A leading Newcastle councillor continued campaigning for re-election after she was suspended by the Labour Party for alleging a “Muslim plot” to remove the city’s council leader.
Joyce McCarty, one of the most senior figures in Newcastle Labour, has been accused of Islamophobia after asserting in a text message that Muslim councillors in the West End conspired to have Nick Forbes deselected earlier this year. The Labour Party has confirmed that she was suspended on March 31, pending an investigation, and that it is no longer endorsing her candidacy in the Wingrove ward ahead of the May 5 local elections.
But an image circulated on social media shows that she was still canvassing in the area last Sunday, April 3, with the support of the party locally. Newcastle Labour tweeted an image, since deleted, of her on the campaign trail with two fellow city councillors that day with the caption "Sunday afternoon on the #labourdoorstep in Wingrove ward, lots of support for local councillor @joycemccarty #vote4joyce #reelectJoyce #VoteLabour”.
Read More: Top Newcastle councillor suspended by Labour after alleging 'Muslim plot' to oust Nick Forbes
Coun McCarty has not responded to requests for a comment. Despite her suspension from the party, she remains on the ballot as Labour’s candidate in Wingrove because her nomination forms to stand for re-election were submitted before her suspension.
The party indicated that other local members would not have known of the suspension, which was first reported by JOE on Wednesday, at the time when last weekend’s photo was taken, due to confidentiality.
Coun McCarty is currently the local authority's cabinet member for inclusive economy, taking responsibility for issues including support for refugees and asylum seekers through Newcastle's status as a City of Sanctuary. She has been a councillor since 1994, was Labour’s deputy leader in the city from 2007 to 2021, and deputy leader of the council from 2011 to 2021.
In the text seen by ChronicleLive, the former teacher said she had heard there was a “specific Muslim plot” to oust her long-time ally Coun Forbes, who was deselected in his Arthur’s Hill ward in February, in order to get more black, Asian, and minority ethnic (BAME) candidates. The council leader lost a selection vote to local activist Abdul Samad and has since announced he will leave city politics in May.
Byker councillor Nick Kemp, who was elected as Labour’s new leader in Newcastle last month, said the latest incident in what has already been a tumultuous year for the party was “an internal party matter” and that “due process needs to take place”. Of the campaign photo, he added that he was “certain that those people who were working with her were not aware” of the suspension.
Coun Lara Ellis, one of the other two councillors in the picture alongside Rebecca Shatwell, said she knew nothing of the issue and that it came as a “shock to me when it broke on social media” on Wednesday.
