For this spring's London council elections, North London Citizens leaders held meetings with council leadership across Barnet, Brent and Camden Councils, pressing for real commitments on the issues that matter most to our communities.

Cllr Barry Rawlings meeting hosted by St Mary's Hendon, alongside Finchley Progressive Synagogue, Finchley Reform Synagogue, St Michael's Grammar School, The Finchley Charities, Chipping Barnet Foodbank and more.

Before the election, St Mary's Hendon hosted a meeting between leaders from our Barnet member organisations and Cllr Barry Rawlings, then leader of Barnet Council, and Cllr Peter Zinkin. Leaders raised the London Living Wage, the introduction of Living Hours to end the misuse of zero hour contracts, work experience placements for young people, and the quality of pavements.

Cllr Muhammed Butt and Cllr Jake Rubin meeting hosted by Al-Zahra & Al-Sadiq School, alongside the Living Wage Foundation

After the election, the conversations continued. Al-Zahra & Al-Sadiq School hosted a meeting with the leader of Brent Council, Cllr Muhammed Butt, and the Muslim World League hosted a meeting with the Deputy Leader of Camden Council, Cllr Patricia Callaghan. At both meetings, leaders from North London Citizens member organisations raised Living Wage and Living Hours accreditation, with the Camden meeting also covering improved ESOL provision & hate crime, and the Brent meeting raising practical local concerns, including the quality and upkeep of Salusbury Road in Queen's Park.

Cllr Patricia Callaghan meeting hosted by Muslim World League, alongside UCL, American International Church and Emmanuel Church West Hampstead.

Tamara Joseph, Finchley Progressive Synagogue, said: “This was such a valuable opportunity for relationship building in advance of the election with Cllr Barry Rawlings, leader of the council, and Cllr Peter Zinkin, leader of the Conservative group, and to tell them about our priorities. We got some useful commitments from them both. The pupils of St Michael’s Grammar School were particularly effective and impressive in making a compelling case for youth opportunities and holding the councillors to account to respond to them substantively. With the extraordinary result in Barnet – 31 Labour, 31 Conservative and 1 Green, it’s a knife-edge situation where every vote, every councillor, every relationship counts. So I’m really glad we started work before the election and have given ourselves a strong foundation to build on.”