Sacked Labor backbencher Jeff Collins has quit the Labor Party and will sit as an independent

SACKED Labor backbencher Jeff Collins has quit the Labor Party and will sit as an independent.

SACKED Labor backbencher Jeff Collins has quit the Labor Party and will sit as an independent, ABC News has reported.

Mr Collins told the ABC he had been barred from government sections of Parliament House and was booted off two parliamentary committees.

“And then they have told me that I must take instructions or my directions from the Leader of Government Business, or the Government Whip,” he said.

Mr Collins, who is the Member for Fong Lim, said the restrictions placed on him by Chief Minister Michael Gunner and the parliamentary Labor Party were “simply unacceptable”.

Mr Collins was ousted from caucus in December and said he had been a member of the Labor Party for decades.“It’s not a decision I take lightly,” he said.

“In fact, yeah, it’s a pretty hard decision.”

The resignation means Labor is now down to 17 seats in the 25-seat Territory Parliament.

His former fellow exiled Labor members Ken Vowles and Scott McConnell are still with Labor.

This week, independent MLAs Terry Mills, Robyn Lambley and Yingiya Guyula tried to seize Opposition from the CLP as a three-member bloc.