Sign up to FREE email alerts from Liverpool Echo - Weekly Politics Subscribe Thank you for subscribing We have more newsletters Show me See our privacy notice Invalid Email

Three disabled pensioners claim they have been expelled from the Labour party because of a "conspiracy" by those fearful of the rise of Jeremy Corbyn and his supporters.

Tony Lucock, Bob Walker and Gerry Tyrrell have all been thrown out of the party - but say they have been given no chance to plead their case and there has been no due process.

All three men are in their seventies and have disabilities - they have been involved with the Labour Party before but all rejoined their local Halewood branch when socialist Jeremy Corbyn became the leader of the party.

Bob, 72, was elected onto the executive committee of the Garston and Halewood Constituency Labour Party (CLP) last summer.

The trouble appears to have arisen because all three members attended a meeting of a different political group - the Trade Unionist and Socialist coalition.

They said they did this because they are lifelong trade unionists and think it is to productive to have discussions with others involved with the movement - which is something Jeremy Corbyn has been a keen backer of.

But when Bob attended a meeting of the Garston and Halewood CLP in October, things took a turn.

He explained: "Someone stood up and said that he had minutes from a meeting of the TUSC which showed that we had attended.

"I said yes, we had attended but we weren't paying any money to them or anything.

"We were taking part in a discussion with other trade unionists, we get quite a lot of important information from trade unionists."

But he claims he was told to leave the meeting immediately - something which he said made him "physically sick."

The pensioner said: "I came home from that meeting and I couldn't sleep for three nights, I was physically sick - it was disgusting what they did."

The three men said that, just 24 hours after Bob had been ordered out of the meeting, they were notified from Labour's head office that they had been expelled from the party.

Tony, 78, who has been a member of Labour for around 40 years in total, said: "We were never suspended, we have never been approached about this - there has been no due process.

"This puts a black mark against our names, we are well known in the area and it looks as if we have done something wrong.

"I take this very personally because of my reputation in the town and the work I have done in the community."

Bob added: "I honestly think this was all set up, we got an email less than 24 hours after that meeting saying that we had been expelled."

When asked about the expulsions, a Labour party spokesman said: "We do not comment on individual membership matters."

But it was pointed out that party rules state: "A member of the Party who joins and/ or supports a political organisation other than an official Labour group or other unit of the Party, or supports any candidate who stands against an official Labour candidate, or publicly declares their intent to stand against a Labour candidate, shall automatically be ineligible to be or remain a Party member."

The party also claimed that each member had the opportunity to contest the breach of the rule, something all three men insist has not happened.

They believe that their removal from the party is part of a "conspiracy" from certain members within Labour, who are unhappy with the rise of the left that has coincided with Jeremy Corbyn's leadership.

Tony said: "We think that, because they can't get rid of Jeremy Corbyn, they are trying to get rid of his power base."

A petition has now been launched urging Labour to reinstate the three "purged pensioners" - with more than 1,000 signatures already gained.