Former Opposition Senator Tricia Watson and well-known Democratic Labour Party member Irene Sandiford-Garner have both resigned from the DLP.

Ms. Watson’s resignation letter was dispatched this morning to the acting General Secretary of the DLP Pedro Sheperd.

Last weekend, to applause from his supporters, opposition leader Ralph Thorne announced that he would be appointing a new Senator to join Senator Ryan Walters on the DLP team in the Upper Chamber.

And yesterday morning acting DLP President Andre Worrell was sworn in as Ms. Watson’s replacement.

In a statement issued this morning, Ms. Watson noted that she only became aware of her imminent removal from the Senate after being contacted by the news media.

Ms. Watson also expressed concern about the ratio of men to women in the Senate now that she has been replaced.

She also stated other concerns about events in the DLP, the approach of its leadership and the direction in which the party appears headed.

Former Opposition Senator Tricia Watson.  

Irene Sandiford-Garner who was a government Senator and Parliamentary Secretary in a former Democratic Labour Party administration has also quit the party.

In her resignation letter she refers to what she calls the mistreatment of members at last weekend’s DLP annual conference and describes members being locked out as shameful.

But Mrs. Sandiford-Garner, who describes herself as an out-spoken feminist, says the final straw was what she terms the recent public revelation of a woman’s age and essentially characterizing her as old.