Fifty Labour members quit over 'unfair' deselection

Faiza Shaheen is running as an independent after being deselected by Labour

Fifty members of Labour in a north-east London constituency have resigned from the party, citing the treatment of their former candidate Faiza Shaheen.

Ms Shaheen was deselected by Labour after liking a series of posts on X that allegedly downplayed antisemitism allegations. She is now standing as an independent candidate in the Chingford and Woodford Green constituency.

A letter posted on X says the resigning members of Chingford and Woodford Green Labour believe Ms Shaheen was deselected “in an appalling and unfair manner”.

A Labour spokesperson said hundreds of activists had joined the campaign "with a renewed sense of purpose to deliver a Labour MP for Chingford and Woodford Green".

The 50 former Labour members said: “The deselection was carried out in a manner contrary to natural justice or any proper due process.

"It was inhumane and degrading and based on spurious grounds.

"What is particularly egregious is the fact that historic tweets when Faiza was not even a member of the party are being used against her, while over the past several weeks, Labour has been happy to admit to its parliamentary party Conservative MPs who hold odious views that have been expressed repeatedly until very recently.”

The letter's signatories include joint campaign co-ordinators for the constituency Mick Moore and Sarah Chaney, as well as a councillor in Redbridge, Rosa Gomez.

They say they will be campaigning against the Labour Party’s new candidate in the constituency, Shama Tatler, and “doing all we can to support Faiza in her bid to become an Independent MP”.

The full list of candidates in Chingford and Woodford Green is as follows (in alphabetical order):

Chris Brody, Green Parry

Iain Duncan Smith, Conservative Party

Josh Hadley, Liberal Democrats

Yousaff Khan, Workers Party

Paul Luggeri, Reform UK

Faiza Shaheen, Independent

Shama Tatler, Labour Party