TEN members of Harwich and North Essex Labour Party’s executive board have resigned their positions due to the direction the national party is taking under new leader Keir Starmer.

The constituency party’s chairman Maison Urwin is stepping down, along with vice-chairman Solma Ahmed, secretary Tobie Glenny, treasurer Phil Dunnett and Will Davis, Thomas Randall, Frank Belgrove, David Gynn, Mike Bailey and Matt Cooke.

They all said they wish to remain members of the party, but believed others should take over at the branch due to the new national leadership’s “neo-liberal” stance.

In a statement they said: “It is always a sad moment when it becomes necessary for a Labour member to step aside from a role within the party but the time has come for us all to do just that.

“As executive committee members we have experienced a great feeling of comradeship and unity of purpose as we endeavoured to promote and organise the Labour Party in our locality.

“Our firm objective has been to promote socialist ideals and to argue unregulated capitalism is incompatible with the values of freedom, equality and solidarity and these ideals can only be achieved through the realisation of a socialist society.

“We did our very best to support and run the constituency Labour party through good times and bad. The General Election result of 2019 was indeed a very bad time for us.

“The growth of membership in our group was quite extraordinary from 2015 until late 2019 and the quality and organisation of our meetings was of note. We embraced the broad church and respected a range of views.

“We all now feel that with the direction being taken by the leadership towards a more neo-liberal stance it is right the executive baton should be handed over to those that share the direction of the leadership.

“We will remain supportive members of the party but it would be doing an injustice to the wonderful membership if we continued in our roles half-heartedly.”

District councillor Maria Fowler, one of four executives who did not resign, is now interim chairwoman.

Labour East declined to comment.