Lib Dems suspend council candidate in Rochdale over George Galloway 'endorsement'

The Liberal Democrats have tonight suspended a council candidate in Rochdale after she was endorsed by the town's new MP George Galloway.

The recently elected Workers Party MP appeared in a video encouraging voters to back Lib Dem Rabina Asghar, 'to get Labour out of the town hall' in Rochdale.

In a statement on Saturday night, Ms Asghar said Mr Galloway 'came across our team who were out campaigning'. She confirmed she's currently administratively suspended, but said she was 'very confident' she would be cleared, adding: "At no point, have I endorsed another party or candidate."

Mr Galloway has previously spoken of forming a “grand alliance” to oppose Labour in Rochdale at the local elections on May 2, saying his former party had “abused their power for so very long”.

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But the Lib Dems, together with the Middleton Independents and one of George Galloway’s by-election rivals, David Tully, have declared they do not want to be associated with him despite a Worker’s party press release stating otherwise. Lib Dem group leader in Rochdale, councillor Andy Kelly, said in response to the alliance claim: "We have not entered into any sort of alliance with the Workers Party."

A spokesman for the Liberal Democrats said Ms Asghar had now been suspended by the party, adding: “We wholly reject the divisive politics of George Galloway and do not want any endorsement or connection to him.”

Ms Asghar, a translator for the NHS, has unsuccessfully contested the Spotland and Falinge ward for the Lib Dems in each of the last three local elections, each time coming within a few hundred votes of the Labour candidate.

A video