LABOUR PARTY GUILTY OF RACIAL DISCRIMINATION
(Monday 6th October 2003)

The Labour Party has been found guilty of racial discrimination and victimisation against a former Birmingham City Councillor, the CRE announced today. Raghib Ahsan, a Pakistani Muslim, was Councillor for the Sparkhill ward of Birmingham during the 1990s. The Employment Tribunal in Birmingham has ruled that the Labour Party discriminated against him between 1997 and 2000.

The Tribunal unanimously decided that:

• Mr Ahsan was discriminated against when Labour declined, in 1997, to select him as a prospective candidate for election to Birmingham City Council;
• The Labour Party victimised Mr Ahsan when it declined, in 1998, to include his name on a list of prospective candidates for local government elections;
• The Labour Party both discriminated against Mr Ahsan and victimised him when it declined, in 2000, to shortlist or select him as its candidate for the Sparkhill ward, or any other ward.

The Tribunal found that the approach to candidate selection taken by the Labour Party's West Midlands Regional Executive Committee in 1997 was 'haphazard in the extreme'. None of the notes made by individual members of the selection panel were retained, something the Tribunal found to be 'extremely unsatisfactory', and the panel members were inconsistent in their evidence as to how they marked the various candidates.

None of them were able to tell the Tribunal with any certainty what the number of marks available was. In addition, the successful candidate in the 1997 selection had not verified his membership of the Party as required and therefore had not been a party member for the requisite 12 month period when he submitted his application. When Mr Ahsan tried to appeal the decision, he was told there was no right of appeal and was given no reason for the decision.

It took the regional Labour Party two years and three months to reply to the special questionnaire served by the CRE on behalf of Mr Ahsan under the Race Relations Act when he applied for assistance with his complaint of discrimination. These questionnaires, covered by section 65 of the Act, can form a key part of evidence put before tribunals.

In 1998, Mr Ahsan's name was omitted from a list of candidates approved for selection by branch Labour parties for the forthcoming local government election. The Labour Party argued that this 'arose from a misunderstanding and by mistake'. However, the Tribunal decided that the action of the regional Labour Party, in authorising branches to use the draft list excluding the applicant's name and in failing to correct the position as soon as was reasonably practicable could 'be attributed only to the respondent's intention to allow the damage done to persist, to the disadvantage of the applicant'.

The Tribunal was 'quite satisfied' that the Labour Party 'would not have similarly treated a person whose name had been accidentally omitted from the panel list but who had not brought proceedings [against the Labour Party under the Race Relations Act 1976]'.

In 2000, Mr Ahsan challenged the sitting Councillor for selection for the forthcoming city council elections. The Tribunal found that the selection process was 'extremely impressionistic' and noted that 'there was no scoring process' and 'no notes at all were made of the panel's discussions or conclusions'.

The Tribunal noted that all three members of the selection panel 'should not have taken part or even been present because the applicant had complained about each of them in the past'. They concluded that the respondent 'so orchestrated events as to minimise the chance of the applicant being selected'.

Commenting on the decision, Trevor Phillips, CRE Chair, said he would be seeking agreement from the Labour Party to set up an independent review of candidate selection procedures. "Mr Ahsan's case demonstrates the need for the Labour Party to have a long hard look at the way it selects its candidates. The same could be said of all the major parties. However, as the party for which most minority Britons vote, Labour has a special responsibility to lead the way.

"We would prefer to work with the party on this issue. I intend to write to the Chair of the Party seeking a meeting on the matter. We will be looking for a full and transparent review of the selection procedure, perhaps conducted by a distinguished individual or panel, independent of the Party's NEC, to make recommendations in time for the next round of selections."

Mr Ahsan was delighted with the ruling. He said: "Personally I feel vindicated. I have suffered eight years of attempts by the Labour Party leadership to sully my reputation because I stood up for the interests of ethnic minorities. I feel it is time for an apology."

A remedies hearing has been set for 13th January 2004.

Click here to visit the CRE website.

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