An independent candidate for Ealing Central & Acton has spoken out against his exclusion from hustings events in the borough.

In the run up to the General Election, Jonathan Notley has been excluded from two hustings events in Ealing. He has also been successfully included in four.

The two events he was excluded from were organised by community group Ealing Transition and the University of West London.

The independent candidate is primarily focused on the rate of development in the leafy borough and says that he is running to ensure that "development occurs in a sustainable manner that respects existing communities".

He said: “I do not understand [why I've been excluded] and I’m not sure the Electoral Commission will either. I have paid my £500 deposit and I am a candidate like anyone else and I deserve a fair crack of the whip. I think it’s wrong, undemocratic and against freedom of speech.

“If this is not a hustings that is open to all candidates then it will have to be treated as a donation to the four candidates that are due to turn up.

“The only requirement is that the hustings be open to all candidates.

“They are discriminating against those candidates who are not members of political parties. The candidates list has been known since April 12 so there’s been adequate time to contact them all.”

The University of West London justified their decision at the time, saying: “The Sabbatical Officers of the University of West London Students’ Union have decided that the parties to be represented in the Question Time event will only include major parties - namely Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Greens - as including representatives from minor parties would be impractical.

“We apologise for any confusion, however UWLSU has not advertised this event as a hustings specifically for Ealing & Acton Central but rather a Question Time event for our students to engage in politics, with political representatives of the major parties who are also local to the university in attendance. We know that students and staff of UWL present at the event will live in a variety of constituencies.

“We have also used good practice guidelines from The Electoral Commission and the National Union of Students when taking the above decision and in line with this guidance we will be making the above rationale clear to all attendees at the beginning of the event on Tuesday evening.”

Ealing Transition said: “As part of our programme we organised a question time-style event focused on the theme of sustainability. Jonathan Notley sent us an email at 10.29pm, on the night before the event, asking to be included on the panel. As we had completed our arrangements and publicity for the event making clear the focus of the event and who was attending, we declined his request.”

At the beginning of the event, the group read out a statement saying: “There are nine candidates standing in this constituency. We have chosen to invite the five from the major national political parties: Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Labour, Green Party and UKIP.

"We have not invited the candidates from the Workers’ Revolutionary Party, the independent Candidate, The Above and Beyond Party candidate, or the European Party Candidate.

"We consider that the candidates we have invited represent views from across the political spectrum and that we have shown impartiality. We have invited as many candidates as our resources and time allow and hope for a wide ranging debate.”