Five Labour councillors, including a council deputy leader, have resigned in protest at what they described as the party’s “move rightward” under Keir Starmer. The Lancaster city councillors said they were leaving the party “with sadness and rage” over issues including the suspension of Jeremy Corbyn, who said Labour’s antisemitism problem was overstated. It is thought to be the first significant resignation of Labour councillors since Starmer became leader in April. While the move deprives the party of five elected members on a delicately balanced council, it is not expected to alter its overall political control. Their announcement came minutes before Corbyn was reinstated to the party on Tuesday night, but Alistair Sinclair, one of those resigning, said the surprise move had not altered their position. In a joint statement, the councillors said Labour had “for a brief time” offered hope to millions of people that it would “fundamentally challenge the capitalist system that is destroying our planet”. They added: “Today under Starmer, it is offering a return to ‘business as usual’. The country and the world doesn’t have time for this. The climate extinction clock is ticking. So, we cannot in good conscience remain as representatives of this Labour party with which we now hold so little in common.” Four of the councillors – Sinclair, Faye Penny, Jack O’Dwyer-Henry and Katie Whearty – described Corbyn’s suspension as “an unjust attack on a decent man and an attack on the left”. They said it was now “clear that socialists have no credible strategy to regain control of the party, … Under this ‘New Leadership’, Labour has failed to oppose the ‘spycops’ bill, which threatens human rights, especially those of trade unionists and leftwing activists. Under this ‘New Leadership’, Labour has failed to provide effective opposition to the government in the pandemic, minimising trade unions’ concerns about the unsafe reopening of schools and universities. “Under this ‘New Leadership’, Labour has distanced itself from the radical and vitally necessary policies of a socialist Green New Deal.” In a separate statement, the council deputy leader, Kevin Frea, said he was resigning because the party’s democracy was “not fit for purpose” and it was “not going to take the urgent and necessary action needed to address the climate and ecological emergency”. The five councillors said they had formed a new grouping called the Eco-socialist Independents and planned to remain in the cooperative alliance that runs Lancaster city council, made up of Labour, Green and Liberal Democrat councillors.