THE former city council leader has provoked an angry response after suggesting the Labour Party could split in two.

Labour’s Warren Morgan, who represents East Brighton ward, said he would consider leaving the Labour Party in May next year when his current term ends.

He said: “There is no hiding Labour’s divisions.

“Surely it is better now to let the different sides go their own way.

“The idea that I’ve had is that there might be some body, like the TUC or the electoral commission, that might come in and work out a way of doing this that both the wings of the party were happy with.

“There could be a proportional division of assets and an agreement over what the new names would be.”

Discussing his continuing role as a Labour councillor, he said: “My membership doesn’t come up until May next year.

“As it stands I’m going to review things at that point.

“I think the way things are going, something’s got to give between now and then, so who knows?

“They say a week is a long time in politics, so nine months is a very long time.”

Asked if he was actively thinking of leaving, he replied: “I think a lot of people are.

“I think if I don’t feel that the Labour Party is somewhere for me then that’s something that I will do.

“A lot of people that I respect greatly have already left.”

His fellow Labour councillor Nancy Platts, who also represents East Brighton, slammed her colleague’s proposals, saying: “It’s an incredibly bad idea.

“To divide the Labour Party would split the vote and let the Conservatives through the middle.

“The current leadership has offered people hope over austerity… our focus needs to be laser-like on the Tories, not on each other.”

She said leaving the party was not the answer for people who were uncomfortable with the party’s move left after years of centrist dominance.

She said: “Many of us wanted to walk over the Iraq War, over Private Finance Initiatives launched by the last Labour government, but we stuck in the party all the same, and I think we’re all better for it.”

The next elections in Brighton will be the city council elections in May 2019.