A Birmingham Labour councillor has withdrawn from the leadership race just hours before the vote - blaming a 'glass ceiling' for ethnic minority candidates.

Selly Oak councillor Changese Khan wrote to colleagues announcing the shock decision which leaves just the current deputy leader Ian Ward and backbencher Barry Henley to battle it out for the council leadership.

He suggested it was too difficult for BME - black and minority ethnic - candidates to break through to the leadership positions.

Members of the 80 strong Birmingham Labour Group meet in private tonight to elect their leader, who will then take over as council leader in December.

The job is vacant following the resignation of Cllr John Clancy earlier this month over his handling of the bin strike.

Changese Khan

In an email to colleagues Cllr Khan, who was first elected in 2014, said: “Unfortunately, the very short notice and timetable set by the Labour Group has made it difficult to coordinate a campaign with constraints and obligations imposed by my work commitments. In addition, I have firmly been reminded of the BME glass ceiling and the consequences therein.

“It is for this reason I withdraw my nomination.”

In his email he gave support to the binmen and said the council should not be afraid to defend their jobs. He said the council had been ‘brought to its knees’ by the Conservative Government, the cuts and the threat of a take over by Government commissioners.

He called on colleagues to stop pushing through the cuts and dare the Government to take over.

“I am sometimes minded of the view that the Government should send in the commissioners; let them and the Government directly be accountable to the people of Birmingham for the cuts that they are making to our frontline services, which is detrimentally effecting the lives of the many,” he added.

Councillors Changese Khan, Ian Ward and Barry Henley

Cllr Khan, a solicitor, also highlighted the lack of BME candidates and representation at the very top levels of the city council - just two out of ten Labour cabinet members are of BME backgrounds and claimed a ‘glass ceiling’ made it difficult for them to secure the leader and deputy leader positions.

He wrote: "We now all live in a City, where demographically the BME community accounts for nearly fifty per cent of the population of Birmingham. However, neither the council or the elective membership is reflective of the changing population of Birmingham.

The Labour group must likewise appreciate and consider the changing face of Birmingham; and take immediate steps to make the executive more reflective of the communities that it is charged to serve and represent. It is insulting and unacceptable for the status quo to continue where the executive is successively made up of the same group of individuals, with a tokenistic quota for BME members.

Cllr Ian Ward is strong favourite to secure the leadership this evening.