A Broken Democracy
He Who Controls The Asian Vote Controls The Town
For a number of years there have been concerns expressed amongst Oldham’s white working class communities that public assets were being under valued, sold or gifted to the Asian community. The suspicion has always been that through this exchange both Oldham Council and the white politicians that ran Oldham ensured the continuing loyalty of the block Asian vote. In return, this block vote helped keep them in power.
Though there are those that would like to suggest that the block Asian vote does not exist, the evidence clearly suggests otherwise. As recently as last week’s General Election, this block Asian vote was responsible for helping ensure that DEBBIE ABRAHAMS managed to cling on to her parliamentary seat.
In the weeks leading up to the election, I was not at all surprised to see DEBBIE ABRAHAMS eager to speak out over the injustice in Kashmir, whilst in comparison, remain virtually silent over the grooming and abuse of white working class girls closer to home in more familiar places like Sholver, Derker, Lees, Holts and Alt. DEBBIE ABRHAMS is a seasoned politician. I have no doubt that she knew where the election would be won and what she would need to do to win it.
The document below is what is known as a Parliamentary Verification Sheet. This level of breakdown is something that is not ordinarily seen by members of the public. In addition to providing the total number of votes that each candidate received, this table also breaks down the votes per candidate to 18 area of the town. Each table represents a different cluster of polling stations. Table 16 refers to votes gathered from the polling stations from the GLODWICK area of Oldham.
GLODWICK is a predominantly Pakistani Muslim neighbourhood of Oldham. One of the most disadvantaged areas in England, it is a densely populated neighbourhood where 5,608 votes were cast. Of these votes, 4,691 were for the Labour Party candidate DEBBIE ABRAHAMS. That’s right, as well as 84% of all votes in the area going to the Labour Party candidate, this one area also accounted for nearly 25% of the total Labour Party vote in OLDHAM EAST & SADDLEWORTH.
Even though TOM LORD, the Conservative candidate, won the count in 7 of the 9 OLDHAM EAST & SADDLEWORTH areas, as can be seen from the breakdown, this huge block vote from Glodwick clearly helped the Labour Party win the election.
Be under no doubt, not only is the Muslim block vote very real it is also very powerful. In a climate where the Labour Party have been losing seats in their working class heartlands, analysis of election results have shown that in areas where Labour clung on to power, they did so because of the Muslim block vote. The partnership between the two groups is well established and in spite of other demographic groups like the white working class and the Jewish community abandoning Labour, their arrangement with the Muslim block vote remains as strong as ever.
The sale of Glodwick Baths to the Ghazali Trust
The obvious question is what do the Muslims get in return for supporting the Labour Party? To help demonstrate one of the many ways in which they benefit, I think it is worthwhile revisiting the original concern regarding the disposal of public assets by the Council. Whilst there are numerous examples I could use (including the now notorious land deal that sold public land to Oldham Central Mosque below market value and on interest free terms for 18 years), for the purposes of this disclosure I will remain focused on GLODWICK. The neighbourhood where DEBBIE ABRAHAMS secured just shy of 25% of the total Labour Party vote in OLDHAM EAST & SADDLEWORTH.
It has taken several attempts at a Freedom of Information request to get out of Oldham Council enough details to put this piece together. Whilst the findings are alarming, I doubt that anyone will be really surprised. Here is what happened.
On 17th November 2015, Oldham Council in its wisdom decided to sell the former Glodwick Baths. With funding being moved to support the new central Leisure Centre, Oldham Community Leisure Ltd, who had previously run the baths, no longer had the means to keep this facility running.
The Council put the sale out to tender. They appeared to be in a rush to dispose of OUR assets and even though it was approaching Xmas, limited the window of sale to 4 weeks. The deadline was set as Friday 18th December
The portfolio holder who oversaw the sale was none other than the Cabinet Member for Economy & Enterprise, JIM McMAHON
On the 25th January 2016, Oldham Council met to review the bids. Disappointingly, they had received only 2 eligible bids. A third ineligible bid had been received after the deadline
The redacted minutes of the Council meeting include the following information
The recommendation is for the Council to accept the lowest offer. (they use the language ‘second highest offer’ in the minutes. When there are only 2 eligible bids I’m of the opinion that most people would use more simple terms like the ‘lower’ or ‘higher’ offer but hey this is Oldham Council)
The Council acknowledge that when agreeing to accept the lower offer, they are agreeing to an ‘undervalue’ of £52,000. The term undervalue is actually misleading as the variance is actually the difference between the 2 bids and not the variance between the valuation of the site and the bid. There doesn’t appear to be any reference to an independent valuation.
The Council accept the lower offer from an organisation called THE GHAZALI TRUST who bid £75,000. By the Council’s own figures, this offer is over 40% less than the higher offer of £127,000
Bizzarely, even though asked, the Council has so far failed to provide any details of any independent valuations carried out to determine the actual value of the site. Not really something I would do when selling my house but I suppose when it’s other people’s money it isn’t the same.
Within the minutes it is also disclosed that meetings had ALREADY taken place with the GHAZALI TRUST regarding a possible ’Community Asset Transfer. The GHAZALI TRUST had declined this.
Even though the GHAZALI TRUST refused to work with the Council on pursuing a ‘Community Asset Transfer’ the Council still decided to sell a site at a loss to them. The minutes record that the Council considered the GHAZALI TRUST use of the site was more aligned with the Council’s co-operative agenda
In deciding to sell to the GHAZALI TRUST, Oldham Council also turned down a separate approach from GLODWICK INFANTS SCHOOL. The school wanted the site to help with their Key Stage 2 provision.
From examining the minutes it is abundantly clear that independent of the tender exercise, separate discussions had already been taking place between the COUNCIL and the GHAZALI TRUST regarding Goldwick Baths.
In addition to meetings with them regarding a Community Asset Transfer, the Council had also consulted with St Mary’s Ward Councillors. Now whilst I am NOT in any way going to suggest that a 4 week tender was nothing more than a paper exercise, what I will state is that if I was the other bidder that bid £127,000, I would be speaking to my lawyers and be exploring legal action.
The sale of Glodwick Baths to the GHAZALI TRUST to many citizens of Oldham is a clear example of a community facility that was once accessed by all sections of Oldham’s communities now being handed over to an organisation with a very Muslim name, who’s Directors are all Muslim and who’s service users are nearly all of Pakistani Muslim heritage.
Now whilst this sale does absolutely nothing in helping build bridges between communities, as of yet this does not suggest any reciprocal arrangement had taken place. So far all we have is the Council involved in the closure of a swimming pool and selling the building at a discounted rate through a rushed process to a Muslim sounding organisation. But this is Oldham Council, and by now we all know that this is not where the story ends.
How bad does it need to get?
Unfortunately for OLDHAM COUNCIL, the timing of the sale of the baths beggars belief. Information forced from Oldham Council from a FOI request confirms the following
the sale of Glodwick Baths was completed on the 12th April 2016
Oldham Council had already entered purdah on the 23rd March 2016
Cllr Arooj Shah had already had discussions with the GHAZALI TRUST regarding Glodwick Baths. Publicly available minutes already show that she had declared a ‘prejudicial interest’ in any decisions to do with the sale.
Oldham Council’s rationale for selling the site to the GHAZALI TRUST at an ‘undervalued’ amount was also influenced by consultation with St Mary’s ward Councillors who clearly stated ‘The work the Ghazali Trust do in the local area would be greatly enhanced with this site and would have far reaching benefits for the community as a whole.’
If we are to believe Oldham Council’s rationale for selling the former Glodwick Baths at 40% less than the higher bid, then this is also an admission that the Council themselves accept that
the GHAZALI TRUST are well known in the local community
that their work is valued
they are influential and have wide reach.
Despite knowing all of this, for reasons only known to themselves, OLDHAM COUNCIL, with the support of JIM McMAHON decided to sell the site days before the local election. An election where AROOJ SHAH was desperately attempting to keep hold of her St Mary’s seat.
Why would the Council risk influencing the outcome of an election? They could have easily waited to complete on the sale until after the election. The date of the local elections had been known for a long time, it’s not something that was sprung on them. Why didn’t they wait?
As for the question, is this a breach of purdah. Whether intentional or otherwise, the discounted sale of a public asset, days before an election to a community organisation with influence in the local area, who also enjoy a ‘prejudicial’ relationship with the Councillor up for re-election, is in my opinion 100% a breach of purdah. I genuinely believe that the announcement of this sale in the lead up to the election would have influenced votes. I challenge anyone in the Council to even attempt to claim otherwise. From the outside looking in, this looks very much a matter that must be referred to the Electoral Commission.
Perhaps OLDHAM COUNCIL, Chief Executive, CAROLYN WILKINS will help put the minds of white working class citizens (and also those from minority groups like myself who are repulsed by the Council’s actions) at ease and agree to refer OLDHAM COUNCIL to the appropriate Regulatory Body. I am sure that if she decides to remain silent, waiting for SEAN FIELDING to come to her rescue and post another photograph of his underwear, this matter will be raised by multiple concerned citizens directly with the Electoral Commission.
In the same way I don’t expect JIM McMAHON to comment on the use of LEE RIGBY’s funeral to keep news of grooming gangs hidden from parents, I don’t expect him to comment on this either. It probably doesn’t matter anyway. He incriminates himself through his silence. I think that by now most of Oldham have worked out what has been going on. After all, the sale of Glodwick baths is only one of many public assets that Oldham Labour Party have disposed of to the Asian community under similar circumstances.
Knowing what we do now, is it any surprise that DEBBIE ABRAHAMS secured nearly 25% of her votes from just one of the 9 areas of OLDHAM EAST & SADDLEWORTH? Knowing what we do now, is it any surprise that both DEBBIE ABRAHAMS and JIM MCMAHON spent courting the Asian vote?
Welcome to Oldham, where democracy is very much broken, especially if you happen to be white working class or for that matter, from any minority background that is not associated with the block Muslim vote.
Raja Miah MBE