This is an open letter to the Labour party’s national executive committee in response to the deselection of Cllr Samantha Jury-Dada.

We are writing to you to raise our concerns about recent incidents in the party and especially in local parties, around representation and diversity. Last night in Faraday ward in Southwark, a young LGBT woman of colour, was deselected in favour of a white man who doesn’t live in the ward. This is only one of many incidents in which BAME people’s voices have been drowned out and discouraged in our party.

Faraday ward has one of the highest number of BAME residents, with over 60 per cent of the population identifying as non-white. Despite the fact that Cllr Samantha Jury-Dada had complained to officials in the party as well as the Labour Party’s NEC, there was no investigation into her complaints of bullying, intimidation and threats of deselection. She was subsequently deselected and now a ward that has 60 per cent BAME residents has no BAME Labour candidates.

Similarly in Tower Hamlets, a place by which the majority of residents identify as non-white, a decision was made to send up to 12 delegates to the party’s annual conference – in order to send a diverse delegation. However, only 1 out the 12 delegates selected were BAME.

We the undersigned believe that the Labour Party should conduct a thorough investigation into the complaints made by Cllr Samantha Jury-Dada. We the undersigned also believe that the Labour Party should be seeking to promote diversity in its structures and selections, so that we are truly a party that reflects the people that we represent.

London Young Labour BAME Network

Abdi Duale – Ealing North CLP (London Young Labour, BAME Officer)

Miriam Mirwitch – Vauxhall CLP (London Young Labour, Chair)

Patrick Vernon OBE – Hackney North and Stoke Newington (BAME Labour National Executive Committee)

Pouneh Ahari – Coventry South CLP (BAME Labour Executive Member)

Lydia Okoibhole – Leeds Central CLP (Labour Students BAME Officer)

Rachel Megan Barker, Hendon CLP (London Young Labour, LGBT Officer)

Rania Ramli – West Ham CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Ava Etemadzadeh – Hampstead and Kilburn CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Zainab Mohammed, Kingston and Surbiton CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Morenike Adeleke, Edmonton CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Liron Velleman – Chipping Barnet CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Jack Galea – Westminster North CLP (London Young Labour, U 19s Officer)

Izzy Lenga – Chipping Barnet CLP (NUS Vice President)

Robbie Young – Islington North CLP (NUS Vice President)

Joe Cox – Hendon CLP (NUS NEC)

Cllr Dr Aysha Raza – Ealing North CLP

Cllr Lucy Atkinson, Lancaster and Fleetwood CLP

Alvin Shum – Cardiff Central CLP (Chinese for Labour Executive Member)

Sheri-Ann Bhim – Cardiff Central CLP (Labour Students Women’s Officer)

Gabriel Phillips – Islington South CLP (Labour Students Disabled Students’ Officer)

Kiran Dhaliwal – Wolverhampton South East CLP (LSE Labour Students, Chair)

Tom Campbell – Carmarthen East and Dinefwr CLP (Keele Labour Students, Chair)

Martin Bailey – Vauxhall CLP (LGBT Labour BAME Officer)

Amy Moran, Newcastle Central CLP (President of Leicester SU)

Dr Martin Edobor – West Ham CLP

Aisha Malik-Smith – Vice Chair, Old Bexley & Sidcup CLP

Liam Martin-lane – Ilford North CLP (Youth Officer)

Leon Alleyne-McLaughlin – Jarrow CLP

Shakerul Haque – Clydesdale CLP

Mohammed Ahmed – Stretford and Urmston CLP

Alexander Kuye – Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP

Adnan Rahman – Oxford East CLP

Avtar Singh Rai – Hayes and Harlington CLP (UCLU Labour BAME Officer)

Rosie McKenna, West Lancashire CLP

Joe Vinson – Faraday Ward, Camberwell and Peckham CLP (Co-Chair of LGBT Labour London)

Jessica Smith – Faraday Ward, Camberwell and Peckham CLP

Luke Myer – Liverpool Riverside CLP

Ally Routledge – Saffron Walden CLP

Harjeet Sahota – Camberwell and Peckham CLP (Youth Officer)

Lewis Addlington-Lee – Clacton CLP

Frankie O’Byrne – Enfield Southgate CLP

Estelle Hart – Gower CLP

Ben Cooper – Totnes CLP

Poppy Wilkinson – Macclesfield CLP

Andrea Compos-Vigouroux – Streatham CLP

Emma Booth – Vauxhall CLP

Charlie Agran – Battle and Bexhill CLP

Peter Smeed – Vauxhall CLP

Callum Munro – Streatham CLP

Joel Gascoyne – West Ham CLP

Tom Rutland – Camberwell and Peckham CLP

Colum McGuire – Uxbridge and South Ruislip CLP

Simon Evans – Reading East CLP

Amy Smith – Sheffield Central CLP

Richard Skipper – Islington South CLP

Richard Angell – Ilford North CLP (Director, Progress)

Nicholas Mitchell – Edmonton CLP

Leo Gibbons-Plowright – Lewisham Deptford CLP Youth Office

Dominic Breen – Finchley and Golders Green CLP

Kuba Stawiski – Tower Hamlets CLP, Vice-Chair, Tower Hamlets Young Labour, Youth Officer, Shadwell Branch. Young Fabians secretary

Connor French, Greenwich and Woolwich CLP

John Morris, Nottingham South CLP, Dunkirk and Lenton Branch Secretary

William Cooper – Lewisham Deptford CLP – Brockley branch Secretary

Luisa Attfield – Finchley and Golders Green CLP

Ashley Wise, Poplar and Limehouse CLP

Gilbert Macnaughton, Chipping Barnet CLP

Andrew Mitchell, Putney CLP

Cllr Dan Ratcliffe, Cambridge CLP, EC Delegate & Lead Cllr for Equalities

Helen Jewell, Twickenham CLP

Dominic Stewart – Vauxhall CLP – Membership Sec Oval Ward

James Calmus – Holborn & St Pancras CLP

Ryan Maynes, Hackney CLP. GMB Young London Chair

Edward Jones, Secretary, Richmond Park CLP

Sergio Cortes, Twickenham CLP

Shane Scott, Bermondsey & Old Southwark CLP

Bethany Taylor Vauxhall CLP youth officer

Edward Scott Leyton and Wanstead CLP

Nareser Osei, West Ham CLP

Marian Craig, Hornsey and Wood Green CLP

Ellen Lucas, Vauxhall CLP and Society of Labour Lawyers

John Sailing, Battersea CLP

Joshua Grills, Dartford CLP – Youth Officer

Jack Deakin, North Warwickshire CLP

Jack Falkingham – Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Andrew Gilbert – Enfield Southgate CLP

Zak Deakin – Stoke South CLP

Sarah-Jane Smyth – Manchester Gorton CLP

Frankie Simon – Ruislip, Northwood and Pinner CLP

Ciara Hogan – Camberwell and Peckham CLP

Jess Leigh – Streatham CLP

Danielle Emina – Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP

Greg Hull – Norfolk South CLP

Jamie Tennant – Birmigham Northfield CLP – youth officer

Solomon Gibson – Ladywood CLP

Alex Cheney – Beckenham CLP

Cllr Nathan Burns – Lancaster and Fleetwood CLP

Ashley Borges – Hampstead and Kilburn CLP

Cathryn Turhan – Holborn and St Pancras CLP

Jack Kerwin – Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP

Louise Champ – Sutton and Cheam CLP

Denny Taylor – Derby North CLP

Jamie Dickinson – Newcastle North CLP

Cllr Warren Morgan – Leader of Brighton and Hove City Council

Megan Corton Scott – Bethnal Green and Bow CLP (London Young Labour, Vice Chair)

Jack Phipps – Brent North CLP (London Young Labour committee)

Alison Dunning – SE Cambs CLP (Sec Fulbourn Local Group)

Felix Bunting – Shipley CLP, Oxford University Labour Club (former Publicity Officer, Membership Officer)

Cllr Michael Borio – Harrow East CLP (Chair, Health & Social Care Scrutiny Subcommittee – Harrow Council)

Clare Wilson – South East Cambridgeshire CLP (Treasurer and Women’s officer)

Chris Carter – Hendon CLP

Abdi Mohamed – Tower Hamlets CLP campaigns officer

Richard Brooks – Ealing Central and Acton CLP

Moira Winder – Liverpool West Derby CLP +/(BAME Officer)

Emma Feltham – Lewisham East CLP

John Lindsey – Kingston and Surbiton CLP

Cllr Seyi Akiwowo – Exective Officer of West Ham CLP

Amy Whitear – Battersea CLP

Zahin Ahmed – Poplar and Limehouse CLP

Clare Phillipson – Women’s officer, Washington and Sunderland South CLP

Adam Allnutt – Tower Hamlets CLP (Membership Officer)

Theo Antoniou-Phillips – Norwich South CLP

Tim Hammersley – Warrington South CLP

Darren Clarke – Stoke Central CLP (NUS NEC)

Jamie Bennett – West Derby CLP

Eleanor Keiller – Bury South CLP (University of Birmingham, Guild of Students President)

Jamie Ali – Leeds North West CLP

Chris Wallace – Leeds North West CLP

Tom Wilson – Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP (LGBT Labour National Committee)

Liam Hill, Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP

Ellen-Rose Jones, Cardiff South and Penarth CLP (NUS Wales, President)

Siddo Dwyer, Enfield North CLP (Vice Chair)

David Field from Bethnal Green and Bow CLP

Ellen Lucas – Vauxhall CLP (Society of Labour Lawyers)

Kirith Ahluwalia – Feltham & Heston CLP (Secretary and Young Fabians BAME Network, Chair)

Joe Anderson, Hampstead and Kilburn CLP

Jack Beddoe – Lewisham Deptford CLP (Vice Chair)

Cllr Adam Langleben – Chipping Barnet CLP (Shadow Lead Member for Assets, Regeneration & Growth, Barnet Council)

Lesley Lowe – Hazel Grove CLP

Alex White – Bristol East CLP

Jenny Flintoft – Meon Valley CLP

Cllr Craig Jones – Burton CLP

Ronny Flynn – Milton Keynes North CLP

Dominic McGinley – Dunfermline and West Fife CLP (Youth Officer)

Cllr Julie Cattell – Brighton Pavilion CLP

Luke Holland – Birmingham Hall Green CLP

Kevin Brady – Bethnal Green & Bow CLP

Rachel Carys Moses – Lewisham East CLP

Jade Symonds – Battersea CLP

George Holden – South Dorset CLP

Cllr Rowan Draper – Stafford CLP

Ben Wesson – Warwick and Leamington CLP

David Chung – Mitcham & Morden CLP

Cllr Vijay Luthra – Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP

Leia Murray – Cumbernauld, Kilsyth, and Kirkintilloch East CLP

Darryl Telles – Hove CLP

Billy Moore – West Ham CLP

Philip Jardine – Bristol West CLP

Ian Kingston – Ealing Southall CLP

Sheila Franklin – Macclesfield CLP (Branch Chair and joint CLP Woman’s officer)

Hannah Lyons-Singer – Hornsey & Wood Green CLP

James Tilburn – Harrogate and Knaresborough CLP

Christina Emmett – Bosworth CLP. (Branch Secretary and joint CLP Women’s Officer)

Paul Harrington – Labour International Branch

Will Barber Taylor – Cleethorpes CLP

Bridie O’Shea – Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP

Frankie Grant – Hendon CLP

Cllr Danny Hackett – Bexleyheath and Crayford CLP (Former PPC for Old Bexley and Sidcup)

Willie Samuel – Tynemouth CLP (Executive member)

Robbie Hand – Erith and Thamesmead CLP

Lewis Parker, Battersea CLP

Rachel Carys Moses – Lewisham East CLP

Patrick Lilley – Chair of Cities of London & Westminster CLP

Cllr Dom Anderson – Derby South CLP

Dan Heley – Luton South CLP

Mal Mohibullah Choudhury – Altrincham and Sale West CLP (Equalities Officer)

Bryan Blears – Salford and Eccles CLP

Kyle Greet – St Ives CLP

Matt Case – Camberwell and Peckham CLP

Sam Hussain – Middlesbrough CLP (BAME Officer)

Cllr Jerome Neil – Mitcham and Morden CLP

Fay Block – Ealing Southall CLP

Andrew Downes – North Warwickshire CLP

Kirstie Coolin – Broxtowe Labour CLP

Euan Philipps – Tonbridge and Malling CLP (Chair)

Colin Appleby – Cities of London and Westminster (LGBT Coordinator)

Aminur Rahman – Battersea CLP (former BAME Officer & Vice Chair Campaigns Officer)

Thomas Hopkins Burke – Nottingham East CLP

Mostyn Taylor Crockett – Hackney South and Shoreditch (Homerton Branch)

Rahma Hussein – Edmonton CLP

Ian Walker – Worthing West CLP (IT Co-ordinator)

Tom Anderson – Cities of London and Westminster CLP

Lincoln Hill – Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP

Joe Whitley – Mid Derbyshire CLP

Cllr Fabian Breckels, Bristol East CLP

Georgia Power – Nottingham South CLP Woman’s Officer, Bridge Branch Secretary

Rhys Purtill – Norwich South CLP (Labour Students, LGBT Officer)

Tessa Tyler Todd – Kingston and Surbiton CLP

Alex Holmes – Ilford South CLP

Danny Golding – York Central CLP

Shabaz Khan – Hackney South and Shoreditch CLP

DIna Cottier – Wirral South CLP

Hugh Clayden – Bosworth CLP (Branch Vice Chair, CLP Political Education Officer)

Christopher Redford – York Central CLP

Jayne Mortimer – Ashfield CLP (Youth Officer)

Cllr James Beckles – West Ham CLP

Chamindra Weerawardhana – Northern Ireland CLP. (LGBTQIA Officer)

Cllr Ed Davie, Lambeth Council and Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Cllr David McMeekan – Tynemouth CLP

Jerry Hogg – Labour International CLP

Luke Bassett, Sheffield Central CLP Youth Officer

Paulina Peters, Bromley & Chislehurst CLP

Mark Jackson, Lewisham Deptford CLP

Sue Teddern, Hove & Portslade CLP

Frances Bill, Brighton Pavilion CLP

Edward Parker Humphreys, Lewisham East CLP (Co-Chair – Cambridge Universities Labour Club)

Jack Reason – Rochford and Southend East CLP

Jessica Rich – Croydon South CLP

Louise Ellis – Heywood and Middleton CLP

Ashley Dalton – Chair of Rochford and Southend East CLP, LGBT Labour National Disabilities Officer, and Former Labour PPC Rochford and Southend East

Jacob Lloyd – Ealing Central and Acton CLP, Chair of Young Fabian Education Network

Chris Wongsosaputro – Bethnal Green and Bow CLP

Emily Walker – Wentworth & Dearne CLP

Alex Adranghi – Eastleigh CLP

Dr Sarah Grace Clark – Holborn & St Pancras CLP (Women’s Officer)

Daniel Cousins – Holborn & St Pancras CLP

Angela Brown – Ealing Central and Acton CLP

Rotney O’shea – Brighton Kemptown CLP

Lowell Belfield – Tooting CLP

Elliot Jones – Reading East CLP

Mark Rees – Ceredigion CLP

Daniel Owain Breeze – Derbyshire Dales CLP (Loughborough Students Union Labour Chair)

Mike Shallcross, Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Mandeep Sidhu, Bermondsey and Old Southwark CLP

Cllr Abena Oppong-Asare – Erith and Thamesmead CLP

Jan Ware – Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Simon Meech – Redcar CLP

Cllr Sami Zeglam – East Worthing and Shoreham CLP

James-Edward McHale – Halifax CLP (LGBT+ Officer)

Anastasia Solopova, Oxford East CLP

Suhail Aslam, Oxford East CLP

Alex Skirvin – Newbury CLP (2017 PPC for Newbury, LGBT Officer)

Theo Anton – Richmond Park & North Kingston CLP, Oxford University Labour Club

Jacky Holyoake, Halesowen & Rowley Regis CLP

Mariam Abood, Newcastle Central CLP (Leeds Labour Students, Web and Publicity Officer)

Benetta Adamson, Lewes CLP

Michael Millar – Nottingham South CLP

Lewis Allison – Bournemouth CLP

Eda Cazimoglu – Edmonton CLP

Benedict Willis – Hackney North and Stoke Newington CLP

Zoë Kemp – Jewish Labour Movement

Terence Smith – Brigg and Goole CLP (Youth Officer, PPC 2017)

Haydon Etherington – Holborn & St Pancras CLP

Cllr Paul Wilkinson – Gedling CLP (Chair)

Marianna Masters – Streatham CLP (Vice Chair)

Cllr Alex Bigham – Vauxhall CLP (Disabilities Officer)

Emma Louise Rapier – Torfaen CLP

Cllr Jane Edbrooke, Streatham CLP

Cllr Stephen Brimble, Exeter CLP

Irfan Mohammed – Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Maureen Alcorn – Streatham CLP

Paul Leake – City of Durham CLP

Duncan Metcalfe – Dulwich and West Norwood CLP

Tim Woolley – Northampton South CLP

Peter Greenhill – Lewisham West and Penge CLP

Victoria Cole – Battersea CLP

Amy Bentham – Dulwich and west Norwood

Catrin Harland-Davies – Sheffield Hallam CLP

Miki Vyse – Leeds central CLP

Nicola Brown – Tooting CLP

Jack Robinson – Norwich South CLP

David Howell – Chelmsford CLP (Labour Party member for 28yrs)

Keith Bugler – Poplar and Limehouse CLP

James Potts – Islington North CLP (Secretary of London Young Labour)

Cllr Rishi Madlani – Holborn & St Pancras CLP

Samuel Moikeenah – Enfield Southgate CLP

Karl Lewis – West Ham CLP

Hannah Minns – Epsom & Ewell CLP

Blerina Hashani – Hampstead & Kilburn CLP

Sam Anderson – Holborn and St Pancras

Steve Lapsley – Derby South CLP

Anthony Silkoff – Bethnal Green and Bow CLP

Andy Semple – JLM

Daniel Cowan – Southend West CLP

Marie-Anne Cowan – Southend West CLP

Cllr Siôn Davies – Llanelli CLP

Sam Campling – Exeter CLP

Kadeem Williams – Tooting CLP

Myles Swaine-Gray – Harrow West CLP

James C. Maxwell – Liverpool Wavertree CLP

Alan Olive, Hemel Hempstead CLP

Eileen McKnight-Smith – North Durham CLP

Celia Hinds – Barnet CLP

Cllr Emma Daniel – Brighton and Hove City Council

If you would like to add your name to the letter email: [email protected]

LabourList approached the London Labour party and they responded with this statement:

“We do not comment on selection procedures. Any allegations of bullying are taken seriously and will be investigated.”