Sean Carr is congratulated on his election to the new Derry-Strabane “super council” by his son Jimmy.
A long-serving councillor on Derry City Council has accused the SDLP of attemping to oust him from the party.
Cllr Sean Carr was speaking after the SDLP group on Derry City Council removed the whip from him.
In a statement issued from party headquarters in Belfast, the group said the decision was taken as a result of Cllr Carr’s failure to “comply fully” with the party Code of Conduct in respect of his membership and participation on the SDLP Council group in Derry.
The statement added: “This action was taken only after Councillor Carr failed to attend a meeting to discuss this matter with the SDLP Council group leader.”
As a result, Cllr Carr has no longer any voting rights with the party.
Cllr Carr said he was “shocked” by the decision, which he claimed was taken as part of a move to remove him from the party.
Cllr Carr, a members of the SDLP for 13 years and who was elected on to the newly-formed Derry-Strabane “super council” last May, claimed was a result of his request for an internal enquiry to be held into how both he and his son were treated by the party in the run-up to the recent local government elections in May.
Cllr Carr said the decision had come “completely out of the blue” as he had been informed by the SDLP head office in Belfast not to attend the meetings.
The SDLP also removed the party whip from Sean Carr’s son, the former SDLP councillor Jimmy Carr, in March last year over remarks he made about the Sinn Fein councillor Eric McGinley.
He resigned from the party earlier this year following a report in a Sunday newspaper.
He has since been cleared of any wrongdoing in relation to both the article and an incident earlier this year where a council issued iPad was handed over to the police.
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