A former shadow minister who was deselected as an MP by local Labour members has submitted a complaint to the party alleging “vote rigging” in the contest. Sam Tarry, a former senior trade union official who helped organise Jeremy Corbyn’s leadership campaign, lost the chance to contest his Ilford South constituency after he was deselected more than a year ago. Amid a bitter row, members voted by 499 votes to 361 to select the leader of Redbridge council, Jas Athwal, at a hustings after every local Labour branch in the constituency voted to trigger the full reselection proceedings. Tarry claims his unsuccessful attempt to be reselected was harmed by Labour’s online Anonyvoter voting system, which has been the focus of controversy in other constituencies.
However, he has now submitted a complaint which states that, during door-to-door campaigning, his campaign team found numerous individuals who were not living at the addresses that they were registered to on the Labour party membership system. “While some level of ‘churn’ may be expected with people moving homes, the numbers of people on the membership list not resident at the addresses we had been given was concerning,” the complaint states. Tarry’s campaign team then carried out an exercise where they compared the membership records with the electoral register. He says they identified a significant number of members not listed on the electoral register at the addresses on a membership list provided to him. At a later stage, Tarry says he became aware that some of the properties were rentals owned by Redbridge councillors. Some of the members identified during this process had apparently applied for postal or electronic votes, as they appeared on the postal voters list provided to him. “This raised serious concerns about these members’ eligibility to vote in the ongoing selection,” Tarry said in the complaint. He reported the concerns to the regional director of the London region Labour party, copying in Labour’s general secretary, David Evans. “I am not aware of any action that was taken to ensure these members’ eligibility or to stop them from voting,” he adds in the complaint. Tarry’s complaint to Labour alleges that Athwal was one of the Labour councillors who owned a property where Labour members were listed as living, and who had indicated they would vote for Athwal. When they canvassed the address, Tarry’s team says they were told by tenants that the members listed had moved out but that someone else collected their post. The MP is considering taking legal action to obtain Anonyvoter records and may yet seek an injunction to block Athwal from being the official Ilford South candidate. Athwal said: “I completely refute the allegations, they are untrue and baseless. Ilford South members have made their choice and it must be respected.” A Labour spokesperson said: “The Labour party has full confidence in the integrity of the Ilford South selection process. We always investigate concerns that are raised in relation to candidate selections and we reject the allegations that have been made.” Sources in Labour insist robust steps were taken at the time of the selection process to verify the integrity of relevant membership data and the party fully investigated any complaints received.