AN axed Rixton and Woolston Labour councillor has become the second in three weeks to announce he will be standing as an independent candidate in May.

Cllr Paul Bretherton, who was elected into the ward in 2007, has resigned from the Labour Party tonight, Tuesday.

He will be beginning his campaign as an independent immediately as he bids retain a council seat at the all-out election on May 5.

It follows an announcement from Cllr Bill Brinksman on March 16 confirming he would be standing as an independent – he was expelled from Labour a day later.

Both were deselected at the controversial selections in January.

In a letter to regional director for Labour North West Anna Hutchinson and regional organiser Eric Wilson, Cllr Bretherton said he knows he can walk away from the party with his 'head held high'.

He added: "(This is) further to our previous correspondence whereby I was reprimanded and threatened with expulsion from the Labour Party after you were made aware of a 'rumour' that I was considering standing as independent councillor.

"I am now happy to inform you both that I am resigning from the Labour Party to enable me to turn the rumour into reality and stand as an independent candidate in Rixton and Woolston, the ward which I have represented for the past nine years.

"I've taken the decision so that residents will now get a wider choice as to whom they wish to represent them, rather than 'having two new Labour candidates dumped upon us that we don't know, that we've never heard of, and that we do not want to vote for'.

"Not my words but the words of many people in the community over recent weeks, dismayed by my enforced removal, and equally dismayed by the calibre of the alternative choices on offer.

"Three successive victories in 2007, 2011 and 2015, and in a ward that the party always considered to be a marginal seat – each victory signed off with a larger share of the vote for Labour.

"Elected by my peers in the councillor group to act as chairman of the children and young people's services committee from 2011 to 2013 followed by election to chairman of the policy committee for protecting the most vulnerable from 2014 to the current day.

"A loyal campaigner and party cheerleader who incidentally never had cause to be hauled before the whips for bad behaviour, or dereliction of duty of any sort.

"One who never smeared his colleagues or briefed against them for his own amusement and kicks.

"One who never bullied colleagues by sending anonymous e-mails, mocking them one minute and attacking them the next.

"Or one who never had reason to be investigated by the police and the CPS over serious criminal allegations of computer hacking, while holding the office of an elected councillor.

"The kind of behaviour that seriously damages the reputation and image of the party in people's minds and is severely at odds with the ethos that the party continues to define itself by, namely promoting the values of social justice, a strong sense of community, a reward for hard work and fundamental decency.

"But unbelievably I have been accused by some of damaging the reputation of the Labour Party by speaking out publicly.

"An incredible accusation considering the outrageous behaviours of others, but sad to say, all too typical of how certain sections of the Labour Party in Warrington acts, while seemingly being given 'carte blanche' to do so by yourselves.

"It's fair to say that I am struggling to recognise the party right now, the party that has been a big part in my life for a number of years, and when I see the direction that it is taking and the strange decisions that it is making, then I am not all that sorry to be leaving it.

"The Labour Party often over-uses a line whereby it describes the Conservatives as 'the nasty party'.

"I think the true holders of this title can be found a lot closer to home."