Labour Councillors' law firm paid employee less than minimum wage

A law firm owned by two Labour councillors in Coventry has been taken to a tribunal for paying an employee just £2.97 per hour.

Deputy leader of Coventry City Council, Cllr Phil Townshend and fellow councillor, Abdul Khan, paid a litigation assistant just £20 a day for two years through their law firm, The Law Partnership Solicitors LLP. They agreed to pay him £4,000 following a preliminary hearing last year but Aaron Matthews claims they owe him £9,995 in unpaid wages.

Cllr Townshend's previous law firm, Townshends LLP, went into liquidation two years ago owing £339k to the taxman so he joined Khan's firm as a partner. One of the key pledges of his Labour administration is to tackle poverty caused by low wages.

Former Coventry Labour councillor defects to UKIP

A community volunteer and former Labour councillor in Coventry has defected to UKIP.

Harjinder Singh Sehmi was a councillor for Cheylesmore on Coventry City Council until he lost his seat in the local elections this year. He was attracted to UKIP because of our immigration policy and because the party stands up for everyone

I agree with UKIP over border control. If you have a three bedroom house you can’t have five or six guests because it’s too crowded – it is the same with the country. The Labour Party is only for Labour, the Conservatives are only for rich people but UKIP is for the whole of Britain.

Harjinder hopes to stand for election in future under the UKIP banner.

Picture: Coventry Telegraph

NEW UKIP BRANCH IN COVENTRY

Following on from the recent success for UKIP in the European elections, a number of UKIP activists in Coventry have been inspired to set up a branch in the city.

After a successful and well attended meeting in the Biggin Hall Hotel on Monday 3rd August 2009, the branch was successfully set up and local UKIP activists, Martin Judge and Aaron Davies were elected as the main branch officers. Martin is the new Coventry branch chairman and Aaron has become the joint treasurer and secretary. The next branch meeting has been set for Monday 21st September, once again in the Biggin Hall Hotel which is close to the city centre and is ideal for members to get to.

Martin Judge said "we already have a number of plans for the branch and are really looking forward to getting going". Aaron Davies, who is a new member of UKIP, said "we are hoping to make our first full meeting in September a joint planning meeting and a social gathering for the members to get to know each other".

West Midlands UKIP representatives, Jill Seymour and Derek Bennett were present to help with procedures, questions, and the new branch set up. Jill Seymour, who from September will be fully active in her new roll as a UKIP organiser in the area, was delighted with the progress made in Coventry which is in the part of the West Midlands she will be covering in her new roll for the party.

Derek Bennett, who assisted with the paperwork and had liaised with the local members was especially pleased with progress as the new branch has already got two fully approved Parliamentary candidates who are: Joanne Asselman and Mark Taylor (pictured).

He said: “Coventry has three Parliamentary constituencies and having two candidates ready and waiting gives a great boost to the new branch, the added bonus is both are high quality candidates and are a real asset to the party,”. all we need now is a third candidate for the final constituency to have full representation in Coventry”

The new branch has now been registered as an official UKIP branch and UKIP will be ready to fight a full campaign in the City when Gordon Brown finally has the guts to call the long overdue general election.