Fife Council Conservative group leader quits party – and joins Labour
The leader of the Conservatives at Fife Council has quit the party - and made the shock move across the political divide to join Labour.
Councillor Kathleen Leslie said she was “increasingly unable” to support the Tory Party’s positions on “everything from migration to foreign policy to welfare reform” and said she was a “better fit” as part of Labour’s minority administration at Fife House.
The Burntisland, Kinghorn and Western Kirkcaldy councillor, who was elected in 2017, confirmed she had also recently resigned from the Conservative Party “following much thought and reflection.”
She also cited the rise of ReformUK as a “continued source of concern” and added: “I believe that a Reform UK government would be absolutely catastrophic for the people of the UK and Scotland. I want to continue to actively work to ensure our communities across Fife are not swept up in a far right narrative that will cause damage for decades.”
Cllr Leslie has spent almost a decade in local politics - she topped the first preference votes to secure election almost ten years ago, and successfully held her seat at the 2022 poll, going on to become party leader.
She said: “I am not known for making spur of the moment decisions and whilst I became more uneasy at party policy that did not stop me being political. After much deliberation and research, I have come to the conclusion that for me, I am a better fit within the Labour Party; a party I had been a member of over a decade ago.”
“Whilst I have previously stood in parliamentary elections my focus now is very much on Fife. Over the past four years I have worked constructively with the Labour Administration in a number of areas, the most obvious being Transforming Learning.
“This policy is one I am proud to have been a part of in ensuring equity of access to digital technology for all our young people. If we do not get education right, we get nothing right and that means children need to be supported in their wider life outside of school. Again, I believe that the Labour Party has a better policy approach towards support for all young people in this country.”
Cllr Leslie isn’t the first to quit the Tory ranks in Fife.
Last September, Dunfermline councillor Gavin Ellis defected to ReformUK. St Andrews councillor Robin Lawson also joined Nigel Farage’s party, but in a personal capacity. He sits as an independent, but allies with the far right group which also numbers Burntisland councillor, Julie MacDougall, who is also now an MSP, who joined after a spell as an independent following her departure from Labour.
> Councillor Dave Dempsey, (Inverkeithing and Dalgety Bay) has been elected to leader the Tories in Fife - a post he has previously held.
He said “I’m looking forward to resuming the role of Group leader, which I held for a number of years previously, and to promoting the Scottish Conservatives across Fife as well as in my own ward”.
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