A councillor who quit Labour this week has said she will be ‘actively working against’ her former party and Slough MP Tan Dhesi in the run up to the general election.

Sabia Akram is one of seven councillors in Slough who resigned from Labour on Monday June 3, accusing the party of ‘institutional racism’ and criticising its stance on the war in Gaza.

Now she has told the Observer the group will act as ‘an independent group.' She said: "We will be essentially a community action group."

Councilor Akram said the group would soon decide if they will stand an independent candidate or support another candidate in the general election on July 4.

READ MORE: Election candidate rejects claims he will 'toxify' Slough

She said: “One thing we can safely say is it won’t be Dhesi. I’ll be actively working against the Labour Party.

Councillors Zaffar Ajaib, Sabia Akram, Haqeeq Dar, Mohammed Nazir, Naveeda Qaseem, Waqas Sabah and Jamilia Sabah resigned from Labour on Monday, June 3. They cited ‘profound disillusionment and anger’ with the Party.

Councillor Akram told the Observer that councillors in Slough had been discouraged from voicing support for Palestine since the war started on October 7.

She said the party had warned them against joining demonstrations, and that the group were unhappy that the party had been reluctant to back calls in parliament for an immediate ceasefire.

And she said the group identified with Faiza Shaheen – who was blocked from standing as a Labour candidate for historical social media posts.

Councillor Akram said: “Faiza Shaheen is us – she’s a young British person of south Asian background. She’s not the status quo, middle aged pale and stale male.

“For her to be deselected in the manner she was in the middle of her campaign – that struck a chord with us.”

Councillor Akram also levelled specific criticisms at Slough MP Tan Dhesi. She said the group had raised concerns with Dhesi.

And she said they were upset when he accused independent candidate Azhar Chohan – who previously worked for Mr Dhesi – of ‘toxifying’ the campaign by encouraging Muslims to ‘vote in a block.’

Mr Dhesi said in a statement last month: “We don’t want to import the toxic politics of the subcontinent where many are persuaded to vote based on religion, caste or biradari.”

READ MORE: Seven Slough councillors quit Labour Party ahead of general election

Councillor Akram said the group felt ‘really upset’ by the statement. She said: “His own staffer is now against him. But that wasn’t a reason to throw a whole community under the bus and disenfranchise us.

“When I say community I mean that in a really wide sense. We live in a multicultural town and I’ve always been proud of that.”

Mr Dhesi told the Observer on Monday that none of the resigning councillors had raised concerns with him while canvassing for Labour over the weekend. The Observer has attempted to contact him for further comment.

A spokesperson for Labour said: "We are focussed on electing a Labour government and delivering the change that people in Slough and across the country need."