Labour in Redcar ‘at war with self’, according to members

The BBC reports:

The Redcar and Cleveland Council Labour Group was reviewed by the party in 2012 after complaints of bullying and physical intimidation between members.

But branch members said the situation had now become even worse…

Labour … had held the constituency since it was created in 1974 until the Liberal Democrats won with a majority of more than 5,000 in 2010…

Darlington Labour councillor Nick Wallis wrote a report in 2012 that has never been published but has been seen by the BBC. It found party meetings often descended into chaos with group members reduced to tears.

He concluded the situation needed urgent resolution ahead of the election in May.

But Redcar Labour councillor Steve Goldswain, who was deselected as a candidate for the May council elections by the party, said the situation had worsened since the Wallis report… The BBC understands a number of other members also have concerns…

The Wallis report said it was “unacceptable” on both sides that Middlesbrough South and East Cleveland MP Tom Blenkinsop, also a Labour member, was filing Freedom of Information requests to the Labour-run Redcar council as he had “no faith in the party’s usual communication channels”.