The only Green party councillor in Barnet has hit out at Labour and Conservative counterparts for “undemocratic” attempts to exclude her.
The Green’s Charli Thompson represents Woodhouse ward in Barnet after being elected during the 7th May elections. Labour and the Conservatives both claimed 31 seats each while Thompson’s win was the only victory for another party, meaning she holds the swing vote if councillors vote among party lines.
But she has claimed that instead of using this opportunity to work together, the legacy parties have been excluding her.
She said: “They will all get whipped to vote a certain way.”
A Barnet Conservatives spokesperson said the whipping system is a clear part of serious political parties, and that the idea they are working with Labour to silence her is “as laughable as it is self-obsessed and ludicrous”.
The Tories claimed they have been hesitant to work with the Greens because of their stance on Israel and Sir Keir Starmer’s response to the police’s handling of the Golders Green attack.
According to Open Barnet’s 2021 census, 14.5% of its residents are Jewish, the highest of all London boroughs.
Thompson has been a campaigner for adult social care and disability advocacy because of her own disabilities of Chiari malformation, where the lower part of the brain pushes into the spinal canal which can cause headaches and movement problems, and intracranial hypertension, the build of pressure around the brain.
Her sister also has autism and lives in supported living.
She recalled when she wanted to join Barnet’s social care committee but was denied.
She said: “They basically just said that I don’t have any rights to be on a committee and they weren’t willing to relinquish any of their seats.
“To me, it’s undemocratic and not in the spirit of representing residents.”
More than 55,000 over-65s live in Barnet, so being barred from the committee not only felt like a disservice to herself but also to Green party voters, the elderly and disabled Barnet residents, she added.
Barnet Greens had a 16% vote share on election day and while they only have one councillor to represent them, they believe they should be given the opportunity to have their voices heard.
However, Thompson claimed Labour – who are now leading a minority administration in Barnet – and the Conservatives have been actively trying to restrict voters rights by removing deputations from full council.
Deputation is the name given to a group of five to 24 people that can go to their area’s full council to speak on a matter and give it more attention.
Barnet’s Annual Council meeting took place 12 days after the election where the proposal was heard.
If approved, residents may only report deputations to the Overview and Scrutiny Committee – a committee Thompson is not a part of.
This means that instead of residents bringing an issue to all 63 Barnet councillors’ attention, they would only speak to a maximum of 14.
Thompson said she was not consulted regarding this. She said that the report of what specific changes were going to be made to the constitution were not made public until the morning of the meeting.
She added: “As soon as I got eyes on it, I realised this was all about disempowering me and democracy.
“I think one of the reasons they did it is because they knew deputations involve voting in the full chamber, so that would’ve given me a huge amount of power.”
The Tory spokesperson said that deputations just didn’t work well in the old system as it felt fragmented and did not allow for meaningful conversations to take place with deputants.
As for not informing Thompson on time, they said they followed the law of proportionality and the Council constitution.
They added: “People make deputations to get something done not to grandstand and if we want to deliver for residents, we must create the best avenues for that to occur.”
Despite this, Thompson has joined a Labour councillor in hosting their monthly surgeries and said she was grateful at the prospect of working together.
Though she expressed concern that this partnership would not last in a wider context. She predicted that on most big decisions, Labour will come to an agreement with the Tories.
When asked how she attempts to break through this mono-party, Thompson was unsure.
She said: “I don’t know. Other than keep being a loud voice for residents, which I will do.
“Residents deserve to know the tactics that happen to avoid scrutiny.”
Thompson added she will push for democracy and transparency in her tenure as Barnet’s only Green councillor through scrutinising council procedures and policy.
The Conservative spokesperson said: “The world does not revolve around one councillor. If they want to have more of a voice or be on a committee then they should have won more seats – it’s that simple.”
Barnet Labour and Social Care Direct Barnet were contacted for comment.
Featured image credit: Charli Thompson
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