Today Nottinghamshire Live is calling on the Labour party to tell us - and the public - why a long-serving councillor has been thrown out of the party.
Hassan Ahmed was expelled from the Labour party last week, and people in his Radford ward will not be able to vote him in again, at least as a Labour representative, when local elections take place in just over a month's time.
The burning question is of course why Cllr Ahmed has been expelled, especially given his years of service at Nottingham City Council. But Labour won't tell us this and Cllr Ahmed himself says he is not ready to speak about the issue yet.
To have party infighting or selection disputes ahead of elections is far from unusual, as those following Nottinghamshire politics in recent months certainly know. The Nottingham Conservatives have been described as being "in a mess" after their group leader at the city council said he would not stand for the party in May over a reselection row.
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In Broxtowe, Labour has just selected the candidate it will be putting up to be the area's MP at the next general election. The confirmation came despite continued disquiet after one leading figure claimed he had been "blocked" from the process.
But the case of Cllr Hassan Ahmed most definitely is unusual. In May 2019, people in Radford voted not just for him to be one of their councillors, but for him to be one of their Labour Party councillors. He was first elected as a Labour candidate in the city during the 1980s.
Cllr Ahmed has been a taxpayer-funded member of Nottingham City Council ever since on the basis of that election. One would imagine that the decision to disregard that would not be one taken lightly, but the public currently have no way of judging the seriousness of this.
In terms of sharing the reason for Cllr Ahmed's expulsion, the onus is on the Labour Party's regional office here in the East Midlands. It is not something for Nottingham City Council itself to share, given that this is an entirely party-political matter and it does not affect Cllr Ahmed's position as a member of the authority.
The regional office has now been asked twice why Cllr Ahmed has been expelled from Labour. On both occasions, the party has said it is not something it would disclose.
The party says the matter is an internal, confidential one and that if Cllr Ahmed wants to share the reason for his expulsion, that is a decision that would rest entirely with him. Cllr Ahmed says that he will be issuing a comment on his expulsion in due course, but it is not yet clear whether he himself will choose to share the reasoning behind it.
If he decides not to, then it seems the public will be left with absolutely no answers on why a long-serving councillor in a key Labour city has been thrown out a month before the local elections. In an era in which transparency is quite rightly a value which the public are demanding more and more from their politicians and political parties, many will see this situation as unacceptable.
For now, Cllr Ahmed's expulsion from Labour means he will technically be serving as an independent member of Nottingham City Council until this year's elections take place. When the May 4 vote is held, Hassan Ahmed will not be able to stand as a Labour candidate, though he may take the decision to stand independently.
Whether he chooses to do so or not is a decision he will have to make relatively quickly. Candidates for the upcoming elections have until 4pm on Tuesday (April 4) to submit their nomination papers.
Even more concerningly then, people in Radford could have an independent candidate on their ballot paper who they will no doubt recognise as one of their incumbent councillors. But in choosing whether or not to put their cross next to Hassan Ahmed's name again, they will be without one vital piece of information - why has he been thrown out of the party which they chose to represent them last time?
Choosing whether or not to select candidates to fight at elections is one which has long been a choice solely for the party concerned and its members. But in throwing out one of their longest-serving Nottingham councillors, and not bothering to tell anyone why, Labour appears to be showing scant regard for transparency.
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