driscoll’s resignation from Labour was an “understandable” reaction to Sir Keir Starmer’s “betrayal” of all the pledges he made to win election as the party’s leader.

“Starmer has dumped most of his policy pledges and launched a purge of the left after promising to promote party unity on a left-of-centre programme,” she said.

Mr Driscoll had been excluded from the process to select Labour’s candidate to be mayor of the new North East Mayoral Combined Authority, despite his widely praised record and popularity as the mayor of North Tyne.

His resignation from the party comes as Labour MPs are criticising Sir Keir’s U-turn decision to retain the two-child cap on child benefit should he win the next general election.

“Starmer and his minions are determined to make a future Labour government safe for big business and the City of London by preventing voters from electing socialists like Jamie Driscoll and Jeremy Corbyn as official Labour Party candidates,” Ms Styles alleged. 

She also cited the Labour leader’s backtracking on issues such as renationalisation, green energy investment, student tuition fees, free school meals and NHS privatisation.

“He is dividing the Labour Party when he should be giving people hope and belief that a Labour government will be on their side … because not being the Tories may not be enough to win the next general election,” Ms Styles said.

“Keir Starmer should not be surprised when working-class voters turn out to elect hard-working and principled independent socialists rather than nodding dogs who tamely do their master’s bidding.”