A councillor who was suspended from the Labour Party after attempting to join another party has had a complaint partially upheld against a website which covered her story.

Celia Hibbert complained to the Independent Press Standards Organisation that Birmingham Live breached Clauses 1 (Accuracy), 2 (Privacy), 3 (Harassment) and 12 (Discrimination) of the Editors’ Code in an article published last September.

It reported on a bid by Cllr Hibbert to join the Liberal Democrats and quoted a Labour official saying she will “never again sit as a councillor for the Labour Party.”

The story went on to say that she had previously been suspended “indefinitely” by Wolverhampton Labour Party over an alleged breach of party rules although this supension was later overturned by regional party bosses.

Although IPSO rejected the three complaints of breach of privacy, harassment and discrimination, it partially upheld the claim of inaccuracy.

This was because while the report had claimed that Cllr Hibbert had been suspended indefinitely by the Labour Party, she had in fact she had only been suspended for 12 months.

The website had amended the story to make clear the suspension was 12 months and published a correction.

IPSO was therefore satisfied that the breach had been remedied.

Its ruling stated: “The correction put the correct position on record and was a sufficient remedy for the breach of Clause 1 (i). No further action was required.”

The full ruling can be read here.