Labour suspends entire Leicester East constituency branch

Branch and constituency meetings will be stopped "until further notice", an email reveals

The Labour Party has suspended its entire Leicester East branch.

The national executive (NEC) is investigating the troubled constituency Labour Party (CLP) over concerns around its operation, according to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS).

Branch and constituency meetings will be stopped "until further notice" and all officers have been "relieved of their positions and duties", according to an email seen by the LDRS.

The CLP has been contacted for comment.

It has not been confirmed specifically what prompted the suspension.

Current Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe was found guilty last year of harassment and expelled from the party

A Labour Party source said in reaction: "The NEC has a duty to safeguard the integrity of CLPs, to ensure that they are properly run in line with the party's rules and procedures and can operate fully, inclusively and democratically."

It comes after what has already been a turbulent year for Labour in Leicester following mass deselections ahead of the 2023 Local Elections in May.

The national committee purged 19 of its councillors ahead of the elections - a decision slammed as "undemocratic" at the time.

A majority of those deselected belonged to ethnic minorities, which also led to criticism. Labour sources stressed that the newly-selected candidates were representative of all communities.

But the party lost a significant number of seats in Leicester East wards following the shake-up, managing only 31 seats in the 2023 Local Elections compared to 53 in 2019.

Rushey Mead, Belgrave, North Evington and Evington were previously Labour strongholds within the constituency. The areas had all-Labour councillors after the 2019 elections but lost all seats to Conservative candidates this year.

At Parliamentary level, current Leicester East MP Claudia Webbe was elected under Labour but was expelled from the party in 2021 after her conviction for harassing Michelle Merritt, a friend of her boyfriend Lester Thomas, for more than 18 months.

Previous Labour MP for the constituency Keith Vaz, who served as an MP for 32 years, retired from Parliament after being caught with male prostitutes and offering to get drugs for them.

Analysis

By Tony Roe, BBC East Midlands political editor

It could all be to do with succession.

Long-standing MP Keith Vaz stepped aside after a long ban from Parliament when his very personal troubles were exposed, but he still plays a prominent role in the community and is respected by many.

There was unhappiness when Islington councillor and Corbyn ally, Claudia Webbe, was chosen to succeed him. Vaz's former election agent quit in protest and said he was going to vote Conservative.

Labour's majority plummeted before Webbe herself was expelled from the party after being convicted of harassment. She now sits as an independent.

The well-documented internal troubles continued at the last city council elections with more quitting after Labour HQ intervened over the selection of candidates.

Now, no doubt, eyes have been on the succession for the Parliamentary seat. The suspension of the whole constituency party will give Labour a short window to try to make sure choosing the candidate is done fairly and meets approval at the top.

It'll mean, once again, though, a candidate could be selected who doesn't meet the approval of some members locally.

This week a new political party, One Leicester, was founded by former Labour councillor Rita Patel.

On Thursday, another Labour councillor in Leicester East quit the party after the CLP was suspended.

Diane Cank, who has represented the Troon ward since 2015, criticised the party's regional office for "trampling" on the rights of its members, and called on its regional director Richard Oliver to resign.

Labour declined to comment on her resignation from the party.

City mayor, Labour's Sir Peter Soulsby, told the LDRS the suspension of the CLP had "been a long time coming".

City mayor Sir Peter Soulsby said the suspension was a "very healthy move"

He said: "It has been very evident that in this constituency party there were a number of concerns about the way in which it was operating and these were, of course, exacerbated during the run-up to the last city council election.

"It was clear the intervention the national party conducted more generally in Leicester was very much influenced by their concern about this particular constituency and its operation.

"Councillors, both Labour and in other parties, will continue to operate as effective representatives of the electorates during this time.

"I would be very surprised if anybody in the Labour party in Leicester will be in the slightest bit surprised at the news and the general feeling is the operation and the control of that party has been problematic for a number of years. I think it is a very healthy move."