This motion was brought to the AGM by Ferryhill Branch and passed unanimously.
EMERGENCY MOTION PASSED ON 29/6/18 The Mayor of Ferryhill Labour Party members in Sedgefield will be outraged and offended by recent local news reports regarding the current Independent Mayor of Ferryhill’s bigoted, racist and homophobic views expressed on social media. Recent and historic posts on his facebook page promote Islamaphobia, homophobia and transphobia. Unfortunately Councillors Smith’s bigoted views have been well known by some in Ferryhill since his election as a councillor in 2017 and despite this his fellow Independent Councillor’s elected him as Mayor in May 2018, those Independent Councillors must now take responsibility and a share of the blame for providing him with a platform to promote his offensive views.
His posts promote hate and division in our community and have cause significant upset and distress to many people, they also increase the risk of personal attacks on these vulnerable groups and as Labour Party members we must show our opposition to ‘hate speech’ and our support and solidarity with those he attacks by publicly opposing prejudice and discrimination.
The Labour Party is built on the foundations of equality, diversity and inclusivity; it’s at our very core! And when met with prejudice and discrimination we must meet it head on and condemn it in the strongest possible terms.
Ferryhill Branch Labour Party call on the Sedgefield CLP and our MP to publicly condemn Councillor Smith’s views and comments and to support a campaign calling for his resignation and to provide full support for the Ferryhill Town Council Labour Group for their actions in calling for an Extraordinary meeting to demand his resignation.
We further propose that the CLP and MP write to the controlling group at the Town Council, the Ferryhill Independent Group (FIG) and demand they also support the campaign calling for Councillor Smiths’ resignation or take action to remove him from office as failure to do so would imply they continue to support both him and his offensive views. Finally we call on all Labour Councillors in the region to boycott any event organised by or on behalf of Councillor Smith.