Respect complains to Electoral Commission about Labour councillor
Bradford councillor using publicly-funded office as Labour HQ
A Labour councillor fighting for re-election in Bradford is using a publicly-funded ‘welfare office’ as his election headquarters. A complaint about misuse of public funds has been lodged with the returning officer for the local elections and a complaint has also been made to the Electoral Commission.
Hassan Uzzaman Khan, standing in the Bowling and Barkerend Ward, has “taken over the Bangladesh Welfare Association office and is using it as his personal fiefdom to run his campaign from,” said Respect national secretary Ron McKay. The association, which is not a registered charity, received a Lottery grant, a further £10,000 grant from Bradford council, as well as an undisclosed amount from the council through its Winter Warmth scheme.
Khan, according to his register of interests with Bradford council, is president of the Bangladesh Welfare Association. He is also an alternate member of the council committee which made the grant to the BWA. “It’s one thing him using the office as a surgery but when he festoons it with banners and publicity urging people to vote Labour, and runs his campaign from it, a place indirectly funded by Bradford council tax payers, it is an outrageous abuse of public money. This is absolutely symptomatic of the rotten state of politics in Bradford,” said McKay.
Khan has been reported to the Bradford MDC returning officer and to the Electoral Commission. The Respect national secretary, McKay, said that he would also be writing to the Charity Commission to ask why an organisation which appeared to have charitable aims was not registered with the commission. “You’d have to look long and hard to find anything about the BWA, apart from it being controlled and managed by Khan, To any reasonable person this looks like a fairly blatant way of funnelling public money to the Labour party,” he added.
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Further information: Ron McKay on 07980 675998
Information: Letter to the returning officer and chief executive of Bradford MDC, Tony Reeves
May 8, 2015
Dar Mr Reeves,
I am writing to you as the local nominating officer of Respect in the forthcoming election and agent for our candidate in Bowling and Barkerend, Ashraf Miah. This concerns the gross misuse for political purposes of the council-funded office of the Bangladesh Welfare Association, College Building, Browning Street BD3 9DX, by the Labour candidate in the ward, Hassan Uzzaman Khan.
According to his official declaration of interests Mr Khan is president of the association. He is also, according to the council website, a member (alternate) of the Bradford East Area Committee. In February of this year the council, through the committee, gave a grant to the BWA of £10,000 for its work. The BWA also received council funding through the Winter Warmth programme. Although the BWA appears to carry out charitable work it is not registered as a charity with the Charity Commission. Nonetheless the council agreed to its funding. Whether or not that was a correct decision may be debatable but what cannot be countenanced is that Mr Khan has now appropriated the BWA offices as his own Labour campaign headquarters for the election on May 22. So, indirectly, Bradford MDC and council tax payers are helping to fund the Labour campaign.
There is no doubt about this. I have seen and have photographed the BWA office, both in an out, and it is festooned with banners and posters urging votes for Labour. I can supply the photographs if you wish them.
I would be grateful if you would respond to this urgently, as both returning officer and council chief executive. I also intend to raise it with the Electoral Commission.
Yours faithfully,
Ron McKay
