LABOUR shadow cabinet member, Paul Smith, has been ditched by his ward party – stopping him standing in his West Thornton seat in next May's council elections.
He is the second well-known Labour name to fail to win support from local members.
Last month, Councillor Karen Jewitt, who has served on the council for 20 years failed to be reselected in Woodside ward.
On Tuesday a meeting of ward members rejected him, shortlisting four potential candidates including sitting member, Bernadette Khan and Emily Benn, granddaughter of veteran Labour politician, Tony Benn.
Cllr Smith said on Wednesday he would be considering his position in the light of the vote but would not be drawn on whether he would be looking for another ward.
He was first elected to the council in Waddon 2002 but was defeated four years later.
In 2010 he was re-elected in West Thornton and now serves as shadow cabinet member for crime prevention and public protection.
Cllr Smith said: "West Thornton is a small party and at the end of day clearly there were some people who were determined to remove me and to do so without giving me a chance to go to a selection. For me it is disappointing that not one of the ward officers has bothered to contact me."
He did, however, make it plain that with 25 years of Labour membership behind him he would not be walking away from the party.
He said: "The selection process which has seen this happen is the same one as selected me in 2010.
"There is no point in criticising the process because it has not worked out for me for 2014."
He added: "I am still a councillor for West Thornton for the next ten months and there is a job to be done on behalf of residents, which I shall strive to do effectively."
Labour leader, Councillor Tony Newman said: "Paul is a very fine councillor and this is a huge political loss for Labour.
"This is one of the challenges of the democracy we have in the Labour party."
