‘We’re not going anywhere’: Independent councillors on joining forces under a new Nottingham council
In under two years, Nottinghamshire has witnessed the rise and fall of different political parties representing its areas.
A new Labour East Midlands mayor, saying goodbye to several Tory MPs, Reform UK storming the county council – and in Broxtowe, a new independently-run authority.
Some say a ‘seismic shift’ is happening as more and more people turn away from traditional parties.
With the biggest local government shake-up in 50 years looming, a new party alliance is brewing.
Broxtowe’s newest political group has just turned a year old and has managed to keep the momentum going.
The Broxtowe Alliance group was born from a shock mass defection when 20 Broxtowe Labour councillors – inluding leader Milan Radulovic – quit the party in January 2025 in protest at Labour Government policies such as cutting the winter fuel allowance for pensioners.
Just months after that, the fresh party managed to secure its first county council spot in May’s 2025 local elections, where Coun Teresa Cullen, already a borough councillor, won the Beeston Central & Rylands seat from Labour group leader, Kate Foale, by 27 votes.
The new party runs Broxtowe Council as a minority with 19 councillors but its energy has continued through its first year, with its wider membership around 105.
Its candidate also retained the Stapleford South East seat in December 2025’s by-election, despite Reform performing well there during the county council elections.
Broxtowe Alliance is not the only independently-run council in the county – the Ashfield Independents currently still control Ashfield Council, although the party lost nine out of 10 of its county council seats to Reform in last May’s local elections.
Now, Coun Cullen says a ‘seismic shift’ is happening in local politics and that Broxtowe Alliance is ‘not going anywhere’ amid Government plans to reorganise and merge Nottinghamshire councils to create fewer unitary authorities by 2028.
These plans could see at least parts of Broxtowe merged with Nottingham under a new council and Coun Cullen says Broxtowe Alliance would look to join forces with the new Nottingham People’s Alliance (NPA) group.
The latter group, on the city council, was formed last October, again by councillors defecting from Labour.
Both groups say they could merge under a new expanded city authority.
Coun Cullen told the local democracy reporting service (LDRS): “If we have to become the ‘Nottingham Alliance’ or the ‘Expanded City Alliance’, Broxtowe as an area will still exist.
"The important thing is the alliance bit – everybody working today.
“It’s important to counter the narrative that these little parties will fizzle out.
“Every political party in the country started out with a group of people wanting to do something.”
Coun Cullen says some reasoning behind the group stepping away from Labour was the ‘slow increase in control’ of being told when they could meet and what they could discuss.
She continued: “We had emails from Labour centrally saying we couldn’t discuss big issues like the Israel and Gaza conflict – this is not the Labour Party any more, it’s supposed to be about the people.”
Echoing Coun Cullens concerns, Coun Kirsty Jones (Ind), NPA leader, told the LDRS: “Politicians end up being very obedient to Westminster parties rather than meeting the residents’ needs.
“The public don’t actually want these sort of managerial politicians, these sound-bites, they want someone that represents them – that’s why smaller local groups are a lot more appealing to people.
“Residents don’t know you’re fighting for them because it’s all supposed to be kept confidential.”
She says her group had concerns about how city council leader Coun Neghat Khan (Lab) was chosen in 2024, where the party’s national executive committee oversaw the process rather than Labour councillors voting for their leader.
The committee interviewed six candidates for the role, where Coun Khan was deemed the most suitable.
Coun Jones said: “There would have been that democratic discussion but Nottingham Labour group denied that because the central party wanted to impose someone.
"There’s a feeling people are working for themselves rather than Nottingham people.”
She added her group work closely with Broxtowe Alliance, saying the similar groups are ‘an alliance family’ and a joined-up group under a new merged Nottingham council would be ‘a massive challenge to the establishment parties’.
She said: “I think we would be appealing as an alliance group for a large proportion of the electorate.
"That doesn’t mean we won’t have to work hard but Broxtowe Alliance have shown they can win at county level and there’s a good chance we could have a viable group on the new authority if local government reorganisation takes place.”
Responding to Coun Cullen and Coun Jones’ comments, a Labour Party source said: “These councillors long campaigned against Labour from within, publicly attacking its policies and people.
“Now, when they choose to leave the party, they claim they were silenced?
"Rather than playing politics and slinging mud, they should focus on the needs of their residents.
"That’s what Labour councillors will continue to do.”
Broxtowe Alliance borough councillor, Tyler Marsh, told the LDRS the goal is to ‘replace Labour' in the borough and Nottingham city, saying: “We’ve always been the ones with what we’d call true Labour values – there’s a market for a progressive independent group and that’s what our intention is.”
Coun Radulovic, said: “The shift away from national politics in the next five years, in my opinion, will become a lot more profound.
“The momentum is growing, I’m very excited about it and what it would mean.
"It would be a new council that would be committed to serving people and important services instead of protecting the national mantra.”
A Labour Party spokesperson said: “The Labour Party has always been a broad church, but members come together to deliver for the people of this county and this country.
“Under this Labour Government, we have put Britain back on a stable footing – in our public finances, in our economy, and in the core services people rely on.
“And this year people will start to feel the difference in the weekly shop, in monthly bills , in pay packets that finally go further and in communities that feel safer, cleaner and more confident again.
“There is more to do, and we are disappointed that these former members didn’t want to join us in this mission.
"But it won’t deter us from delivering the change people voted for with Labour.”