High Peak councillor decries 'spurious' allegations after Labour bars her from 2025 elections

As previously reported, Ruth George – who represented the constituency in Parliament from 2017 to 2019, and the Whaley Bridge council division since 2020 – recently announced that the Labour Party will not allow her to stand again in this year’s local election.

The Labour Party has yet to offer any reason for Cllr George’s deselection other than its “due diligence” to ensure candidates are of the “highest calibre.”

Following her initial reaction, which detailed her work as deputy leader of Derbyshire’s Labour group and 37 years of party membership, Cllr George has now issued a second statement which continues to question the basis on which she was rejected.

She said: “The hundreds of supportive comments on social media, and the many people showing dismay at the Labour Party’s decision show that I am someone who works hard for everyone in my local community.

“The Labour Party gave me full support to stand for Derbyshire County Council in 2020 and in 2021 (under Keir Starmer’s leadership). Labour Party staff came to help me campaign against former Conservative MP Edwina Currie . No concerns have been raised about my conduct in those five years.”

The news of the deselection welcomed by the chairman of the Jewish Labour Movement, Lord Katz, as well as a spokesperson for the Jewish Representative Council of Greater Manchester and Region, in terms that harked back to incidents from Cllr George’s time as an MP.

They described her “woeful track record on antisemitism” and as “someone who had to apologise for voicing a conspiracy theory” for comments which some interpreted as implying the state of Israel was funding critics of Labour’s response to antisemitism allegations.

In 2019, Cllr George did apologise for and retract an “ill-thought out and poorly worded comment” while insisting she “had no intention of invoking a conspiracy theory.”

The spokesperson for Jewish Representative Council also accused Cllr George of “[turning] a blind eye or at worst actively supported colleagues in her CLP alleged to have made appalling antisemitic comments.”

Accusations of antisemitism were levelled at activists in and around High Peak Labour prior to and during Cllr George’s period as an MP – and were seized upon by representatives for rival parties.

But Cllr George maintains her relationship to any such incidents was scrutinised at the time and she faced no further action as a result, and there had been no further concerns about her conduct raised by the party ever since.

She said: “To suddenly dredge up unspecified and vague allegations from six or seven years ago that as Labour MP I was associated with local Labour activists against whom allegations of antisemitism were made – but not upheld – is spurious at best.

“I have a proud record of standing against antisemitism – I accompanied and personally helped pay for a group of local young people to visit Auschwitz-Birkenau with the Holocaust Educational Trust and supported them to become ambassadors against antisemitism afterwards.

“I walked in solidarity with Ruth Smeeth MP to her court appearance against her antisemitic abuser. I have reported Labour members guilty of antisemitism to the police and to the Labour Party. I have been honoured to receive statements of support from local people who are Jewish.”

Cllr George is not the only serving Labour representative in the region to have been blocked from standing as a candidate in the upcoming elections.

Among those who have expressed their support in the wake of her deselection are the newly formed Broxtowe Independent Alliance Councillors in Nottinghamshire.

A spokesperson for the group said: “We wish we could say this was unbelievable but of course it’s not. This happened to ten of our borough councillors recently – all blocked from standing for county. 250 years membership between them, including our leader Milan Radulovic, our deputy Greg Marshall and even Dennis Skinner’s sister-in-law, Helen Skinner.

“All hard-working activists, blocked for not being team players and for speaking out about the Winter Fuel Allowance.

“Not sure what is happening to this Labour Party but you are more than welcome to come and join our growing band of independents under our Alliance banner. Believe us, it is very freeing to be able to speak and act freely and in the best interests of your residents.”

Cllr George has suggested her deselection may be attributable to differences with High Peak’s current Labour MP Jon Pearce and the internal factions currently wielding power within the party.

She said: “Others have been told that the ‘real’ reason for my deselection was that the new Labour MP who was parachuted into High Peak at the last election and who refuses to work with me, has falsely alleged that I don’t support him.

“Whether or not this is true, he has certainly not supported me, and since I was prevented from standing, he supported one of his staff members to be presented as the only possible county council candidate to Whaley Bridge Labour Party.

“This type of behaviour is not just or democratic. I expect better of the party for which I’ve been an activist for over 37 years. People expect better from the party responsible for democracy and justice for us all.”

She has also told supporters she plans to consider her options as to how best she can continue fighting for social justice and against inequality.

Jon Pearce MP has not yet responded to a request for comment at the time of publication.

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