The national Labour party has announced it will appoint the next leader of the city council in Birmingham, taking the decision away from councillors, after a damning internal report said the local party was “dysfunctional” and dominated by “personality driven factionalism”.
The move would in effect oust the current leader, Ian Ward, who was re-elected as leader of the UK’s largest local authority after a contest in May last year, and his deputy.
Labour’s national party asked its Campaign Improvement Board to look into the situation in Birmingham late last year and the subsequent report, seen by the Guardian, details a litany of failings.
It found there were reports of misogyny and racism in the party, women and black and minority ethnic councillors were “disengaged and disempowered” and relationships with trade unions were defined by “animosity and lack of trust”.
“It is clear the existing culture and processes have contributed to a dysfunctional climate,” it said.
“A legacy of years of personality driven factionalism, cultural challenges, two particularly bitter industrial disputes, a recent divisive leadership contest and changes to governance have had a detrimental impact on the mood and morale of the Labour group.”
A key recommendation is that Labour’s National Executive Committee (NEC) and other party members from outside the region interview and appoint a new leader, deputy leader and group officers, who should now be elected annually.
This arrangement would remain “until the NEC are satisfied the Birmingham Labour group can effectively run its AGM”, the report said.
The announcement was met with anger by some local councillors, who told BirminghamLive it was “disgraceful behaviour from higher powers” in the party and an attempt to “burn a house down that wasn’t even on fire”.
Julian Pritchard, a Green party councillor in the city, said: “There is lots wrong with our Labour-run council. A lot of this is caused by Labour’s tendency (locally and nationally) to centralise power.
“So [I am] not sure a change of Birmingham Labour leader imposed by Keir Starmer from London is the right solution for the council or the city. Our city’s leaders should be elected by the people of Birmingham.”
In response to the report, Ward insisted he still had the confidence of the local party and said that by reverting to annual leadership elections “the group risks turning inwards instead of facing the city’s challenges”.
“As the leader of Birmingham city council I have led our city through the challenges of austerity and the pandemic, safeguarding frontline services, and delivering the best Commonwealth Games we have ever seen,” he said.
“I have led Labour to two overwhelming election victories. I retain the confidence of the Birmingham Labour Group having recently won a leadership election and I hope to continue leading our group as we tackle the major challenges that our city faces.
“We need to focus on winning the mayoral, council and general elections, and political instability from annual elections puts that all at risk.”
The report also said that a large number of complaints about services such as housing repairs and waste collection suggested the council had “longstanding and persistent issues in getting the basics right”.
“Service delivery is the single biggest threat to the party’s reputation in Birmingham,” it concluded.
The Labour report said Birmingham was “strategically significant” for the party, and a key area of concern before the West Midlands mayoral election next year and city-wide elections in 2026.
Labour won 65 of the 101 council seats in the last local elections in May 2022, but with a significantly reduced vote share that has prompted “widespread fear” the party could lose seats in 2026, the report said.
A key driver behind the report was a survey of minority ethnic councillors last year, revealed by the Guardian, in which they reported a “toxic culture” designed to keep them “in their place, which is at the bottom”.
A Labour party spokesperson said: “Labour will look at the recommendations in full and, where change is needed from the Labour party, we will implement that change.”
A Labour source added: “It’s clear from reading [the report] that change is desperately needed. This is the biggest authority in the country, there are a multitude of issues at its core. It’s vital that it is properly ran and it delivers for the people of Birmingham.”
