An outgoing Labour councillor in Nottingham says the party's expulsion of Hassan Ahmed is an 'attack on democracy'. Mr Ahmed, who served three terms on Nottingham City Council during a political career beginning in 1987, was thrown out of Labour in March.
Mr Ahmed said he was expelled from the party 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. He instead says the real reason reason he was thrown out of Labour was because of his intention to launch a leadership challenge in the event of the party retaining control of Nottingham after the May 4 elections.
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Overall, 21 current Labour councillors will not be standing again in the May elections, with 19 of them standing down and two being deselected. Hassan Ahmed is one of those not allowed to stand again.
One of the councillors standing down has now criticised the expulsion of Hassan Ahmed, claiming it "flies in the face of fairness and justice." In a statement, Phil Jackson, who has represented Bilborough on behalf of Labour for the last four years, described expulsions and the "suspension of individual members and threat of suspension as a factional attack on those on the left of the party".
"We have also seen excellent candidates blocked from standing as councillors and parliamentary candidates, this has included an outstanding local councillor in Greg Marshall next door in Broxtowe and now Councillor Ahmed... The expulsion means he now can't be involved in contesting the leadership of the Labour Group, which will happen after the election on May 4 if he had wanted to make a challenge."
Hassan Ahmed previously 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. On the issue of leadership in the event of Labour keeping power in Nottingham, current leader David Mellen previously said: "Current Councillor Ahmed isn't standing for election in the council, but the decision on who is the leader will be taken by those who are elected as Labour councillors.
"I don't take that for granted, it's been a privilege and an honour to serve as leader over the last four years." But Phil Jackson also said the expulsion was unfair on Labour members in Mr Ahmed's Radford ward.
He said: "Expelling Councillor Ahmed just days before he needed to hand in his nomination papers to be able to stand in the May 4 elections can only be seen as another attack by Labour on democracy. Labour members in Radford made their democratic choice, it now should be the votes of Radford residents and then the votes of of Labour councillors which determine where Councillor Ahmed ends up, not through expulsion.
"The allegation that surfaced triggering his expulsion was that he signed a petition of an organisation that at the time wasn't proscribed or banned. To expel a member on the basis that they signed a petition of a grouping which at the time had not been banned by Labour is completely undemocratic and unjust.
"Councillor Ahmed has in fact denied ever signing this petition personally, to deprive him of his membership without any sort of legal process flies in the face of fairness and justice." A Labour source previously said that the decision to expel Mr Ahmed was reached "following proper consideration of evidence" and that he provided representations as part of that process.
Labour said it would not be commenting on Mr Jackson's statement. Hassan Ahmed has said he will be taking legal action against Labour over its decision to expel him.
Mr Jackson added: "Keir Starmer said that 'local party members should select their candidates for every election', Radford Labour members chose Councillor Ahmed months ago, it seems very odd that that the decision has now been voided by his expulsion and another candidate imposed in Radford without any involvement of local members.
"On this issue I stand in solidarity with Councillor Ahmed. Labour is increasingly using these tactics to block and remove candidates. Its wrong and an abuse of process.
"The voters in Radford should have decided if they wanted Councillor Ahmed as a councillor and the Labour Group in an open democratic process to decide if they wanted him as council leader. Reaching decisions about whether a Labour member should be a councillor or a council leader shouldn't be rest with unelected regional officers, Labour NEC members or Starmer himself in the case of Corbyn."
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