Smith's Wood councillor leaves the Green Party

A SMITH'S Wood councillor - who was the first Green Party candidate elected in Solihull - has defected to the Social Democratic Party (SDP).
The sudden departure of Mike Sheridan, whose shock victory in 2008 paved the way for the Greens' rapid growth locally, was not formally announced, but became apparent last week when he rebranded his webpage with his new party's logo.
Coun Sheridan, who had originally captured his seat from Labour, has said there was no one reason for his decision to leave the Greens.
Although he admitted he shared the SDP's position of wanting to leave the European Union (the Greens, by contrast, want major reforms but are firmly in favour of remaining in the EU).
His defection will not massively alter the make-up of the borough council; with eight councillors remaining, the Greens remain the second largest group.
Nonetheless, the loss of their long-standing member is likely to come as a blow to activists who, having welcomed a number of disaffected Lib Dems to their ranks, are far more used to bringing in people than seeing them leave.
Coun Tim Hodgson (Green, Shirley West) said last week that the defection was "not entirely unexpected".
"There had been indications that he might leave and you could see at times that he was not always participating," he told the Solihull News.
Coun Sheridan, aged 50, has confirmed he will seek a third term on a SDP ticket when the local elections take place next May. For the Greens the search will now begin to find a new candidate.

SDP: The Social Democratic Party was set up in 1981 by a group of senior Labour politicians. The so-called "Gang of Four" had become uncomfortable with Labour's increasingly left-wing stance and saw an opportunity to start a new centrist party. They formed a pact with the Liberal Party and at the 1983 election polled 25 per cent of the vote - although the first-past-the-post system meant that the alliance only won 23 seats. Five years later the parties formally merged and became the Liberal Democrats. A small number of SDP activists opposed the union and have continued under the old name. Today the party has a handful of councillors scattered around the UK and a campaign HQ in Birmingham.