'Bonus’ to ‘absolutely disgraceful’: Voter's react to independents councillor defecting to Labour less than a month after elections
Middleton Independents Party’s emergence from nowhere to take five council seats was the stand-out story of the local elections in Rochdale this year. Only formally registered as a political party in March, the group fought on a ‘Middleton first’ ticket, tapping into local discontent over the town playing second fiddle to Rochdale.