St Albans councillor Roma Mills has resigned from the Labour Party – and will now serve on county and district councils as an independent.

Councillor Mills – who is a member of Hertfordshire County Council and St Albans City and District Council – first joined the Labour Party in 1984.

Over the past 30 years she has served for long periods as a Labour councillor on both Hertfordshire County Council and St Albans City and District Council.

Now – following the election of new national leader Keir Starmer and his shadow cabinet in April – she has quit the party, but will continue to serve on both the county and the district councils as an independent councillor.

Cllr Mills says it has been a “hugely difficult decision” to leave the Labour Party, but the changes in policies – and the values that underpin them – meant she no longer felt comfortable within the party.

During Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership, she had supported proposals to re-nationalise public transport and to invest in bus services and social housing.

She also highlights plans that would have regenerated the public sector and brought the NHS entirely within the public sector.

She believes new leader Keir Starmer is moving the party towards a centre point in politics, and she has said does not want to compromise.

Councillor Mills was first elected to St Albans City and District Council in 1989, where she has served almost continuously since then – with a brief break between May 2010 and January 2012.

She has also been elected to serve four terms on Hertfordshire County Council, in 1997, 2001, 2013 and 2018.

Her term as a county councillor is due to end next year, and her term on St Albans City and District Council in 2022.

She has said she has not yet decided whether – or not – she intends to stand again, as an independent.

Cllr Mills’ decision to be an independent member of the county council was reported to the annual meeting of the council on Tuesday, May 19.

Following the meeting, leader of the Labour group on the county council Cllr Judi Billing said Roma Mills was a “marvellous councillor”, and it was “terribly sad” that she had made this decision.