Independent Alliance MP says “taxpayers deserve answers” following dodgy local closure by Labour council

Following a highly controversial Labour decision last year, Independent Alliance MP Iqbal Mohamed is backing a local campaign that’s demanding answers. Labour-run Kirklees Council controversially chose to close Dewsbury’s sports centre permanently in 2024.

In one of England’s most deprived towns, this has had devastating consequences for children and people on low incomes. Campaigners now say there is “mounting anger at what many see as years of neglect and mismanagement” by the council. And at a public meeting on Sunday 20 July, Mohamed and others made their feelings about this completely clear.

Mohamed: “taxpayers deserve answers” from Kirklees Council

Dozens of local people turned up on Sunday despite heavy rain. Mohamed joined local campaigners Mike Forster and Surraya Patel on the panel. According to a press release, the panellists discussed:

the extent of political ambiguity and financial inconsistency surrounding the centre’s closure

Mohamed called some councillors’ claims “absurd and insulting”, while revealing that the Dewsbury Town Board had failed to back his request for “funding for an independent, intrusive structural survey” that could clarify “the true cost of reopening the facility”. He said:

Not a single Board member was willing to second my motion, meaning it couldn’t even be brought to a vote. That tells you everything you need to know about their commitment to this community

Mohamed has been pushing for action from parliament, and has “held a meeting with the Minister for Public Safety to formally request government funding for a detailed, independent survey”. He said he hadn’t yet received a reply, adding:

But make no mistake, I am pursuing every possible route to uncover the facts and secure a solution.

He also called out the council’s lack of financial clarity, saying:

The centre received 12 months of operational funding — yet it closed within six months…

Where has that money gone? Taxpayers deserve answers, not silence.

Like many other people around the country right now, Mohamed believes Labour’s shift far to the right makes the creation of a new left-wing alternative essential. And he supports the call for doing politics differently:

Real change is coming!

People before politics. https://t.co/KntvwRup3L

— Iqbal Mohamed MP (@iqbalmohamedMP) July 24, 2025

Challenging official disregard for local residents

No Labour councillors turned up to the meeting. The press statement called this “yet another sign of disregard for the town and its residents”. And campaigners are now:

actively exploring the launch of a formal public inquiry into Kirklees Council’s handling of the sports centre closure, decision-making processes, and broader funding disparities across the district.

Regarding the figures the council has been sharing, Patel insisted that:

The numbers have been changing without explanation… It’s either gross incompetence or deliberate obstruction.

And one resident stressed that it seems like:

It’s one rule for Dewsbury, and another for everywhere else

Liberal Democrat peer Baroness Kath Pinnock, meanwhile, backed calls for an alliance of Independent, Green and Lib Dem councillors “to oppose and potentially overthrow the Labour-led budget unless Dewsbury receives the investment and attention it deserves”. The larger town of Huddersfield has received “the lion’s share” of money from Kirklees Council, and she asserted that:

This kind of disproportionate behaviour doesn’t just need challenging — it demands a change in leadership.

Labour leader of the council Carole Pattison has previously said there’ll be a “major engagement exercise” with Dewsbury residents over the sports centre this summer. But if no concrete commitment comes of this, it seems increasingly likely that local people will use next year’s council elections to hold Labour councillors accountable for their neglect. In particular, the People’s Alliance for Change and Equality (PACE) is supporting both local campaigns and the building of a new left party nationally, and it’s already preparing for 2026.

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