A Reform councillor in London has resigned from her role as a CPS prosecutor after making a series of outspoken remarks while dramatically defecting from the Conservatives.
Laila Cunningham, who represents Lancaster Gate on Westminster City Council, crossed the floor to Nigel Farage’s party and hit out at both Labour and the Tories, saying they had failed on crime and immigration.
Speaking exclusively to The Standard, Councillor Cunningham made highly politicised remarks about law and order, Net Zero and spiralling national debt.
She suggested Londoners are “angry and frustrated” at political leaders, that residents “experience hardship” under Labour and Tory leaderships, and said she has quit the Conservatives because she is “tired of defending failure”.
But her public remarks caused a storm within the CPS where she worked as a prosecutor, in a role in which she was bound by strict limits on political participation.
Last night, a CPS spokesperson confirmed to The Standard: “Councillor Cunningham has resigned from her position as a CPS prosecutor.”
It is understood her resignation was immediately accepted, in circumstances where she would likely have faced a disciplinary process over her public remarks if she had stayed in the role.
Prosecuting lawyers are expected to follow the civil service code, which sets out that they “must not take part in any political or public activity which compromises, or might be seen to compromise, their impartial service to the Government of the day or any future Government.”
In her interview on Monday, Councillor Cunningham suggested it was a “dereliction of duty” that there are not more police officers in the capital to fight crime.
Police officer numbers have been a major battleground in recent years between Labour and the Conservatives.
Councillor Cunningham, a qualified lawyer, entrepreneur and mother-of-seven, also said she expects a surge in Reform UK councillors at next year’s local elections, and suggested the party could even take the mayoralty from Labour.
Her defection was warmly welcomed by the party and Mr Farage, who described her as an “enormously talented, successful woman who will add to the professionalisation of our London team”.
In her CPS role, Councillor Cunningham appeared at Westminster Magistrates’ Court and in January she was the prosecutor of Johnny Scott, a man who caused more than £24,000 of damage after crashing his car into the Buckingham Palace gates.
In the past, she was dubbed “vigilante mum” after trying to track down muggers who had targeted her children.
She spoke openly to The Standard about crime, saying: “It’s a dereliction of duty that there’s not more policing, more access to police, and that’s what I want to see a change.”
She added: “For me, I believe the country has lost its way. And I can say this also, you know, as a mother, I feel I can’t let my children out, especially I’ve got teenage boys. I worry about them every day on the streets.”
She also resisted the idea of resigning her seat to spark a by-election due to the defection, insisting: “My priorities for my residents have never changed. I’m responding to that priority.”
On Tuesday evening, Councillor Cunningham posed for pictures outside Westminster Council House as she attended her first full council meeting as a Reform UK member.
She was greeted by fellow party supporters at the meeting, but sits alone on the council as Reform UK’s sole elected representative.
Reform UK was contacted for comment.
