The move by Edmonton party members comes after Osamor was suspended by Labour last month

Kate Osamor, Labour Party (credit parliament.uk) — Kate Osamor (credit parliament.uk)

Members of the Labour Party in Edmonton have passed a motion of “no confidence” in Kate Osamor MP following her suspension last month.

Osamor was suspended by Labour on 28th January two days after she sent a newsletter including Gaza on a list of genocides to be remembered on Holocaust Memorial Day.

Although Osamor quickly apologised for the remarks, following criticism by Jewish groups and others, she lost the Labour whip in parliament and is now an independent MP until such time as she is readmitted.

Last night (Thursday 8th) constituency Labour Party (CLP) members in Edmonton passed a motion which expressed they no longer had confidence in their local MP.

The vote is largely symbolic and doesn’t mean that Osamor has been deselected from standing as a Labour candidate at the next election, although to do so she will need to be readmitted.

The motion said that members “strongly condemn” the newsletter sent by Osamor and said it was “deliberately hurtful towards our Jewish community” to use a day commemorating the Holocaust “to accuse the world’s only Jewish state of perpetuating genocide”.

There has also been support shown for Osamor since her suspension, however, with a pro-Palestine group staging a rally outside Edmonton Green Station last week.

The Dispatch understands that the vote on the ‘no confidence’ motion by Edmonton CLP saw 25 voting for and ten against, with six abstentions. There are more than 700 Labour members in the constituency.

One person who attended last night’s CLP meeting told the Dispatch the motion was not advertised in advance, meaning members would not have been given advance warning of the vote.

The Labour member, who did not wish to be named, said: “The fact it was an emergency motion meant it wasn’t on the agenda. Nobody was able to defend her properly. I think it was a setup.

“Kate has been a good MP and has been very visible in the community. She has apologised for her mistake.”

The party activist also mentioned that their credentials as a Labour member weren’t checked when they arrived at the meeting. “From what I gather, there were no ways of checking who were members and who were not members,” they said.

Kate Osamor declined to comment. Edmonton CLP could not be reached for comment.

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