Councillor Gohar Almass (Labour, Beeston & Holbeck) has announced that he is to step down at the next election in May 2024.
Cllr Amass was facing a deselection battle within the Beeston & Holbeck Labour Party Branch, but announced he wouldn’t be seeking reselection hours before Tuesday night’s branch meeting (17 October 2023) citing his poor health. He will continue to serve as a Councillor until May.
Cllr Almass was first elected to Leeds City Council in 2018 and was re-elected in 2021.
Cllr Almass declined to give South Leeds Life a statement.
The Labour Party will now choose a new candidate to fight the election at a meeting next week.
South Leeds Life understands that many in the branch blamed Cllr Almass for the surprise deselection of Angela Gabriel in December 2021.
Photo: Cllr Almass promoting the Mobile Community Hub at Cottingley earlier this year
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I attended the meeting as a member it was Labour Party’s shortlisting meeting not a deselection meeting where Councillor Gohar’s statement was read out to the members why he was not seeking re-selection. I have known Gohar for a long time He has always worked hard for our area , and has always tried to unite communities, he was in hospital only a few weeks back, As friends and neighbours We’re all concerned about his health and wish him a speedy recovery.
Jeremy Morton states: Clr. Almass was “facing a deselection battle “. This is factually wrong. It was simply a meeting to shortlist candidates for an upcoming selection meeting.
Regarding the deselection of Angela Gabriel: I know Almass had nothing to do with her deselection. I was present when the vote was taken which she lost by a clear majority and according to many members it was mainly due to the issue of controversial road closures in Beeston.
Thanks for your comment David, but I’m afraid I was not factually wrong to describe the meeting as a deselection battle. Cllr Almass had to win a vote at the meeting to avoid facing a selection meeting. I spoke to several members who attended the meeting in order to vote against Cllr Almass, who also believed, rightly or wrongly, that he was behind Cllr Gabriel’s deselection.
I believe the vote was to retain the sitting Councilor or to open the selection up to other members on the panel as well.
Therefore , it was never a deselection battle so you’re factually Wrong..
It was a deselection battle if if he couldnt be certain of winning that vote, or winning a vote to be on the subsequent panel.
Please calm down, You’ve got it all wrong Jeremy, your article is biased made clear by your assertion that certain Labour members were lined up to vote against Clr. Almass. However, According to the Agenda of the meeting if you read it was either to retain the sitting Councilor or to open it up to additional candidates from the panel. So where your suggested idea of deselection of Clr Almass comes from is beyond me, it certainly wasn’t on the Agenda of that meeting.
The process of candidate selection has changed. The question/ballot put to local branches is no longer if they wish to retain their sitting Cllr, this hasn’t been the case for at least two years. It is open to nominate any member from the panel book of candidates to be shortlisted meaning they are invited to speak and face questions at the selection meeting. If the sitting Cllr wishes to retain their position they need to be shortlisted and selected.