Newquay mayor Drew Creek leaves Green Party to join Labour

The Mayor of Newquay and Cornwall councillor for Newquay Trenance, Drew Creek, has left the Green Party and joined the Labour and Co-operative Party following a controversial motion passed at the Greens' national conference.

Councillor Creek, who was leader of the Green group on Cornwall Council, said he could no longer support the party's direction following the adoption of a motion declaring that "Zionism is racism".

The motion was passed by members of the Green Party of England and Wales at its annual conference in Brighton.

The decision prompted criticism from Jewish organisations and some senior figures within the Green Party.

Councillor Creek, who had been a Green Party member for around six years, was elected to Cornwall Council in 2025 and is currently serving his third term as Mayor of Newquay.

In a letter published online, he said the decision to leave the party had followed several weeks of consideration.

"It wasn’t a decision I made lightly. I have spent several weeks thinking it through. The motion passed at the Green Party’s national conference this month, and the direction the party has taken since, is something I cannot support or stand behind."

He added: "I would rather be honest with you about that than carry on representing a party whose position I don’t share."

Councillor Creek said he retained great respect for his former Green colleagues and would continue working with them on issues where they agreed.

He also reassured residents that his priorities for Newquay would remain unchanged, including his Love Treloggan project, issues surrounding the Boating Lake, housing and infrastructure, and securing greater investment in the town.

Acknowledging that some residents had voted for him as a Green candidate, he invited people to contact him with questions or concerns about his decision.

"As Mayor of Newquay, I will of course continue to serve the whole town without party politics. That role is for everyone, and this decision doesn’t change that."

PRESS PLAY to hear our conversation with Cllr Creek...
 

MP welcomes decision

Newquay's Labour MP, Noah Law, welcomed Councillor Creek's decision to join the party.

"In this period of polarised politics, it takes great courage to stand up for what you believe in. Having worked with Drew cross-party since my election, I have always found him to be steadfast in his beliefs, easy to work with, and a good advocate for Newquay."

He added: "Therefore, I am deeply proud to welcome Drew to the local Labour team, and thoroughly look forward to continuing our hard work for the betterment of everyone in Newquay - and against policies which move us no closer to peace in the Middle East but drive further division in our communities."

Cornwall Green Party Statement on Cllr Drew Creek’s Defection to Labour

"We are deeply saddened by Cllr Drew Creek’s decision to join the Labour Party.

When people vote for Greens, they’re voting for a party that has a strong set of principles. A party that knows the climate and ecological emergency is a truly existential crisis that demands urgent action. A party that believes in taxing extreme wealth and tackling the poverty and inequality that blights so many lives. A party, in short, that is very different from the Labour Party.

Drew had done excellent work as a Green councillor. In July, his speech in support of the Cornwall Council motion to take South West Water back into public ownership helped bring the whole of Cornwall Council behind this landmark call.

Sadly, the Labour government appears to have little intention of reversing the disaster of water company privatisation. And last week it announced its decision to allow yet more extraction of climate-wrecking fossil fuels in the North Sea.

When he became prime minister, Andy Burnham said he wanted to “end 40 years of neoliberalism”. But he has since done nothing to suggest that he means this, and this week’s budget statement shows Labour to be pursuing the same neoliberal policies as the Starmer government. There was no mention of climate. There was no attempt to tax extreme wealth. Water has been left in the hands of private companies, and renters left at the mercy of spiralling prices.

We understand that there are different views within the Green Party on the ‘Zionism is Racism’ motion. As a party, we have always accommodated a range of differing views, and we do not try to impose uniformity of belief among our members or our elected representatives.

Disagreements over the wording of this one motion should not distract from the fact that the Green Party is united in its condemnation of the racist genocide and ethnic cleansing that Israel is perpetrating in Gaza and the occupied territories, and united in its demand for much tougher sanctions on Israel.

Labour, by contrast, refuses even to recognise that what we are seeing is genocide, and continues to allow arms exports to and intelligence-sharing with the government that is committing it.

It’s hard to see how anyone who is serious about action on climate, action to end extreme inequality, and action to prevent an ongoing genocide could switch their support to a party that is not serious about any of these.

The key focus of our hard-working elected Greens in Cornwall is on serving the needs of local residents, addressing the impacts on our communities of the cost of living crisis, challenging inequality, fighting cuts to council funding and public services, protecting the local environment and tackling climate breakdown."

Everyone who shares our vision of creating fairer, greener communities is welcome in the Green Party. We are saddened that Drew has decided to throw in his lot with a party that does not share that vision."

PRESS PLAY to hear our conversation with Cllr Creek...