H&F Council in Guardian

Another national media article questioning our Council's accountability over the merger taking place between H&F and Westminster's education departments, and the Tory ideology that lies behind it. The paper asks -what would happen if local residents inconveniently voted Labour locally again?!

Westminster City Council might not welcome the parallel, but the charge of a democratic deficit, so familiar to Brussels, could soon be laid at the door of its education department. It is about to be merged with that of nearby Hammersmith and Fulham – not a geographical neighbour, but a close ideological cousin. Penny-pinching, as opposed to continental peace, is the name of the game. But as the European commission has found, when executive functions are pooled but popular sovereignty is not, questions of legitimacy soon raise their head. The two Tory majorities may have a shared agenda now. If Hammersmith went Labour, however, the children could suffer from a messy divorce.

Now read on.