The Green group on Stroud District Council is cracking the organic fizz as it celebrates a defection. 

A former Labour councillor has changed alliegiance, although the shift spells no change in the overall political direction at Ebley Mill.

Cllr Helen Fenton (Chalford) was elected in 2021 as one of 15 Labour councillors, but has been part of an independent group since September 2022.

Ms Fenton's defection means that the Green Party now has 14 seats on Stroud District Council and will continue to lead the joint administration, as the largest entity in an alliance with the Independent Left, Community Independents and Liberal Democrats groups.

Labour's presence on the council, among 51 members, now drops to just four.

A statement from the Green Party said that selection issues and perceived drift to the right under Sir Keir Starmer had fuelled Labour's dwindling presence at the council.

It said: "Labour now has only four councillors after interference by the national and regional Labour Party, its decision to block Cllr Doina Cornell from standing as Labour's MP candidate, and political disagreements with Keir Starmer."

 The statement added: "From 2012 to 2022, the Greens, Labour and Liberal Democrats had worked together to run Stroud District Council. Helen said that she had no option but to leave Labour in 2022, when the Labour councillors were ordered by the Labour Party to stop working with the Greens." 

Cllr Fenton, who also works as a therapeutic counsellor, added: "Keir Starmer's Labour Party demanded that Stroud's Labour councillors stop working with the Greens or face disciplinary action. The Labour Party didn't care about our communities, or that this was likely to hand over control to the Conservatives; they just wanted to stop the Greens from leading the council. I had no option but to leave the Labour Party to do what was right for the people who elected me."

Cllr Fenton will continue in her current role as Vice-chair of the Development Control Committee, working alongside chair Martin Baxendale. Her switch now means that all three district councillors in Chalford ward are now Green.

Cllr Catherine Braun, SDC and Green group leader said: "The Greens, with 14 councillors already, have a very good chance of becoming the largest group on the council in May; feedback from talking to residents on the doorstep tells us that we are likely to take votes from traditional Conservative voters who are disillusioned with the way the Conservative Party nationally has abandoned any pretence of environmental protection and social justice.

"We are also likely to take votes from Labour voters who understand that the collapse of the Labour group makes it unlikely that Labour can recover its position as a political force in Stroud."

● A ward vacancy meanwhile continues at Nailsworth following the death last December of popular Green councillor Norman Kay.