Three Luton councillors 'apologise unreservedly' after breaching lockdown rules at party

Mayor of Luton Cllr Tahir Malik, Cllr Waheed Akbar and Cllr Asif Mahmood attended a large gathering where social distancing was not being followed, and face masks were not worn.

Pictures of the event caused outrage after they were shared on Facebook.

On one image, Cllr Malik is seen with a face mask hanging beneath his face.

Luton has currently been earmarked as an "area for intervention" by the government after a spike in Covid-19 cases.

In a statement to the media, the three councillors stated: “We apologise unreservedly to the people of Luton for our breach of the lockdown rules.

“We attended what we believed was going to be a small socially distanced gathering, in line with the government guidelines.

"During the course of the event, the arrival of additional guests meant the rules were breached.

"We should have left immediately, and it is a matter of sincere regret for each of us that we did not do so.

“It is all of our responsibility to follow the guidelines. We are sorry that we did not live up to the standards that are rightly expected of us.”

A spokesman from the eastern branch of the Labour Party confirmed it was looking into the breach.

They stated: “It is essential that everybody follows social distancing measures in order to protect the public from Covid-19. It is even more important for those in positions of authority to be setting the right example.

“The Labour Party investigates all complaints received and where rules have been breached, action will be taken in line with the Labour Party’s processes.”

Luton Borough Council is understood to have been waiting on a decision from the Labour Party, before initiating any standards procedures of its own.

A LBC spokesman said: "The council has received complaints concerning the alleged conduct of three councillors. We take all such complaints extremely seriously and an investigation into their alleged behaviour will be started and a decision arrived at."

A mayor who broke Covid-19 lockdown rules to attend a party in a borough where there has been a spike in cases has failed to attend a meeting of the full council that he was due to chair.

Three Luton Labour councillors, including mayor Tahir Malik, have apologised for their behaviour.

Liberal Democrat leader, David Franks called for the trio to resign or be "kicked out" of the Labour party.

Labour council leader Hazel Simmons said there was an ongoing inquiry.

Luton was designated as an "area of intervention" last week by Public Health England (PHE) following a rise in cases.

Shortly afterwards, pictures emerged on social media showing Mr Malik, and councillors Asif Masood and Waheed Akbar attending a gathering in a garden.

The councillors have said they were "sorry that we did not live up to the standards that are rightly expected of us".

Media captionCoronvirus: Video shows Luton mayor breaking lockdown rules

Mr Malik was due to chair the full meeting of the council on Tuesday but sent his apologies for his absence, as did Mr Akhbar. Mr Masood appeared at the meeting via a Skype call.

Resignation call

At the meeting, Mr Franks asked Ms Simmons if she thought it was "outrageous that councillors put thousands in danger of getting Covid-19" by attending the party and that "most reasonable people see the councillors as arrogant, ignoring their own rules when it suits them".

Ms Simmons said she had previously released a statement saying: "Three councillors have apologised and there is an ongoing investigation into this."

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Image captionA testing site was set up at Downside Primary School in Luton after residents were urged to get screened

Mr Franks told the BBC the Labour Party needed to investigate the matter.

"What we've seen is a corporate apology, manufactured and delivered by the Labour Party press office. To count for anything an apology needs to sound and look as though they mean it," he said.

"If they've got any honour at all they'd resign and if they don't have that honour then the Labour Party should kick them out."

Ms Simmons also told the council that the authority has "had complaints so will be investigating this via The Standards Board, which is the normal process".