Stand up and be counted

Readers should be in no doubt this took a lot of guts: the people he is writing about are, to say, the least totally unethical and very often threatening and unpleasant, and Mr Zaid is in for a period of hassle. It’s important he knows he isn’t on his own and that many agree with him and support him and I am happy to be one of the many.

The sorting out of the local Labour Party is not for me but it has sunk to an all time low, with postal vote rigging high on its agenda, with many Labour people walking about calling themselves councillors and legally they are certainly not. There is a feeling of absolute control by one or two individuals, who you either obey or have a hassle-problem.

I was brought up as a young Tory councillor being guided by Socialists, such as John Helmn and Harry Hardacre, people I had immense respect for, even if we were on opposite sides and they would never have accepted the current situation and Labour members need to get some guts and get your party back.

Perhaps Mr Zaid’s courage may encourage other Asians who I know are totally fed up with the current situation in Brierfield and Nelson to come forward and tell the authorities what is exactly going on, for example, with the postal votes. We can and will arrange total anonymity for anyone who wishes to have this practice stopped. The perpetrators of course could be and in my view should be spending time at her Majesty’s pleasure, and this will help clean up our town’s image.

There is an old saying: “Evil will prosper while good men do nothing”. Mr Zaid has made a stand; let us not let him down. There are many more good men and women here than the other lot. Stand up and be counted.

Michael Sutcliff

Kibble Grove

Brierfield