Faiza Shaheen, who was barred from representing the Labor Party in the general election, has announced that she will stand as an independent.
Shaheen, who initially won the Labor nomination for Chingford and Woodford Green, said she decided to run as an independent after voters told her they felt “disenfranchised” by the party’s decision to remove her as a candidate.
Labor removed Shaheen as its candidate for the London constituency after she allegedly liked a series of social media posts that downplayed allegations of antisemitism.
Yesterday she announced his resignation from the partyaccusing him of embodying a “hierarchy of racism”.
She said she was considering whether to stand as an independent in Chingford, and on Wednesday afternoon confirmed that decision.
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She wrote on X: “I made this decision after hundreds of messages from people in my community saying there are no more options for them.
“They are tired of the Tories but now feel they cannot trust Labour.
She added: “They feel disenfranchised by the Labor Party’s decision to remove me and I feel that it would be impossible for the party to win here without a local candidate, rooted in the community, and that such a voice is vitally needed.
“I’m here to win, to defeat the conservatives, to finish what we started.”
Shaheen accused the Labor Party of running a “bogus process initiated for spurious reasons” in order to remove her as their candidate in the North East London seat.
At the last election in 2019, she came second to former Conservative leader Sir Iain Duncan Smith, losing to him by just over 1,000 votes.
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However, on Tuesday the party’s National Executive Committee (NEC) confirmed it would not support Shaheen, an economist and author, and chose Brent councilor Shama Tatler to take her place.
Shaheen stated that she faced “a relentless campaign of unfair treatment, intimidation and hostility” that she had “never experienced in my entire personal or professional life.”
Her removal as a candidate led to accusations that Sir Keir Starmer was carrying out a “slaughter” of left-wing candidates while we parachute those on the right into safe seats.
Last week, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, the former MP for Brighton Kemptown, was told he could not stand after being suspended from the party for what he called a “vexatious and politically motivated complaint” against him.
Labor veteran Diane Abbott also claimed she was prevented from standing in Hackney North and Stoke Newington following her suspension from the party last year for a letter she wrote in the Observer in which she claimed Irish, Jewish and Traveler people experienced “prejudice” rather than racism .
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However, following a backlash over the way her case was handled, Sir Keir later confirmed that Ms Abbott was “free” to hold the role she has represented for almost 40 years.
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The handling of Abbott and Shaheen’s candidacies triggered the resignation of seven Labor councilors in Slough, who accused the party of racism.
Asked about the resignations on Tuesday, Sir Keir said there were “brilliant Labor teams in every constituency, fighting for votes in this general election”.
“We are in good shape, we are making a positive argument about choice before the country,” he said.
He denied preventing leftists from representing the party and at the polls, arguing instead that the decisions made were simply to ensure there was a crop of “high quality” candidates in the elections.
This story originally appeared on News.sky.com read the full story
