A FORMER Respect Party councillor has joined Brad-ford Council’s Labour group.

Mohammad Shabbir (pictured), who repre-sents Heaton, has announced that he is joining Labour with immediate effect.

Mr Shabbir resigned en-masse with Faisal Khan (Bradford Moor), Alyas Karmani, (Little Horton), Ishtiaq Ahmed (Manningham) and Ruqayyah Collector (City) after a bitter row with Respect Party leader George Galloway in 2013 and formed the Bradford Independent Group, leaving the Council with no Respect councillors.

Mr Shabbir decided not to rejoin Respect when the other four councillors did last month.