Batley East Labour councillor, Ebrahim Dockrat, is “shocked” and “horrified” by the allegations that he shared antisemitic content on social media and has released a statement in response.
Earlier this week, the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) reported that Cllr Dockrat had received an administrative suspension from the Labour Party and is under investigation amid claims of interacting with antisemitic tweets. A statement from a solicitor on behalf of the councillor criticises Labour for the length of time the investigation is taking and alleges that details of the investigation were leaked by the party, causing him and his family “significant distress”.
It states: “Councillor Dockrat has learned more about the nature of the alleged activity from the press than he has from the Party’s suspension notice. This appears to be grossly unfair, he appears to have been tried and convicted publicly, even before he has been informed by the party of the full nature of the complaint. His character, his standing in the community and his professional standing have been compromised without the production of any evidence of alleged wrongdoing or an opportunity to respond.
“For the record, Cllr Dockrat is shocked and horrified at the suggestion that he posted anything on social media, which could be construed or interpreted as antisemitic. He has devoted his working life to fighting discrimination in all its forms and to serving the local community. He has worked with the CPS regionally and nationally and was awarded an MBE for his work advising the Hate Crime Scrutiny process. He also served as Chair of the West Yorkshire Criminal Justice Board’s Diversity Panel.”
The councillor has also expressed great concern that the alleged leaking of his suspension contravenes the rules of the party’s investigation process which states: “the Party’s investigation process operates confidentially. This is crucial to ensure fairness to you and the complainant, to maintain the integrity of the investigation and to protect the rights of all concerned under the Data Protection Act 2018”.
The statement claims that the party has already completed an investigation into a potential leak at the request of Cllr Dockrat, which has concluded that “there is no evidence which directly links to any person(s) who may have passed this information over.”
As of today (November 17) Cllr Dockrat has been under suspension for 10 days, and urges the party to conclude its investigation “promptly” so he can get back to focusing on serving his constituents in the Batley East district.
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