A Swaythling councillor has switched party from the ruling Labour group to the Liberal Democrats.
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Cllr Matt Bunday, pictured above, who lives in Bitterne Park and was secretary of the city’s Labour group, told bitternepark.info the decision was largely due to dissatisfaction with increasing “party centralisation”.
Although he didn’t stand himself, he expressed frustration about the process for electing the new Labour group leader, claiming it lacked “sufficient transparency, integrity and engagement”.
He said he is also a “big remainer, a big pro European” and he’d “given Labour seven or eight years to get sorted on this”.
“The Liberal Democrats are very clear about it, so there’s a principled thing – there’s a hard thing there”.
Bunday said he also found himself “increasingly agreeing with disaffected voters as I speak to people on the doorstep”, and cited the “disruption residents have faced over the recent Portswood Broadway bus gate” as an example.
As reported, Matt Bunday’s father Tony also recently joined the Lib Dems.
Tony Bunday (left) became the “first ever” Labour councillor for Bitterne Park in 2022. In 2023 we revealed that he had been stripped of his party membership. He then continued his term of office as an independent before joining the Lib Dems in February. Tony Bunday is not currently a city councillor.
Matt Bunday stressed that his decision to leave Labour and join the Lib Dems wasn’t personal and he wasn’t trying to start a row with the local Labour group.
“A lot had been in touch to say they were sorry to see him go,” he said.
In an open letter to residents, he said: “I wish my ex-Labour colleagues all the best in the future, and wish to particularly convey my congratulations and best wishes to its new leader. I would stress that this is not about my former colleagues, many of whom serve their city with honour.”
He added that he wouldn’t resign to trigger a by-election.
“My seat is up in 2026 anyway.... And by-elections are expensive for councils, so [voters] will have a choice in the next nine or ten months anyway. That’s the thinking. Had I been on a two, three or four-year term then I would have stood down.”
The defection means that Swaythling will now have two Lib Dem councillors, Bunday and Cllr Thomas Gravatt, and one Labour: current council leader Cllr Lorna Fielker, although it won’t significantly dent Labour’s majority.
Cllr Bunday's letter to residents is available to view/download as a pdf here.