Nineteen sitting councillors have been told they cannot stand as a Labour candidate in the coming May election, after party heads decided to take the decision out of the hands of local members and placed the national executive committee (NEC) in charge.
But both deselected councillors and their constituents are questioning the party's motivations after it was revealed that a majority of those deselected are from a minority background.
Fifteen out of the 26 BAME Labour city councillors have been removed from their positions compared with just four of the 22 white Labour councillors.
This is happening a long way from where I live, and no matter how hard I try I will never be able to get my head around internal Labour Party politics. Nevertheless, I wonder .... is this just a standard local play-off between Left and Right, or an outbreak of meaningless personality politics, or is it an attempt to get rid of South Asian politics from the local scene? I recall that there has been a bit of bother between BJP supporters and their rivals in the City - has this got into the Labour Party?
ReplyDeleteThese 19 councillors who have been deselected have been done so because of the fact that they supported a move to remove the position of mayor and revert to committee style. This hasn't gone down well with the currant mayor who has had the job for 12 yrs.Sounds like he's got his revenge but still could cost him his job. Hope we have a good campaign and good candidates in Leicester as we could pick up some seats.
ReplyDeleteLeicester Labour politics has long been riven by factions and hard to understand from outside.
ReplyDeleteThere is clearly tension between Peter Soulsby and some councillors and members, who think he's been around long enough and think he spends too much on prestige projects in the city centre. Only a few of the deselections are because of the vote on a motion to abolish the mayoral system though.
And Labour lost the North Evington by-election last autumn, previously a safe seat, after choosing a candidate seen as having BJP links. That may have spooked Labour HQ.