over a leaked Whatsapp message about a former member. Former Labour councillor Madhuri Bedi (Foxborough) has lodged an official complaint against councillor Christine Hulme (Lab: Central) after she reportedly sent a Whatsapp message to other Labour members, saying it took Cllr Bedi ‘long enough’ to resign. Cllr Bedi, who will stand as an independent at the local election, resigned as a Labour member at a full council meeting on March 8 over the party’s proposal to increase council tax by 4.99 per cent and criticised the Labour-run council’s decisions. After her resignation, Cllr Hulme is said to have sent a message to the local Labour Party’s Whatsapp, saying: “finally Madhu Bedi has resigned as a Labour member. It took long enough.”
voted in favour to press the Government and urge them not to cut the £20-a-week uplift in Universal Credit. A motion brought forward by the deputy leader of the council, councillor Sabia Akram (Labour: Elliman), was passed to write to Prime Minister Boris Johnson and the Chancellor of the Exchequer Rishi Sunak demanding the £20 increase to Universal Credit is permanent. Cllr Akram said: “We often hear the Prime Minister saying he wants to ‘level up’ the UK – but when we judge the Government by its actions and not by its sound-bites, it’s hard to see with this regressive cut of £1,000 of welfare support to 8,125 Slough residents that he serious about it?”
will not be standing at this year’s election. Following some speculation, a spokesperson for Slough Labour told the Observer councillor Sunyia Sarfraz (Labour: Baylis and Stoke) will be standing down at May’s local election. They said she confirmed this before Christmas and will be leaving to focus on being a new parent. Cllr Sarfraz was on maternity leave for a few months last year and returned to her duties after November 2020. The spokesperson added they believe a new candidate will be selected in the coming weeks. Slough elections were meant to take place last May – but the Government decided to postpone all local elections in England until 2021 due to the coronavirus outbreak.