Rishi Madlani on his feet at last night’s hustings

A HUSTINGS debate over issues in Holborn, Covent Garden and Bloomsbury was a little one-sided last night (Monday) after only Labour candidates turned up to answer questions.

The Save Museum Street group said it had invited everybody on the ballot paper to the event inside St George’s Church in Bloomsbury ahead of next week’s council elections, but could only offer a panel of four candidates – all existing Labour councillors.

Postal ballots have already begun arriving, while polling stations are open on May 5 as residents decide who should run the Town Hall for the next five years.

A Liberal Democrat candidate for the Bloomsbury ward, Farrell Monk, sat in the audience and said he had come to “listen”.

“I’m very new to the area, I’ve lived here for two years,” he said. “I didn’t feel experienced enough to join the panel. I would just like to get to know the local issues and get to meet a lot of other people.”

The hustings host, Helena Roden, told the room: “We invited all the candidates that are on the ballot paper and we gave them plenty of time. I did hope that we would have all representatives from all the parties and we did try our best to do that. I did think at least one of the Conservative candidates would be coming but he’s had to go to Warwick for some work. He sent his apologies.”

Those who attended were Sue Vincent, Julian Fulbrook, Awale Olad and Rishi Madlani.

More to follow