Brent Liberal Democrat leader, Cllr Paul Lorber, has written to Cllr Butt, leader of Brent Labour Council, to draw his attention to the low pay of a worker delivering leaflets for the Labour Party in Northwick Park ward.
Lorber wrote:
I live in Northwick Park and this Labour Leaflet was being delivered to my home by paid for delivery. The individual delivering seemed a foreign national.
When questioned he said that he was paid £10 an hour to deliver the leaflets.
£10 per hour is of course less than the legal minimum wage and much less than the Living Wage that Brent Council under your leadership prides itself encouraging employers to pay.
I think you will agree that individuals should not be exploited and that you and the Brent Labour Party will investigate and ensure that your contractor responsible for these deliveries pays their workers at least the minimum wage for their labours.
You may wish to suspend current and future paid for deliveries like this until you ascertain facts and receive confirmation that the people delivering leaflets for you and other Labour candidates are paid at least the correct and legal minimum wage or preferably the London Living wage.
As both a Labour MP and Labour GLA member are featured in the leaflet they too might be concerned at being implicated in any form of exploitation that may be going on.
I will be pleased to hear the outcome of your investigation and the action you will take.
A second source says that the delivery person was in his mid-20s.
I understand that in the absence of a reply from Muhammed Butt, Paul Lorber has now written to Labour leader Keir Starmer about the issue.
