The Labour party has been ordered by an employment tribunal to pay former Birmingham Labour councillor Raghib Ahsan £123,000 after a 13-year legal battle. Although Raghib’s legal costs were funded by the Commission for Racial Equality, Labour’s own legal costs will bring its total bill to well over £500,000.

Raghib Ahsan, although now a solicitor, used to work at the Rover works, was president of the Birmingham Trades Council in the 1980s and a councillor for the Sparkhill Ward between 1991 and 1998. Three years ago, the Law Lords found unanimously in his favour on his claim that he was discriminated against by a selection panel in the run-up to the 1998 local government elections in which he was replaced with a white candidate who had not even been a member long enough to qualify under the party rules. Raghib Ahsan was also prevented by party officials from standing for Labour’s national executive for which he had been backed by the centre-left Grassroots Alliance. Continue reading →