Watt v Ahsan

The case of Watt v Ahsan, heard in the House of Lords, involved Mr Raghib Ahsan, a former Labour Party councillor, who alleged racial discrimination by the party during the selection of candidates for the 1998 local government elections. The Labour Party argued that it was not subject to the provisions of the Race Relations Act 1976, which made it unlawful to discriminate in the terms of conferring authorisations or qualifications. The central issue before the court was whether the Labour Party qualified as a body that could confer such authorisations or qualifications, thereby falling under the jurisdiction of employment tribunals.

The House of Lords determined that the Labour Party did not qualify as a body conferring authorisations or qualifications within the meaning of the Act. Instead, the court found that the Labour Party's candidate selection process was based on popularity and electoral prospects rather than objective standards. Consequently, any racial discrimination in candidate selection should have been addressed under a different section of the Act, specifically section 25, which prohibits racial discrimination by associations.

Furthermore, the court ruled that a prior employment tribunal decision, which had determined that the Labour Party was a qualifying body, was binding on the parties due to the principle of issue estoppel. This meant that Mr Ahsan's complaints of racial discrimination and victimisation, as found by the tribunal, stood affirmed. The House of Lords reinstated the tribunal's decision, finding that the Labour Party had indeed discriminated against Mr Ahsan on racial grounds during the candidate selection process.