World News - Deans to step down as Labour chair

divdiv class=story-body readability=63 span class=story-date#13; span class=date3 November 2013/span#13;span class=time-textLast updated at /spanspan class=time13:17 ET/span#13; #13;/span#13;#13; #13;#13;#13; #13; #13; #13; #13; p class=introduction id=story_continues_1Stephen Deans, the chair of Falkirk Labour Party, intends to stand down from his post, the BBC has learned./p#13; pIt is believed he will not stand for re-election when the post is contested at a party AGM on 24 November./p#13; pMeanwhile, his Labour Party colleagues claimed they were being ignored by those at the centre of the party./p#13; pLocal member Gray Allan called on the Labour Party to make public its investigation into alleged vote rigging in Falkirk./p#13; pThe Falkirk constituency party issued a statement after its first meeting since its chair, Mr Deans, resigned from the Grangemouth refinery./p#13; pHis employer, Ineos, had been looking into whether he had carried out union activities during work time./p#13; pThe meeting came amid fresh claims that the Unite union tried to thwart a Labour investigation into the alleged vote rigging./p#13; pEmails suggesting Unite engaged in forgery and coercion were a href=http://www.thesundaytimes.co.uk/sto/news/Politics/article1335739.ece title=Sunday Timesleaked to the Sunday Times/a./p#13; pThe newspaper said the emails included details of an internal Labour report into the Falkirk debacle./p#13; span class=cross-head'Tory plot'/span#13; pSpeaking after the Falkirk Constituency labour Party Meeting (CLP), Mr Allan called on the party to make the report public./p#13; pHe said: Of all the parties that have been involved in this matter since the beginning, the one voice that has not been heard is the voice of the rank and file Labour party members in this constituency./p#13; pWe've heard umpteen reports, allegations and suppositions as to what happened or did not happen./p#13; pHe said members were disappointed that no one from the National Executive Council of the Scottish Labour Party had attended their meeting./p#13; pHe added: We need matters to be addressed here in front of our members by someone from the centre./p#13; pWe need to put these matters to rest and we need to rebuild what is a damaged organisation./p#13; pEarlier, Unite general secretary Len McCluskey denied the claims of union interference into a Labour investigation./p#13; pHe also claimed emails were leaked to the Sunday Times as part of a Tory plot to discredit Ed Miliband./p#13; pMr McCluskey told the BBC's Sunday Politics the paper had nothing new. /p#13; pWe didn't thwart anything. The Labour Party report was deeply flawed, he told presenter Andrew Neil./p#13; span class=cross-head'Frustrate'/span#13; pUnite was accused of coercing its members to join the Falkirk Labour Party or signing them up without their knowledge, to ensure the union's favoured candidate, Karie Murphy, was selected as a general election candidate./p#13; pAn internal Labour Party investigation cleared Unite and its members of any wrongdoing after key witnesses withdrew their allegations./p#13; pThe Sunday Times said last week it had seen a cache of emails raising questions about whether Unite influenced the outcome of the inquiry./p#13; pIn fresh revelations published on Sunday, the newspaper said it has seen 1,000 emails to and from Stephen Deans, chairman of the Falkirk Labour Party, which it said revealed the full extent of the plot to influence the selection process./p#13; pIt also included extracts of the internal Labour report - which has never been published by the party - in which Labour officials said there were deliberate attempts to frustrate interviews with some of the key witnesses./p#13; pThe emails suggested that a letter retracting key evidence in the Labour investigation was not written by the witnesses but by union officials and approved by Mr Deans, according to the Sunday Times./p#13; span class=cross-head'Trap'/span#13; pIn an interview with The Sunday Politics show, Mr McCluskey conceded that Mr Deans had seen some of the retractions before they were made public, but said this was understandable as they had been written by members of Mr Deans' family./p#13; pThis is an ordinary decent family, who were suddenly faced with the full weight of the establishment - the police, a forensic solicitor. Of course they spoke to Stevie Deans./p#13; pBut he claimed the leaks to the Sunday Times were part of a wider plot to undermine Ed Miliband./p#13; !-- Embedding the video player --#13;!-- This is the embedded player component --#13;#13;#13; #13; #13;#13;#13;#13;!-- wwrights check --#13;!-- Empty country is used on test environment --#13;#13;#13;#13;div class=videoInStoryC readability=1#13; div id=emp-24797388-150053 class=emp#13; #13; #13; noscript#13; div class=warning readability=1#13; img class=holding src=http://news.bbcimg.co.uk/media/images/70879000/jpg/_70879525_70879524.jpg alt=Len McCluskey/pstrongPlease turn on JavaScript./strong Media requires JavaScript to play./p#13; /div#13; /noscript#13; #13; !-- embedding script --#13; #13; /div#13; !-- companion banner -- #13; #13; #13; #13; !-- END - companion banner --!-- caption --p class=captionLen McCluskey: They're laying traps for Ed Miliband and he should not fall in to those traps/p#13; !-- END - caption --#13; #13; #13;#13;/div#13;!-- end of the embedded player component --#13;#13;!-- Player embedded -- pThis is a trap being set by Tory Central Office, he told presenter Andrew Neil./p#13; pAnd Ed Miliband should not fall into those traps./p#13; pAsked if he denied that Unite officials had been involved in getting key witness evidence retracted from the inquiry, Mr McCluskey said: I deny it completely./p#13; pCommenting on the latest allegations, a Labour Party spokesman said: We've acted swiftly and thoroughly to uphold the integrity of the Labour Party throughout this matter and will continue to do so./p#13; pPolice in Scotland, who earlier this year dropped an investigation into the Falkirk allegations, are studying the leaked emails. /p#13; /div/divbrbrcentera href=http://www.wizardrss.comPowered By WizardRSS.com/a | a href=http://www.wizardrss.comFull Text RSS Feed/a | a href=http://www.amazon.com/RFID-Blocking-Cards-Identity-Protector/dp/B00CJHZLEWRFID/a | a href=http://www.wpzonbuilder.comAmazon Affiliate/a/center