HARROW East candidates clashed last night, with Labour and Tories blaming each other for problems at Stanmore station.
The parliamentary hopefuls often fought to express the same views in stronger terms than their rivals, at a debate organised by the Stanmore Society.
All parties lamenting the poor wheelchair access at the London Underground stop, with Bob Blackman, the Conservative candidate, describing it as a “slalom course”.
He told an audience gathered at Stanmore College, in Elm Park, that the money should have been available for a lift but was taken away by Labour Mayor Ken Livingstone when he was in power.
Tony McNulty hit back, saying Harrow Council requested that money for the work be included in a contract signed between the developer behind Wembley Stadium and Brent Council.
He told the debate that Brent Council refused and pointed out Mr Blackman was sitting on the authority at the time.
Abhijit Pandya, of the UK Independence Party, said: “I'm going to give you a promise that I don't think anyone else here can give you.
“I'm going to go so far as to have one of those rare cases where an MP sues the GLA for breach of the Disability Discrimination Act.”
Lib Dem Nahid Boethe said: “People have been calling for this for years and years. Stanmore station has got 48 steps to get in and a quarter of a mile to walk and quite honestly when they spent millions of pounds on it I don't know why they didn't see that.”
On foreign policy Mr McNulty, Mr Blackman and Mr Pandya queued up to assert Israel's right to exist, with Mr Blackman taking the hardest line.
He also attacked the Lib Dem policy on nuclear disarmament labelling it “an answer phone message saying we 'surrender'”.
Ms Boethe said Israel and the Palestinians should sit down around the negotiating table and solve the issue through talks.
A 19-year-old student from King's College, who lives near Stanmore station, said: "We will go for Conservative, we think the Lib Dem let people down, she didn't have opinions on anything."
Karen Kannair, 47, a clairvoyant, of Harrow Weald, said: "I haven't decided yet, but probably I would go for Labour.
“Bob Blackman, his own Conservative Party try to disagree with him in Brent Council."
Comments: Our rules
We want our comments to be a lively and valuable part of our community - a place where readers can debate and engage with the most important local issues. The ability to comment on our stories is a privilege, not a right, however, and that privilege may be withdrawn if it is abused or misused.
Please report any comments that break our rules.
Read the rules hereLast Updated:
Report this comment Cancel