Labour Councillor Dubious Group Membership
A Nottingham Councillor who joined a group that denies and downplays anti-Semitism within the Labour Party, has been expelled and is now threatening legal action.
Hassan Ahmed, who represented the Radford Ward on Nottingham City Council, was expelled from the Labour Party on March 22, with no official reason provided.
The PA news agency, however, reported that the expulsion is due to Mr. Ahmed being an alleged member of Labour Against The Witch-hunt.
The organisation, banned by the Labour party, campaigns against what it claims to be politically-motivated allegations of anti-Semitism directed against the party.
The Equality and Human Rights Commission (EHRC), however, has already officially slammed the Labour Party for demonstrable widespread instances of institutionalised anti-Semitism within its ranks.
Following initial complaints from Campaign Against Anti-Semitism, and further complaints from the Jewish Labour Movement, the EHRC launched its investigation in May 2019. The investigation identified serious failings in the Labour Party leadership in addressing anti-Semitism and an inadequate process for handling anti-Semitism complaints.
Regarding Councillor Ahmed's expulsion a party spokesperson said "Hassan Ahmed has been expelled from the Labour Party and will not be standing as a Labour candidate in the upcoming local elections."
Reacting to his expulsion, Ahmed said "I maintain that it is totally unfair and has been carried out on unfounded grounds, and I am going to take legal action. We have tried to communicate with the National Labour Party, but they're not communicating, they're not responding to any of our emails, from myself and from my lawyer."
He added "While it's unfair to the constituents, it's also very unfair to the local Labour Party branch members. They have already selected me to stand for this upcoming election on May the 4th, and now, as I understand, the Labour Party is going to impose, undemocratically, another person in my place to contest this election. This will be totally unacceptable to the local members, and I don't think local constituents (will) be very happy with it."