Councillor served with legal papers after complaints of 'anti-Semite' slur 'ignored'
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Councillor served with legal papers after complaints of 'anti-Semite' slur 'ignored'
Green Party Councillors are taking action against Cllr Deakin following 'libellous' tweets and failure to apologise
In August this year, Counter Cut reported that Cllr Jack Deakin, the Labour Councillor for Allens Cross in Birmingham and Coleshill in North Warwickshire, faced potential legal action following ‘libellous’ tweets directed at several Green Party Councillors:
Counter Cut can now exclusively reveal that the the Green Party Councillors in question have issued Deakin with a legal ‘letter before claim’, ahead of possible further action.
Councillors Ekua Bayunu, Jo Bird, Kevin Frea and Heather Skibsted told Counter Cut in a statement:
“Labour Cllr Jack Deakin posted a libellous tweet on 12 August. He has not deleted it nor apologised. It is not OK for an elected councillor to make false allegations of “antisemite” ”.
Having crowdfunded over £4,000 to cover legal costs on their crowdjustice.com page, they added, “enough money was raised to send a legal ‘letter before claim’ to Jack Deakin.”
Their crowdjustice.com page states that the Councillors wish to “nip this in the bud to send a clear message to everyone that Anti-semitism is a serious form of racism and casually throwing around unfounded allegations undermines the real struggles by Jewish people and their allies to fight real cases of antisemitism”.
In a new development in this ongoing case, the Councillors also told Counter Cut that their complaints to the Labour Party and Co-operative Party have been ‘ignored’.
Complaints have also been submitted to both local authorities to which Deakin is elected, Birmingham City Council and North Warwickshire Borough Council. They told Counter Cut that Council managers had acknowledged their complaints but ‘not progressed them’.
Expressing their disappointment in the outcomes of their complaints they said, a lack of “accountability undermines public confidence in local government and damages struggles against antisemitism and all forms of racism.”
They added, “We look forward to receiving any substantive response from Jack Deakin or his lawyer.”
Meanwhile, Conservative Councillors on Birmingham City Council last month asked the Leader of the Council why a standards investigation has not been commenced concerning further allegations relating to Deakin’s conduct. It has been widely reported that Deakin ‘pinched’ a light fixture from a local business in Birmingham: