Ken Livingstone has branded the nominations of five London Assembly members and four councillors to the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) as ‘completely unrepresentative’ and refused to approve their appointments.
The nominations by the London Assembly and London Councils of Brian Coleman AM (Con), Robert Blackman AM (Con), Roger Evans AM (Con), Geoff Pope AM (Lib), Mike Tuffrey AM (Lib), Cllr Colin Tandy (Con), Cllr Maurice Heaster (Con), Cllr Ed Butcher (Lib) and Cllr John Whelan (Con) have all been blocked after the Mayor attacked the nominators for failing to tackle the under representation of women and Black, Asian and ethnic minority Londoners on the authority.
Explaining his decision Mr Livingstone said “The nominations that have been made by groups within London Councils and the London Assembly are unrepresentative of London’s diverse communities.”
“I just do not believe that it is impossible to find more black and Asian people to serve on the fire authority, or that there are not more women who wish to participate.”
“It is unacceptable that when there are 1,861 councillors in London, of which 555 are women and 293 from Black, Asian and Ethnic Minority groups, all seven Conservative nominees to the fire authority are white and include only one woman, and all three Liberal Democrat nominees are white men.”
The Mayor has re-appointed Val Shawcross (Lab) as chair of the London Fire and Emergency Planning Authority (LFEPA) and Cllr Liaquat Ali (Lab), Peter Hulme Cross (One London), Cllr Betty Evans-Jacas (Lab), Cllr Rebekah Gilbert (Con), Darren Johnson AM (Green), Murad Qureshi AM (Lab) and Cllr Navin Shah (Lab) as members of the fire authority.
