A former city Labour councillor has hit out at Anneliese Dodds and council leader Susan Brown over their Gaza stance, saying they’ve “lost the trust of many people and communities across the city.”

Oxford’s exited Labour councillors say they will not rejoin the party despite Keir Starmer’s change of stance on Gaza, the Labour leader having now joined Rishi Sunak in calling for a sustainable ceasefire in the region.

The former human rights lawyer had previously argued that a ceasefire would not be appropriate because it would freeze the conflict and embolden Hamas. Instead, he called for “humanitarian pauses.”

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That position led to more than 50 Labour councillors across the country resigning from the party, including 10 in Oxford.

Quit city council cabinet member for safer communities Shaista Aziz, argued that the council’s “connections to the diverse communities of the city have been weakened” by the exodus of Labour councillors over the last two months.

Ms Aziz, who is continuing to represent Rose Hill and Iffley under her newly formed Independent Group party, claims she didn’t leave Labour as a publicity stunt, and believes a lot of trust has been lost in the council.

She said: “There’s a feeling that people aren’t being listened to on a number of issues, including the ceasefire in Gaza.

“The cabinet member for inclusive communities resigned, I resigned, and the four mosques of the city have gone on record multiple times saying they are deeply unhappy with the position of the council.

“The council’s cabinet is now – bar deputy leader Chewe Munkonge – all white. The council’s connections to the diverse communities of the city have been weakened.”

It is understood that leader of the council Susan Brown has been criticised in not calling for a ceasefire when Labour councillors were leaving.

The city council has been contacted for comment.

Other former Labour councillors in Oxford have argued that Kier Starmer’s call for a ceasefire is “merely following the Conservative party line.”

Imogen Thomas, who leads the newly formed group Oxford Socialist Independents, said: “Keir Starmer has equivocated on the basic fundamentals of human rights and human decency.

"How many hundreds of thousands of people had to take to the streets, how many UN ambassadors had to call for a ceasefire, before he changed his tune? In that time thousands of children have lost their lives.”

Ms Aziz added: “Keir Starmer’s Labour Party is on the back foot on this crisis as it has been from the beginning.

“As a future prime minister, he is merely following the Conservative Party line on this, months on from 19,000 Palestinians - almost half of who are children being killed.”

Ajaz Rehman, who quit Labour and is now joined with Ms Aziz in the Independent Group, said: “I welcome any calls for a ceasefire. It is more than horrifying that it has taken the killing of over 15,000 people for there to be a shift.”

Anneliese Dodds abstained from the SNP’s King’s Speech amendment in parliament, which called for “all parties to agree to an immediate ceasefire.”

Ms Dodds declined to comment.

 

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This story was written by Matthew Norman, he joined the team in 2022 as a Facebook community reporter.

Matthew covers Bicester and focuses on finding stories from diverse communities.

Get in touch with him by emailing: Matthew.norman@newsquest.co.uk

Follow him on Twitter: @OxMailMattN1