Labour councillor quits in protest over racism row
ABIRMINGHAM Labour councillor whose report into racism highlighted an allegedly “toxic culture” in the local group of the party has quit her role.
Cllr Saima Suleman claims the reaction to the report of her findings led to her decision.
Her letter resigning her role as BAME Officer (representing black, Asian and other minority ethnic members) for Birmingham Labour was sent to Birmingham group chairman Saddak Miah and copied to city council leader Ian Ward and senior national party members, including leader Keir Starmer and deputy leader Angela Rayner.
Cllr Suleman will continue to represent Hall Green North as a Labour councillor.
Sent on Sunday, her letter claims she feels there has been an effort to “dismiss the findings” of her report, which detailed anonymous feedback and direct comments from 17 city Labour councillors of colour, notwithstanding the promise of an inquiry.
Some of the comments made in the report were critical of colleagues and of the “toxic culture” within the group.
Ian Ward, the leader of Birmingham City Council, announced last week he had ordered an independent review into the culture of the party in response to the survey results. He said the review, now under control of Labour’s Campaign Improvement Board, would explore the culture between the leadership and backbenchers, as well as how the group interacts with the press and trade unions. This is despite Coun Ward claiming his cabinet to be the most diverse in the city council’s history.
Half of the cabinet are women, while four members are of black or Asian heritage.
Cllr Ward said he was keen to explore and address the “serious” concerns raised and had discussed the matter with Labour’s General Secretary, David Evans.
But Cllr Suleman says the inquiry’s terms of reference triggered her resignation.
She says she is “disappointed and hurt” that the inquiry’s terms of reference were to “establish the facts and make recommendations around the culture of the group” and between the group and the unions and the press.
By doing so, she claims, her request to specify that it was particularly focused on the survey’s racism allegations was ignored.
This, she claim, amounts to ‘‘feeble whitewashing’’ of ‘‘most serious allegations that need to be investigated and eradicated from our party, our movement and our society’’.
It has emerged that the inquiry will now be under the control of a Campaign Improvement Board of senior figures in Labour, which was itself ordered earlier this year amid concerns at the way the group operated.
Sir Keir Starmer said he was “concerned” about allegations of racism within the city’s Labour party.
He said: “I’m concerned and the Labour leader is concerned. That’s why it’s very important to me that the Labour Party is putting a response in to this to make sure that we can get to the bottom of it and deal with the issues.”
A Birmingham Labour spokesperson said: “We regret councillor Suleman’s resignation as BAME officer and thank her for her efforts in the role.
“We have a large and diverse group and a new BAME officer will be elected to the role in due course.
“Group officers are in contact with councillor Suleman to discuss the reasons for her resignation and ensure that support is in place.”