Auditors will question a former leading Labour councillor after he alleged his party had given out "favours" in return for election support.

Bradford Council's Tory group has asked external auditors KPMG to look into the remarks made by Shaukat Ahmed during a bombshell speech to trade unionists.

Mr Ahmed made a blistering attack on Bradford Labour Party leaders saying they thought they had "a God-given right to run the city".

Today KPMG partner Mike Dockray said: "It is likely I will write to him to see if he would like to give me some background details. I would be asking him what he means by 'favours'."

Mr Dockray said he would then decide whether it was necessary to take the matter further.

But leader of the Council's Tory group Councillor Margaret Eaton said she thought it might be a matter for the police.

Mr Ahmed - a business development manager with Leeds Council who lives at Allerton Road, Bradford - stressed he was giving his personal view after being asked by the TUC to give an opinion about why Labour votes were dropping in Bradford - Labour lost 11 seats in this month's local elections.

He claimed that ethnic minority community representatives delivered party support in return for "small favours, grants to their voluntary groups and jobs."

He told TUC members that the disillusioned supporters withdrew their support because there were no changes in the political fortunes of ordinary people.

Mr Ahmed said today: "It was a private document intended to provoke discussion and the Tories were also criticised. I made the speech in good faith. I was not apportioning blame and I will be happy to talk to the auditors. I will co-operate fully and allow them to investigate."

But Council leader Councillor Ian Greenwood hit back saying: "I do not accept that it is true, he should have brought it up at the time and approached the police and council officers. He was obliged legally and morally to do that."

The damning speech by the University ward councillor, who stepped down in May after eight years, went on to claim that the community " representatives who helped to deliver support were given special treatment while their misdemeanours were ignored.

"Even when they have broken the party rules we have ignored it because they were the gatekeepers," said Mr Ahmed.

Mr Ahmed was lead member dealing with the multi-million pound regeneration of Manningham and Girlington through the Government's Single Regereration Budget and founder and former chairman of Manningham Housing Association. He was chairman of the Manningham and Girlington Partnership Board.

He also rounded on former group colleagues accusing them of "complacency and arrogance" in believing they had "a God given right to run Bradford."

He said the Labour leaders did not take local public opinion seriously and any criticism of the group was "pooh-poohed".

Mr Ahmed said party bosses were "too busy with their computers" to go out and speak to ordinary people in the community and the Labour leadership had surrounded itself with a small "clique of cronies, boosting each others egos by mutual admiration."

But Coun Greenwood said people in Mr Ahmed's previous University Ward and the district electorate now had a right to ask him the question about why he had done nothing about the allegations.

He said: "The majority of my Labour colleagues spend a lot of time working in the community and it is an absolute disgrace for Shaukat Ahmed to impune the hard work of members of the Labour group. I do not accept the things he has said."

He added that it was "deplorable" for Mr Ahmed to make the allegations only three weeks after he had left the Council.

But Coun Eaton said: "The allegations about favours are extremely serious coming from someone so closely involved in local Labour party politics.

"It is also the first time that such allegations have been openly discussed. There may well be matters which will attract the interest of the police. At the very least the allegations should be looked at closely by the auditors."

The matter is being dealt with by the council and the regional Labour Party.

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