A Harrow Council meeting descended into accusations of racism between Labour and the opposition during a heated debate on an anti-Muslim hate speaker "sharing a platform" with a local MP.

"Racists!" was shouted out by a councillor during the meeting, in which a Labour Party member demanded the Conservatives "get rid of" Bob Blackman MP .

A motion called on the Chief Executive and The Mayor of London to condemn the visit of Tapan Ghosh, who allegedly tried to justify the Myanmar ethnic cleansing of the Rohingya community.

Tapan Ghosh spoke at an event in the House of Commons called ‘Tolerating the Intolerant’, alongside the Conservative MP for Harrow East, Mr Blackman.

The motion was moved by Labour's Councillor Kiran Ramchandani, representing Queensbury.

She said on November 30: "I want to know why is one of our MPs creating division and promoting hatred?

"Why did he share a platform with someone who has praised the genocide of Rohingya Muslims and has called upon the UN to control the birth rate of Muslims?

"Why has the party opposite not condemned his actions?

"My constituents are horrified at the actions of their local MP.

"He doesn't care which members of the community he offends.

"I call on Bob Blackman to apologise to all residents for his actions."

Harrow Civic Centre in Station Road

Cllr Ghazanfar Ali, for Greenhill Labour, said it was "deeply disturbing" that the MP shared a platform with a hate speaker, "with Islamaphobic attacks on the rise."

He said: "We must fight extremism in all its forms. Bob Blackman wants to fight extremism with extremism.

"I've met many Muslims in the mosque and they are hurt by his actions. In the current climate we don't want Bob Blackman to create any more problems."

Bob Blackman MP speaking at the Kadwa Patidar Centre in Harrow Weald

But Conservative Marilyn Ashton, councillor for Stanmore Park, hit out at the motion and submitted an amendment - accusing Labour of "stirring things up".

She told the Labour Party members: "If you're going to sit in a glass house and throw stones, and ask us to disown an excellent MP, then I think you need to disown Jeremy Corbyn.

"Jeremy Corbyn is friends with Hamas and Hesbollah. What do they stand for?

"Bob Blackman doesn't know this person. Jeremy Cobryn has not done anything about antisemitism in the Labour Party. The report on it was a complete and utter whitewash.

"Bob Blackman has worked tirelessly to help Muslims - you should disown the leader of your party."

'If you are saying that there's going to be a problem'

But things heated up when Cllr Ramchandani demanded the Conservatives to "Get rid of your MP, which promotes racism."

Cllr Ashton snapped back by asking: "Is Cllr Ranchamdani putting on the record that Bob Blackman promotes racism?

"Are you actually saying that? Because if you are saying that there's going to be a problem."

During the motion vote, which was moved by 33 votes to 27, outbursts of members shouting "racists" could be heard before order was called.

In response to the motion, Bob Blackman said: "If the Labour Councillors and their allies in Harrow spent half as much time actually doing the job of delivering the effective service that residents deserve as they do on politically posturing, the number of people having to come to me for help would reduce dramatically."

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