Harrow Council's Independent Labour group is to look at the possibility of registering as a political party after its members' expulsion from the Labour Party.

Last week the national Labour Party announced members of the Independent Labour group had been expelled from the party for five years.

The action comes after the nine members of the group split from the then ruling Labour group over concerns over Councillor David Perry's surprise challenge to the leadership of Cllr Thaya Idaikkadar.

Independent Group secretary Councillor Husain Akhtar said: “We are very disappointed that the Labour Party has taken this action.

“However we believe there are number of technical issues which have been overlooked with the expulsion and we have written to the party about them and we are looking at legal options. 

“As far as we are concerned, as a group we are looking to the future and we are exploring the possibility of registering as our own party for the elections next year.”

In the statement last week the Labour Party said rules clearly state councillors cannot be a member of another party or member of another group while at the same time remaining a member.

The Labour party has said it is currently in the process of selecting candidates for the borough council elections in 2014.

The statement also adds several members of the Independent group receivedwhips' reports which were critical of their performance as councillors.

These included poor attendance at important council meetings, failure to answer residents’ letters and reluctance to meet local residents. The statement says the possibility of deselection as a Labour candidates would have been known to Independent group members.