LABOUR was last night facing legal action as thousands of supporters were seemingly thrown out and refused a vote in the leadership election for not adequately supporting the “aims and values” party.
Yesterday, #LabourPurge trended on Twitter as furious supporters took to the social media site to express their anger at the party.
Many of those kicked out had taken part in a recent initiative to entice more supporters to back the party. Around 200,000 people paid £3 to become supporters and have a vote in the leadership election. Many of those who joined were doing so to vote for leadership contender Jeremy Corbyn.
Yesterday it was unclear if those who had been rejected from the party would get their £3 back.
Although exact figures on how many had been turned away were unavailable, early reports indicated at least a thousand.
In an email sent to rejected members, the Labour party said they were being kicked out because they did not support Labour’s “aims and values” or were a “supporter of an organisation opposed to the Labour Party”.
Grace Nancy, a Corbyn supporter, tweeted that she had phoned the party only to be told she was being denied a vote because she “retweeted something by Ken Loach”.
Pete Sinclair, tweeted: “I am shaking with anger at the anti-democratic nature of this Labour Party election. I donated money to their election campaign in 2015!”
A note circulated on social media yesterday afternoon suggested that party members had been encouraged to alert Labour HQ to “entryists” signing up.
There seemed to be some clerical errors too. Robert Sharpe, who claimed to be “a five-year veteran” who had stood in elections for the party twice, wrote that his “membership to the party has been cancelled and I am unable to vote in the leadership contest”.
Although Sharpe later tweeted that after raising concerns with his local MP and several councillors, the party had now admitted they’d made a mistake. It is understood Labour believed Sharpe to be a Ukip supporter.
Sharpe told the Independent that the situations was a “farce”.
“It’s been terrible, very poor, there’s so much confusion and it’s a scandal with people being purged,” he added.
MPs and MSPs complained to the party for rejecting people who showed an interested in the future of the party.
Many other Labour supporters were unrepentant at their party’s decision.
The email received by those purged read: “We have reason to believe that you do not support the aims and values of the Labour Party or you are a supporter of an organisation opposed to the Labour Party and therefore we are rejecting your application.
“Although you may have received or may still receive a ballot paper, it will not work and if you do vote it will not be counted.
“Should you wish to dispute rejection by the Labour Party you would have to submit and pursue an application to join Labour as a full member.”
If the Labour party has been inundated with non-supporters it will be despite legal advice given to the party ahead of the launch of the supporters initiative.
Lawyers told the party’s procedure committee to double check new sign-ups known to have voted for other parties, and ask them to confirm they really did support the Labour’s “aims and values”. This did not happen.
The Sunday Herald’s deputy editor Neil MacKay also found himself rejected by the Labour Party.
The journalist, who had been a long-term Labour supporter until the war in Iraq, joined up as a supporter by phone.
Despite never sending him registration forms, Labour took his £3 membership fee. When Mackay phoned up to complain he was told the party had no record of him and that he would not be allowed a vote.
MACKAY said: “I’m not sure if what’s happened me to is a complete clerical breakdown or something more sinister, but on top of the fact they’re ‘purging’ people they’re also self evidently scooping in lots of three pounds, that you then have to go through a horrendous, laborious process to get back. I would always err on the side of the less sinister, so let’s say it was a clerical error, that’s still bad. It damages the democratic process. How many people are being skelped for three pounds and can’t be bothered to claim it back?”
A Labour spokesman said: “The Labour Party has a robust system to prevent fraudulent or malicious applications.”
The spokesman added:“All applications to join the Labour Party as a member, affiliate or supporter are verified and those who are identified by our verification team as being candidates, members or supporters of another political party will be denied a vote.”
The National view: Labour are spinning out of control with this bizarre purge move
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