BRIGHTON and Hove’s “only ethnic minority representative on the council” has criticised the Labour group after it had the power to select candidates for next year’s local elections taken away.

Labour candidates for the elections in Brighton and Hove will now be picked by a panel chosen by the national party due to concerns over anti-semitism and the representation of ethnic minorities.

It comes after several Labour councillors were suspended over allegations of anti-semitism. After one of those suspended was readmitted, Councillor Peter Atkinson quit the Labour Party in protest, sitting on the council as an independent.

The national party also raised concerns that black and ethnic minority candidates were not selected in seats where Labour was likely to win.

In a piece on the ConservativeHome website, Conservative councillor Samer Bagaeen said: “The news that the Labour Party’s selections for Brighton and Hove City Council elections next May have been taken away from the local party over anti-semitism and lack of diversity comes as no surprise.

“While the takeover was mostly driven by the anti-semitism problems, it was also partly driven by concerns in Labour that black and ethnic candidates were not selected for winnable seats, instead being shunted to safe Green and Conservative wards.

“In fact, the only ethnic minority representative on the council is yours truly, a Conservative.

He also criticised the decision by the Greens and Labour to introduce “co-optees” on some council committees, who he described as “unelected activists” who provide a “fig leaf to ethnic minority selection problems”.

Cllr Bagaeen said: “The city and its ethnic minority communities would be better served if Labour and the Greens instead looked to diversify its candidates and stopped shunting ethnic minority candidates off to unwinnable seats.

“For now, Britain’s capital council of woke at Brighton and Hove continues to be its least diverse - and that is not good for our local residents.”

Brighton and Hove Labour co-leaders Carmen Appich and John Allcock welcomed the support of the national party in ensuring the party has a “more diverse team that is representative of the city we serve”.

In a joint statement, they said: “We have been facilitating meetings between local Black and Minority Ethnic [Bame] Labour Party members and national party staff to share their experiences and feelings on internal selection processes.

“Whilst in administration, we backed the Black Lives Matter protests, started a review of plaques, street names and monuments, ensured greater scrutiny of the ethnic pay gap at the council and delivered unconscious bias and anti-racism training across the council and in the school curriculum.

“We want to build on this work with a more diverse team of councillors going forward, so we are pleased the national party have agreed to having Bame representation on the panel of selectors.

“Anti-semitism is a scourge on our society and anyone who has ever fallen short of our zero-tolerance policy on this has rightly been removed from the Labour group.

“If the national party can help us with a more rigorous screening and training programme ahead of the next local elections, this can only be a positive thing and we fully welcome their input.”

A spokeswoman for the Labour Party said: “We will take all steps to deliver the highest level of candidates and look forward to working with them to defeat the incompetent Green administration in Brighton and Hove.”