THE leader of a town’s Labour Party has come out fighting after he was one of six cabinet members sacked.

Hartlepool borough councillor Gerard Hall said Mayor Stuart Drummond had made a mistake by sacking six cabinet members for failing to support a budget that was agreed in cabinet meetings.

The mayor also said he understood the six cabinet members were under threat of expulsion from the Labour party if they voted against Labour Party amendments to the budget.

The six cabinet members failed to attend when the budget went before last Thursday’s full council meeting for a final decision.

During that meeting, three amendments were proposed by the Labour Group, the most important being to stop the privatisation of the council’s IT services. That was against the wishes of Mr Drummond, who said outsourcing would save money.

Coun Hall said: “It is not the case we were under threat of expulsion. It is pure speculation by the mayor to say that.

“The other point on the budget is that the amendments were supported across the board, Conservative, Liberal Democrats and an Independent.

The budget is set by full council, not the Mayor, and this was democracy in action.”

• Yesterday, we identified Coun Jonathan Brash as leader of the Labour group. In fact, Coun Hall recently took over the role.