Gaza motion sees Kirklees Council chamber chaos with members ordered to leave

Chaos ensued at Huddersfield town hall last night (November 12) as a motion on Gaza saw two members asked to leave the chamber and another left concerned for her safety.

The motion, which had been sitting on the agenda for some time, was finally heard by Kirklees Council and upheld following a vote. It had been put forward by members of the Community Independents group, and other independent members - Cllrs Khan, Anwar and Bramwell - and requested that the local authority take "urgent action" on the conflict in the Middle East.

Some of these actions included the Leader of the Council, Cllr Carole Pattison, writing to Prime Minister Keir Starmer, urging him to revoke licences allowing for the sale of arms to Israel, lobby Israeli leadership to immediately allow aid to Gaza without obstruction and call for a ceasefire.

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The motion originally requested that the Palestinian flag be flown at Huddersfield, Batley and Dewsbury town halls but this paragraph was removed during the meeting.

The matter was introduced by Cllr Ali Arshad (Community, Independents, Heckmondwike) as a "heartfelt call to action” and “refusal to stand by silently”. He said: “It is easy to remember those lost when the time has passed, when the damage is done, but real remembrance through the honouring of those who are suffering before means using our voices now.

“While the suffering in Gaza is happening in real time we don’t want to stand there in years to come and say ‘never again’ to a crisis that we watched unfold and failed to confront when we had the power to speak out.”

As the meeting moved to the discussion, Councillor Zarina Amin (Labour, Ashbrow) said she wanted to “set the record absolutely straight” from the last full council meeting. There, a vote was taken to determine whether the motion would be discussed that night which she had voted against.

She said that following this, a poster was produced which accused her of refusing to vote for the motion, in a bid to skew public perception, leaving the councillor fearing for her safety.

She told the meeting: “Certain individuals who are present today saw fit to produce a poster with photographs of myself and other Muslim colleagues, stating that we refused to vote for a motion for Israel boycotts, we put party before humanity, Starmer … Zionist supporters - I mean really? Seriously? How bloody dare you.

“This aim was to trick communities against us and it also paints a very clear target on our backs. If any of us are attacked then I hold the authors and those who conspired with them responsible and I also ask the question how would you feel if this was one of your loved ones?

“I must make it clear today that no-one has the right to judge anyone else. The only person that has that right is God.”

Councillor John Taylor (Con, Kirkburton) voiced his opposition to the motion on several grounds, with Cllr Jo Lawson (Community Independents, Crosland Moor and Netherton) and Cllr Hanifa Darwan (Independent, Dewsbury South) shouting over him. The pair were ultimately asked to leave the meeting by Mayor of Kirklees and Chair, Cllr Nosheen Dad, with the latter refusing to do so.

After adjourning the meeting, Mayor of Kirklees and Chair of the meeting, Cllr Nosheen Dad, said: “I just want to clarify that the constitution was followed correctly and the member refused to leave. I also want to take this opportunity to thank Cllr Jo Lawson for respecting the council, for respecting the chamber, and respecting the Chair and the constitution and leaving when I asked her to.

“Unfortunately, Cllr Darwan showed disrespect, not just to the chamber but to the entire debate. Because of her we are potentially going to run out of time. This has been an issue that has affected members in this chamber alongside communities out there in Kirklees.

“It was important that we had a wider debate where members who had pressed their buttons to speak on the debate will now not be able to do that and the members of the public need to be aware that the only person they’ve got to thank for not being able to have a full debate on the Gaza motion is Cllr Darwan.”

Councillor Aziz Daji (Independent, Batley East) requested that the item be taken to a vote with this seconded by Cllr Cathy Scott (Community Alliance, Dewsbury East). The motion was upheld with 27 votes for, 26 against and five members abstaining. It appeared at least some groups had allowed members to take a free vote, with some councillors within the same groups voting against each other.

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