• ARE you wondering what happened at this week’s Westminster full council meeting?

So are we. And we’re councillors!

To our surprise, the majority of councillors from both parties were barred from participating at this week’s meeting.

Disappointingly the council leadership hadn’t managed to find a room big enough for 60 people to meet in a socially-distanced manner.

And more than a year after lockdown started Westminster officials can’t even find a way to manage a full council meeting where some participants are present and others dial in. Many other councils have done this; it’s not hard.

Instead if you’re not one of the chosen few in the room you aren’t able to see what’s going on or intervene in any way. The same is true for members of the public.

Jackie Weaver wouldn’t have stood for this but apparently it’s good enough for the people of Westminster.

Excluding elected councillors and local residents from public meetings is bad for democracy and calls into question the Conservative leadership’s commitment to Westminster as a “City for All”.

CLLR GEOFF BARRACLOUGH
Labour, Maida Vale ward
CLLR RITA BEGUM
Labour, Maida Vale ward
CLLR LIZA BEGUM
Labour, Churchill ward
CLLR DAVID BOOTHROYD
Labour, Westbourne ward
CLLR RUTH BUSH
Labour, Harrow Road ward
CLLR MAGGIE CARMAN
Labour, Bayswater ward
CLLR AICHA LESS
Labour, Church Street ward
CLLR PANCHO LEWIS
Labour, West End ward
CLLR PAPYA QURESHI
Labour, Westbourne ward
CLLR SHAMIM TALUKDER
Labour, Churchill ward
CLLR HAMZA TAOUZZALE
Labour, Queen’s Park ward
CLLR AZIZ TOKI
Labour, Church Street ward