By-election battle date set

A date has been set for an upcoming Birmingham by-election battle following the resignation of a councillor.

Earlier this year, Alan Feeney gained the Shard End council seat for Reform UK after attracting more than 1,200 votes in May’s local elections earlier this year.

The seat was previously comfortably won by Birmingham Labour in 2018 and retained four years later, each time by former council leader Ian Ward.

But deep frustration over issues such as the bins strike saw Labour take a hammering in the Brum’s elections, while parties such as Reform and the Greens, as well as various independents, convinced voters they could offer change.

Around five months on, Mr Feeney has resigned as a Birmingham councillor after he was recorded in an ITV News investigation describing an area as “infested” with Asian families.

He also called them “absolute parasites” and was recorded saying no more than 1 per cent of the UK population should be non-white.

Mr Feeney quit Reform last week before the comments were made public and has now stepped down from Solihull Borough Council where he was also a councillor.

With the council seat in the Shard End now vacant, the city council has confirmed that a by-election will take place in the ward later this year on Thursday, November 26.

Local politicians have already been out campaigning, with the Reform Birmingham group writing on social media that their councillors had “great conversations” with Shard End residents over the weekend.

“[There’s been] plenty of positive feedback as people continue to recognise the hard work of Reform UK councillors locally,” they said.

Reform went on to claim that the by-election would be a “two-horse race” between them and Labour.

“[Labour are the] party that gave us the bin strike and the pothole pandemic on our roads,” they said. “Don’t reward them for their unforgivable failures in Birmingham.”

Cllr Dr Nagu Penakacherla added: “The response we are getting is tremendous, I am sure we are going to win back Shard End.”

Liam Byrne, Labour MP for Birmingham Hodge Hill and Solihull North, also said councillors from his party were out door knocking and speaking to locals over the weekend.

“Shard End deserves better than the disgraced councillor exposed by ITV and forced to resign,” he wrote.

“Today we were back out on the doorsteps, listening to residents about how to put things right after this terrible Reform let down.

“We’re not waiting around. We’re determined to residents priorities first.”

The MP added that Shard End “deserves a councillor who’ll fight for the ward and stand up for everyone”.

A full list of candidates for next month’s by-election will be confirmed in the coming weeks.

The results for Shard End’s election back in May were as follows:

Harry Ballard, Green Party, 321

Christopher Francis Barber, Liberal Democrats, 103

Tony Briggs, Local Conservatives, 155

Alan James Feeney, Reform UK, 1,262

Ginge Smyth, Independent, 132

Fiona Williams, Labour and Co-operative Party, 488

‘Hurt and anger’

Mr Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, said there was “no excuse” for the comments made in the recording and used his statement last week to offer his “sincere and unreserved apologies”.

“My remarks were wrong, offensive and completely unacceptable,” he said. “They do not reflect the standards that the public rightly expects from an elected representative, and I take full responsibility for what I said.

“The comments do not reflect my true beliefs or opinions, particularly of the communities mentioned in the report.

“These are communities I have supported countless times in my personal and professional life over many years, many of whom I have been lucky enough to call friends.

“My true self is reflected in over a decade of public service on multiple local authorities, charities trusts and committees.”

He acknowledged the “hurt and anger” caused and added: “I will be undertaking intensive personal analysis to understand how these sentiments could have taken root, and ensure they can never do so again.”

A Reform spokesman told the BBC: “Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced.”

The spokesman added that the party had improved its procedures but some individuals who did not share their values would occasionally make it through vetting.

By Alexander Brock | Local Democracy Reporting Service