Fifty Labor members resign following ‘unfair’ deselection of Faiza Shaheen in north-east London

The Labor Party is facing a revolt in north-east London after 50 members left the party following the deselection of Faiza Shaheen.

The group wrote to Sir Keir Starmer over the “appalling and unfair way” the former Labor candidate was treated in Chingford and Woodford Green.

Ms Shaheen was banned from standing after liking a series of posts on social media platform X which allegedly downplayed allegations of anti-Semitism.

Shortly afterwards, Ms Shaheen resigned from the Labor Party, calling her resignation “cruel and devastating”, and decided to run as an independent candidate.

In a letter to Sir Keir, the party’s 50 former members said Ms Shaheen had been the “democratically elected candidate for Chingford and Woodford Green”.

He added: “Faiza was selected by constituency members in a fair and open competition, garnering more votes than the other three candidates combined.

“The deselection process has nullified the outcome of these elections and is undemocratic. »

The letter added that the deselection “was inhumane and degrading and based on spurious motives”.

He also pointed out that historic tweets from when Ms Shaheen was not a member of the Labor Party were being used against her while Tory MPs with “abhorrent views” were admitted to the left-wing party.

The group said it could no longer remain in a party that betrayed Ms Shaheen.

The independent candidate previously explained that she had received hundreds of messages from “people in my community, who say there are no more options for them” when she was sidelined by the Labor Party.

Announcing she was running as an independent, she said: “They are tired of the Tories but now feel they can’t trust Labour.

“They feel disenfranchised by Labor’s decision to remove me and believe it would be impossible for the party to win here without a local candidate, rooted in the community, and that such a voice is vital.

“I’m here to win, to beat Iain Duncan Smith and the Tories, to finish what we started.

“I stand up to give a voice to my community – the community that created me and trusted me. »

Signatories to the letter include the constituency’s joint campaign coordinators, Mick Moore and Sarah Chaney, as well as a Redbridge councillor, Rosa Gomez.

They say they will campaign against the new Labor Party candidate in the constituency, Shama Tatler, and will “do everything in their power to support Faiza in her bid to become an independent MP”.

A spokesperson for the London Labor Party said: “The Labor campaign saw hundreds of campaigners, many of whom had not been active before or for a long time, join the election campaign last week, with a renewed sense of determination to propose a Labor policy. MP for Chingford and Woodford Green and Labor government after 14 years of Conservative failure.