Labour Party suspends two branches in Manchester as probe launched into sudden rises in membership

Two Manchester Labour branches have been suspended by the national party while officials probe a sudden spike in membership. Crumpsall and Cheetham – the wards of council leader Sir Richard Leese and high-profile former Lord Mayor Afzal Khan – have been placed under investigation by party chiefs.

Two Manchester Labour branches have been suspended by the national party while officials probe a sudden spike in membership.

Crumpsall and Cheetham – the wards of council leader Sir Richard Leese and high-profile former Lord Mayor Afzal Khan – have been placed under investigation by party chiefs.

It follows a sudden surge in members that saw dozens join in a short period of time. The M.E.N. understands Labour are trying to establish whether a total of 150 memberships are genuine, or whether they were orchestrated by a third party.

Labour has strict rules against so-called ‘packing’, in which people without any real affiliation are signed up to try to influence the future selection of council and parliamentary candidates.

New members cannot be joined without their knowledge or through a false address. There are fears a gradual decline in party membership means a relatively small number of people can now skew selections in council wards.

One senior party source said: "If you want to become a councillor and join up 60 of your mates, the chances are you will be selected."

Around 30 people suddenly joined in Crumpsall and 120 in Cheetham. The normal figure over the same period would be around 10.

Each of the 150 new memberships is now being individually investigated.

No meetings can be held or votes taken by the branches while they are suspended. That means neither Crumpsall nor Cheetham could take part in a process to select a parliamentary candidate or party leader.

A Labour spokesman said: "The wards of Cheetham and Crumpsall have been suspended in order to allow an inquiry into members who have joined in the last six months. This follows concerns about unusual patterns of membership applications in these two wards.

"It is intended that these inquiries should be completed as soon as possible to allow the wards to return to normal activity at the earliest opportunity."

Our newspapers include the flagship Manchester Evening News - Britain's largest circulating
regional daily with up to 130,485 copies - as well as 20 local weekly titles across Greater
Manchester, Cheshire and Lancashire.

Free morning newspaper, The Metro, published every weekday, is also part of our portfolio,
delivering more than 200,000 readers in Greater Manchester.

Greater Manchester Business Week is the region’s number one provider of business news andfeatures, targeting a bespoke business audience with 12,687 copies every Thursday.

Every month, M.E.N. Media’s print products reach 2.2 million adults, spanning from Accrington
in the north to Macclesfield in the south.