Merger plan displays a worrying contempt for democracy

Published: 5 November, 2010

• THE proposed merger of functions and services by the City of Westminster, Hammersmith & Fulham and Kensington & Chelsea councils is a threat to local democracy and accountability.  

If in the 2014 local elections one or more of the three councils changed political control would the newly-elected council be free to secede immediately from the new “super-council” in order to pursue the policies its electors had voted for? That the Conservative council leaders have not even touched on such questions suggests a deeply worrying contempt for democracy.  

While we support cross-borough working in some circumstances, and cutting back on council executives earning six-figure sums, the manner in which the announcement was sprung, without consultation with elected opposition councillors or the public, gives the lie to the claim that it is a pragmatic response to the cuts. 

We fear it is an ideologically motivated scheme that has little to do with its stated intention of protecting front-line services.  

PAUL DIMOLDENBERG
Labour minority leader, Westminster City Council
MARK BLACKBURN
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate, Westminster North 
ALASTAIR MILNE
Chair West Central London Green Party 
NAOMI SMITH
Lib Dem parliamentary candidate, Cities of London and Westminster