Damning letter implores Keir Starmer to intervene – or face complaints to EHRC and Electoral Commission
Three Leicester councillors have accused the Labour party of excluding women, Muslims and whole branches in order to rig its selection process to prevent the city’s mayor facing a selection battle.
A letter from the councillors to Keir Starmer, obtained by Skwawkbox, says that in a ‘shambolic’, ‘Islamophobic’ and ‘racist’ selection process local Labour employees:
- excluded Muslims from selection votes by holding the votes during Ramadan, in a city with a high proportion of Asian residents in the UK, including in wards with some of the largest Muslim populations in the city
- disadvantaged women in the selection process
- cancelled or suspended meetings of branches likely to vote in favour of a selection contest, including one only an hour before the meeting was due to start
- declared a meeting of the party’s local government committee ‘null and void’ to prevent the party’s preferred committee chair being defeated, yet allowed the ‘procedures secretary’ – a former employee of the mayor and until recently an employee of right-wing Labour MP Jon Ashworth – selected at the void meeting to exercise the role
- ignored and dismissing complaints about the abuses of democracy and procedure
- withholding details of vote tallies from members
The letter concludes by stating bluntly the Islamophobia, racism and sexism – with an implied warning to Starmer that if he fails to act, the complainants will refer the matter to the Electoral Commission and the Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC):
These concerns are genuine. The era of “fixing” results in the Labour Party should be a thing of the past. Asian members of the party are being stopped from attending meetings. Meetings are being cancelled if there is a perception that they will vote in favour of an open selection. There are elements of Islamaphobia [sic], racism and old fashion manipulation. Women have been excluded from all of these processes and this needs to change.
Please will you intervene to pause the process, investigate these complaints and allow the remaining branches to vote as a matter of urgency?
Let’s deal with this internally and not let us have to rely on the EHRC or the Electoral Commission to conduct an inquiry. Let’s do this ourselves.
Leicester Labour has been embroiled in other controversies recently, including allowing disgraced bully and would-be cocaine-procurer and former MP Keith Vaz to run its local election campaigns – to disastrous effect.
The national party’s right-wing regime under Keir Starmer has also been hammered for rampant Islamophobia and other forms of racism, including anti-Gypsy bigotry and the targeted persecution of left-wing Jews.
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For those of us that wish to see the Labour whip restored to Jeremy Corbyn, and for Starmer to stand down as leader of the Labour Party the way of ensuring our aims is to no vote Labour at tomorrow´s local elections.
Hence, only vote Labour if the candidate is a socialist. Otherwise, abstain if you are still a Labour Party member (no against Labour´s rules) or vote Green or LibDem.
EHRC are Tory appointed Uncle Tom wankers
Mark, only the Chair of the EHRC isn’t white. She was born in Pakistan but member of the upper classes since she attended convent school in Pakistan.
She is married to a white English man a University professor. I wouldn’t call her an Uncle Tom because she is very much part of the global elite and is looking after their common interests.
Mark Francis
I have very little faith in the EHRC either but I have far less faith in Starmers Labours internal processes. I don’t know enough about the Electoral commission to comment but I will say this- I think those seeking to have the discrimination which has been identified dealt with in house are wasting their time.
Starmer ‘s Labour is subject to very tight central control so the issues raised are probably already well known to the Leadership, may even have been instigated by them.
Therefore in my opinion the Councillors would be better to immediately make formal complaints to the EHRC about the anti woman /anti Muslim bias and the Electoral Commission regarding the malpractice in the selection process.
In addition Womens /Human Rights groups, the Muslim Council and every mosque in Leicester ( to begin with) should be informed about what has gone on so that these issues are out there in the public domain. This might shame Starmer and Evans into doing the right thing but I doubt it
fao Mark Francis – What you say is true but what you got against the thinking man’s television because there’s nothing worth watching or listening to on BBC nor Sky & how can you believe anything these journalists say as every broadcast can be cut & pasted into any other channel?
This undemocratic behaviour is what New old New Labour does …. how else can the careerist Tory lite of a once meaningful socialist party have any influence?!!
The media of course wont exercise any critique or negativity because they need an electable alternative who would change nothing if they replaced their favoured cronies who also protect the few at the expense of the many.
So Starmer can purge and manipulate at will to create a controlled opposition which knows its place. It’s as tragic as it is disgusting.
The left have mostly left or been expelled…
Maybe we should rejoin so that we can speak out and be expelled… or just recognize Labour as an occupied zone and attack. It’s our party not theirs!
Sounds exactly what the pro-Starmer clique did in Bristol two years ago, so I wouldn’t hold my breath while appealing to Sir Rodney to intervene or pause anything. The total cynicism and anti-democratic behaviour of the EC that was “elected” in that coup, and the lack of fightback from other members is the main reason I resigned my membership. I wasn’t going to carry on paying a fiver a month to facilitate being shat on and told to shut up and be grateful
I don’t understand why local politics is hamstrung by the need to align with national political parties and thus, riffing on Maria’s plea, I think you should vote for the person who best represents your area, be they Tory, Lib-Dem or even Labour. For the most part local candidates are having to make their case in spite of their compatriots in Westminster and the best of them will put the people they represent and most often live amongst above the careerist perspectives of their Westminster compatriots.