Nadine Osman
A former Labour deputy leader of Newcastle City Council was found guilty of Islamophobia and suspended from the party for a year on July 29.
Joyce McCarty faced an investigation into claims she made in a text message of a “Muslim plot” to oust former leader Nick Forbes, 48, who has headed the Labour-run local authority since 2011.
Newcastle Labour Party condemned “any act of hate crime” and will “call out any such behaviour when seen.”
“We have been notified by the Labour Party’s Governance and Legal Unit to advise us that Joyce McCarty has been found guilty through an investigation of Islamophobia and is suspended from the Labour Party with immediate effect. She will be an independent councillor as of now and will not be entitled to attend any Labour Party activity,” said Newcastle Labour in a statement.
Asserting, “The Newcastle Labour Party condemns any act of hate crime and will act and call out any such behaviour when seen.”
A Labour Party spokesman told The Muslim News, “The Labour Party takes all complaints extremely seriously and they are fully investigated in line with our rules and procedures, and any appropriate disciplinary action is taken.”
The 12-month suspension handed to McCarty will include the four months she has already served since she was suspended in March. In a text message, McCarty said she was aware of a “specific Muslim plot” organised by councillors in Newcastle’s West End to remove the leader and get more black, Asian, and minority ethnic candidates selected.
Despite being suspended in March, she remained on local election ballot papers for Labour in May and was re-elected in her Wingrove ward with an overwhelming majority.
She was first elected to the city council in 1994 and was deputy leader from 2011 to 2021.
The veteran councillor also sat on the local authority’s cabinet with responsibilities for issues including support for refugees and asylum seekers. In February, Forbes was defeated in the contest for his Arthur’s Hill ward when Labour members voted by 13 to four in favour of Abdul Samad.
Forbes has alleged an ambush by left-wing members and claimed the contest was “clearly manipulated,” but has since stepped away from city politics.
