EX-LABOUR turncoat Harriet Yeo was stripped of her council post by colleagues days before jumping ship to back racist rightwingers Ukip, her former party revealed yesterday.

The Ashford councillor and one-time national executive committee chair rounded off her betrayal of comrades with a Daily Telegraph article blaming her desertion on leader Ed Miliband’s opposition to an EU referendum.

But days earlier she was booted from her role as Labour group chair at Ashford Borough Council.

Colleagues voted her out last Friday for failing to turn up at council meetings or keep up with casework.

Within days she had quit the party altogether.

She revealed she would be backing Ukip in May, adding: “Ukip is not anti-anybody.

“Nigel Farage’s party simply wants to give Britain the ability to control its own borders — and its destiny.”

Responding to claims she had neglected her council duties Ms Yeo said that she had struggled to fulfil her elected duties because of work commitments.

Labour for a Referendum campaign director Brendan Chilton said a “growing number” of people within the party backed calls for a nationwide vote on renegotiation of Britain’s relationship with the European Union.

But he added that supporting Ukip was not the answer.

“Ukip is not a serious option for working people,” he said.

“Although it claims that it is committed to the NHS many of its leaders including its deputy leader Paul Nuttall and Nigel Farage himself want to introduce an American-style healthcare system.

“If people want to keep their NHS they need to vote Labour.”

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