Explosive claims have been made by the Nottingham councillor recently thrown out of Labour who has described the atmosphere within Nottingham's party as being "toxic."
Hassan Ahmed, 71, has served three terms as a Labour member of Nottingham City Council, including serving twice as a portfolio holder. He says he was planning to become the next city council leader and claims its current leadership has "wreaked havoc."
In an interview following his expulsion from Labour after 43 years of membership, Mr Ahmed claims the current Nottingham City Council leadership has been "incompetent", citing issues including the closure of Nottingham Castle and the failure of Robin Hood Energy.
Both the Labour Party and leader David Mellen have been contacted for comment on Hassan Ahmed's comments about the council leadership. A Labour source said Mr Ahmed voted with Labour for the recovery and improvement plan twice and backed two budgets since his most recent election in 2019.
But it's also understood he did not register a vote for the Labour group's budget in both 2021 and 2023. This means he did not vote for, against or abstain but failed to attend the meeting to vote. David Mellen said: "The response from the Labour Party is our response at this time."
Mr Ahmed says he was initially unsure about whether to stand again as a candidate in Radford during the May 4 elections but was eventually persuaded to do so. If he had been returned to the council and if Labour had retained its majority, Mr Ahmed said he would have challenged David Mellen for the leadership of the authority.
Read more: Notts MP banned from driving after he was caught speeding
These plans were put on hold when it was announced that Hassan Ahmed had been expelled from Labour on March 22. The party would not say why he had been expelled as it said it was not a matter of course for it to do so.
Mr Ahmed now says he was thrown out of Labour due to his name appearing on a 2018 petition organised by a group called Labour Against The Witch Hunt, a group which the party banned in 2021. The petition, taking the form of an open letter to Labour's national leader at the time, Jeremy Corbyn, said the party should "thoroughly investigate the attempts instigated by an Israeli agent to infiltrate and subvert [Labour]."
But Mr Ahmed denies he personally signed this petition and says he has never been a member of Labour Against The Witch Hunt. Although his name appears beneath the petition, he says it does so in his capacity as co-chair of the Grassroots Black Left organisation and said he could "guarantee" he has no knowledge of personally signing it.
Mr Ahmed claims the real reason he was expelled was because Labour wanted to "derail" his leadership plans, but a Labour source said Hassan Ahmed was expelled due to "support" of an organisation that has been proscribed by the party (Labour Against The Witch Hunt). The source said these decisions are reached following "proper consideration of evidence" and that Mr Ahmed provided representations as part of this.
With the nominations for candidates wishing to stand in the Nottingham City Council elections closing on Tuesday (April 4), Mr Ahmed has now accepted that he will not be on the ballot paper come May 4. Mr Ahmed said this election would have been his "last hurrah", but now says his Labour expulsion may mark the end of his political career.
Speaking to Nottinghamshire Live, Mr Ahmed said: "There are some already who are saying I should come back and contest a by-election if one comes up, but I'm not thinking about that for now. This has been a big, big upset, serving councillors have been crying over this.
"Some people have even surprised me, people who have not been my supporters but who have said this is not just and that this can't happen." Mr Ahmed said he had been intending to serve an injunction against the Labour Party which would have suspended his expulsion and allowed him to run as a Labour candidate in May.
Following a meeting with his barrister on Friday (March 31), Mr Ahmed concluded this would not be possible. But he still intends to take legal action against Labour for his expulsion and has now claimed the real reason he was thrown out was because of his issues with the current leadership.
But a Labour insider claimed "a lot of people are quite annoyed that it's come to this where everything is all over the papers" and was sceptical over the idea he'd have had a successful leadership.
In terms of the claim that the atmosphere within Nottingham Labour is toxic, the insider added: "It's been an incredibly difficult few years, starting with coronavirus and then the Government's improvement board. But Labour groups and groups of any political party around the country in charge of councils go through ups and downs. I wouldn't say we are any worse than anywhere else in the country."
Mr Ahmed said he would have launched a leadership challenge against current Nottingham City Council leader David Mellen in the event of both he and Labour being victorious in May. He has also released a statement outlining his issues with the way in which Nottingham City Council has been led in recent years.
The statement says: "There is no doubt that successive Conservative Government cuts and austerity measures have caused great difficulties for local councils up and down the country, with the loss of millions of pounds of revenue funding. However, our political leadership in Nottingham, through their total incompetence, ineptitude, lack of vision and poor decision making skills, have wreaked havoc [on] Nottingham and its people.
"Since 2019, its leadership has been firefighting and dealing with its own internal mismanagement... I wanted to demonstrate and prove that the council could be run more professionally and competently, that we don't have to cut basic services for Nottingham residents and that our financial management could be much more robust, credible and transparent."
Despite his issues with the Labour leadership of Nottingham City Council, Mr Ahmed says he still wants people to vote for Labour on May 4. This is because he says he is confident there will still be a successful leadership challenge, telling Nottinghamshire Live: "If I am involved, it will be successful."
Hassan Ahmed said the vote for the leader and deputy leader of Nottingham City Council, if Labour returns with a majority, will be decided by a party meeting at 5pm on May 5. Among the issues which Hassan Ahmed cites in his statement in terms of the current council leadership, he mentions the money illegally spent from the Housing Revenue Account and the £40 million failure of Robin Hood Energy.
The full list of candidates standing in May's elections, which are also taking place at all of Nottinghamshire's seven district and borough councils, will be published on Wednesday (April 5). Labour currently has 50 councillors, the Nottingham Independents have three and the Conservatives have two councillors - neither of whom will be standing for the party again this time due to an internal selections row.
Read next:
- Nottingham Trent University student allegedly raped woman he met on Tinder
- Popular city restaurant closes after nearly 30 years of service
- Nottingham Castle to host official Eurovision screening event
- Man 'slashed' during attack near shopping precinct
- Nottinghamshire MP in Twitter spat with Carol Vorderman over bio
