Councillor Jason Barr has resigned from SDLP as row over the party’s selection process for the next mayor of Derry and Strabane council rumbles on.
The party has selected Lilian-Seenoi Barr as the next mayor the council for 2024/25 term of office – the first black mayor in the North of Ireland.
However, the process by which Ms Seenoi-Barr was selected for the role has been criticised as undemocratic by two of her fellow SDLP councillors – Shauna Cusack and Jason Barr.
In a statement this morning, Cllr Barr, who is currently the deputy mayor for DCSDC, said in a statement: “Today I have resigned from the SDLP and will continue my tenure as an Independent Councillor.
“This decision was not made easily. I simply cannot be involved in a party that doesn’t stick to party democratic processes.
“Values that the party was built around is seemingly being ignored.
“Please know this has nothing to do with the party locally and the team or SDLP councillors in DCSDC, but the party management and HQ.
“I would like to thank my family and friends for their support during the last week and who will continue to back me.
“Please know it’s business as usual, only difference is it’s me myself and I.
“Can I finally add that I wish Lilian a very successful tenure in her position of Mayoress for our council area, a position I have no doubt in saying, she will go above and beyond.”
“The significance of my appointment as mayor is not lost on me,” she said, adding she will “work for every single person” in the city.
Ms Seenoi-Barr has been a councillor for Derry’s Foyleside ward since 2021 when she was co-opted by the SDLP.
Originally from Kenya, she previously worked to promote gender rights issues for Maasai women, focusing on forced marriage and female genital mutilation.
She was involved in organising the June 2020 Black Lives Matter protests which took place in Derry’s Guildhall Square.
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