Candidates for Birmingham by-election battle confirmed after councillor's resignation

The list of candidates running in the upcoming Birmingham by-election battle has been confirmed by the city council.

The council seat in the Shard End ward is now vacant following the resignation of Alan Feeney, who won it for Reform UK during the local elections earlier this year.

But Mr Feeney has recently resigned as a Birmingham councillor after he was recorded in an ITV News investigation describing an area as “infested” with Asian families.

He also called them “absolute parasites” and was recorded saying no more than one per cent of the UK population should be non-white.

Mr Feeney quit Reform days before the comments were made public and has stepped down from Solihull Borough Council where he was also a councillor.

The city council confirmed last month that a by-election will take place in the Shard End ward on Thursday, November 26 and has since published the list of candidates who will battling for residents’ votes.

They are as follows:

• Shaun Allen-Dooley, Green Party
• Jack Brookes, Restore Britain
• Gerald David Dickson, Labour Party
• Fahad Hussain, Workers Party
• Sarah Elizabeth Myers, Reform UK
• Duncan Riley, Independent
• Clifton Frederick Welch, Local Conservatives

Prior to Reform’s victory in the ward earlier this year, the council seat was previously comfortably won by Birmingham Labour in 2018 and retained four years later.

But amid deep frustration over issues such as the bins strike, Labour saw their number of councillors dramatically collapse.

‘Completely unacceptable’

Mr Feeney, who defected from the Conservative Party to Reform last year, said there was “no excuse” for the comments made in the recording and offered his “sincere and unreserved apologies”.

“My remarks were wrong, offensive and completely unacceptable,” he said. “They do not reflect the standards that the public rightly expects from an elected representative, and I take full responsibility for what I said.

“The comments do not reflect my true beliefs or opinions, particularly of the communities mentioned in the report.

“These are communities I have supported countless times in my personal and professional life over many years, many of whom I have been lucky enough to call friends.

“My true self is reflected in over a decade of public service on multiple local authorities, charities trusts and committees.”

He acknowledged the “hurt and anger” caused and added: “I will be undertaking intensive personal analysis to understand how these sentiments could have taken root and ensure they can never do so again.”

A Reform spokesman told the BBC: “Where members, activists and councillors have clearly behaved inappropriately, investigations have commenced.”

The spokesman added that the party had improved its procedures but some individuals who did not share their values would occasionally make it through vetting.