Labour Chairman Votes Against Austerity Budget

The government's majority has been further reduced after the chairman of the Labour party voted against the social welfare measures announced in the budget.

Colm Keaveney, a TD for Galway East, was expelled from the parliamentary party, but remains on as party chairman.

Mr Keaveney is the fifth Labour party TD to lose the party whip since it went into coalition with Fine Gael.

The measures he voted against included a €26m cut in a respite care grant.

It made no difference to the overall vote, which the government easily carried by 87 votes to 54.

But the defection of Keaveney - seen by many as one of the bright young hopefuls within the party - has dealt another blow to the authority of the Labour party.

He had been known to be unhappy with the measure, but had given two radio interviews indicating he would vote with the government.

But just moments before the vote in the Dail chamber, Mr Keaveney tweeted in latin "Acta non Verba", which means deeds not words.

"I know people are in pain out there. My value system can't actually allow me to vote for this budget and I'm very proud of the Labour Party and I'm very proud of the people I work with," he said.

The fact that Mr Keaveney held the position of chairman has complicated matters because under party rules he cannot be removed from the post.

"I don't think it's tenable for someone who is not in the parliamentary Labour Party to hold senior office in the Party," said leader Eamon Gilmore, "that's a Party matter we'll have to deal with in the course of time."

But Keaveney put it up to his leader.

"The graceful thing to do is to honour the mandate I was given by the grassroots of the Labour Party and I said I would honour Labour values. It is a gift of the members of the Labour Party and not of the leader," Keaveney said.

"I will put myself in front of a conference if Eamon Gilmore believes that we need an early conference to talk about the chair. I think we need an early conference on the direction of the Labour Party."

Other senior figures were scathing of Keaveney's departure.

"We can't afford self-indulgence at this time. Any single member of the Labour Parliamentary Party could have gone pirouetting on the plinth (at Leinster House), parading their struggle with their conscience and saying 'watch me now as I agonise about this decision.'" said Pat Rabbitte.

"Any one of them could have done that. Instead they took the hard decision ... to bring in a Budget that offers us the prospect of protecting the poor."