People's Question Time: Audience members shout out
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Sadiq Khan has been accused of dodging scrutiny after moving a question event for Londoners online.
The latest People's Question Time (PQT) took place last Thursday without an in-person audience.
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City Hall said it moved the event online due to safety concerns after the London Mayor was heckled at the last grilling session.
But London Assembly member Neil Garratt, who leads the City Hall Conservatives, claimed Kr Khan had "undermined democratic engagement just weeks before an election".
In a letter to the Labour politician, Mr Garratt said: "The ability of Londoners to hold their Mayor and members to account is a vital function of our democracy, particularly in an election year.
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"These events have taken place in person and across London boroughs for more than 20 years."
He pointed out that the Tories and three other parties in the London Assembly had urged Mr Khan to move the event from Richmond to City Hall where there is more stringent security.
Mr Garratt said: "We were disappointed that you decided to ignore this cross-party consensus and pursue a virtual meeting instead.
"It has since transpired, however, that the only formal complaint arising from the previous PQT event was as a result of one of your own team members being accused of swearing at a disabled member of the public.
"Aside from this fracas allegedly caused by your own team, there was not a compelling or rational case for moving the event online."
Mr Garratt went on to raise concerns about the requirement to register through a third-party platform which he said "may have deterred a significant number of Londoners from engaging with the meeting".
He said: "For those not aware of the requirement to pre-register, there was simply no way for them to engage and participate in this PQT session – the very reason these meetings exist.
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"The nature of this meeting taking place online allowed you to receive a lesser degree of scrutiny and clearly limited the ability of Londoners to hold you to account as Mayor."
Mr Garratt also criticised the format of the meeting which he said "resulted in Assembly Members who wished to raise issues finding themselves ‘timed out’ by other Members who insisted on speaking at length".
It comes after the previous event last November descended into chaos with Mr Khan heckled by rowdy audience members.
A spokesperson for the Greater London Authority said: “PQT is a key opportunity for Londoners to engage directly with the Mayor and London Assembly members to discuss the issues they care about.
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“Events over the last few weeks have starkly illustrated the security risks faced by politicians in the public eye across the country. The GLA has a responsibility ensure all those attending our events can do so safely.
“Behaviour at last November’s PQT meeting raised serious concerns and prevented some attending from putting their questions to the Mayor. It put the security of members of the public attending as well as those staffing the event at risk.
“The decision was therefore taken to host February’s PQT online, informed by security assessments. This allowed the event to go ahead safely so that Londoners could pose their questions to the Mayor and Assembly Members. Nearly 500 people attended the meeting online, far more than could have been accommodated at an in-person event.”
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