Cllr Ihtesham Afzal speaking at a Brent Council meeting
Clr Ihtesham Afzal, a Wembley Hill ward councillor has written to the Brent CEO and the Labour Group to inform them that he has resigned from the Labour Group with immediate effect and joined Your Party. Cllr Afzal was not standing for Labour in Brent in the May 7th local election.
The councillor was in the forefront of the campaign to link Brent with Nablus in the West Bank and his criticism of the Labour Government's policy on Palestine is well known.
In a message to the Labour Group the sender says s/he takes no pleasure in sharing the news and remarks how deeply disappointing it is to lose a colleague.
The party switch comes after the defection of five Labour councillors to the Green Party. All are now standing under the Green banner in May and are busy campaiging.
The sender tells the Group that they must persuade the electorate that they should continue to believe in Brent under a strong, stable and ambitious Labour leadership and not be diverted from their campaign.
Brent Your Party commented:
Brent Your Party welcomes Councillor Afzal as a member. Under Labour Brent is officially the worst housing authority in Britain with a complete disregard to local housing need.
The fact that good former Labour councillors have been excluded from Labour for standing up for Palestine is a disgrace. Neither the racists of Reform and the Tories have any solution to the failure of Brent Labour.
Your Party will always stand with the Palestinian people and oppose Labour cuts.
2 comments:
No one will miss him - he did less than 120 pieces of casework in 4 years. Lazy, inept and won’t be missed.
What are you talking about? This is a serious hit for Brent Labour. Not spin, not drama. Just real damage.
Losing Cllr Ihtesham Afzal makes them look weak. Simple as that. He wasn’t just another councillor. He was one of the few people who actually gave them credibility on issues people care about. Palestine, fairness, speaking up. He made them look like they stood for something.
Now he’s gone, and it sends a message. Loud.
It says the people with backbone don’t feel they can stay. It says if you speak too strongly, you’re out of place. That’s not a good look for a party that bangs on about values.
Add that to others leaving already and it starts to look like Brent Labour is coming apart a bit. Car crash.
Worse, for them, and positive for all of us in Brent… Your Party now have a foothold. Cllr Butt even attended momentum and now we have a real old school Labour in the building.
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