Further turmoil In Sandwell as Labour suspends recently elected councillor
Sandwell's Labour group has been plunged deeper into turmoil after another councillor was suspended by the party.
Councillor Kirat Singh, who represents Wednesbury South, has been suspended by the Labour Party just two months after he was voted in at the borough's local council elections.
He was part of a new intake of candidates which Labour described as a "refreshed local team" who stood "ready to open a new and positive chapter for Sandwell".
The reasons for his suspension have not been made public.
It is the latest catastrophe to hit the struggling Labour group, which has been mired in controversy for years amid claims of corruption, bullying and racism.
Speaking in April ahead of the elections, Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said the "excellent, diverse group of candidates" proved that his party was "making changes" in Sandwell.
But Labour lost nine seats to the Conservatives and has stumbled from one disaster to another since, with a further seat turning blue last week when Emma Henlan won the Tividale by-election.
The council's chief executive David Stevens is set to depart, leaving the authority's top two officer posts vacant while six other positions are held on an interim basis.
Meanwhile the authority is the subject of an independent investigation into plans to award a £20 million school transport contract to firms run by a former employee who was named in the explosive 2016 Wragge report into council land deals.
The scandal forced recently elected council leader Councillor Rajbir Singh to defer the decision until internal and external investigations had been concluded.
Labour's ruling National Executive Committee previously launched a probe into the council's Labour group in an attempt to steady the ship.
It has resulted in a slew of suspensions and deselections amid claims from of national interference from elected members.
In May it emerged councillors would be given mentors to help them perform their duties properly.
One councillor told the Express & Star that the mentors "were either working from afar or don't exist, as we haven't seen them".
