Harrow’s Conservatives said the borough’s mayor could be setting a “worrying precedent” by rejecting a proposed motion on the recent General Election result.

The opposition group put forward a motion to be discussed at Thursday’s (January 16) full council meeting, but it was dismissed by the Mayor of Harrow, Cllr Nitin Parekh.

It concerned last month’s General Election, which saw Boris Johnson secure a majority of 80 seats and the impending resignation of Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn.

However, the Conservative Group said it was rejected on the grounds that it was a national issue and was not specific to Harrow.

Cllr Marilyn Ashton, deputy leader of Harrow Conservatives, said: “The General Election result, and the choice of the successor to Mr Corbyn, absolutely affects the citizens of all parts of the UK, including Harrow.

“So according to the council’s constitution this is a qualification for acceptance of a motion to full council.

“The mayor has adopted an inappropriately political approach towards this. One accepts that he does not like this particular motion, but that should not be a reason to rule it out.”

She added previous council meetings have seen discussions on issues that do not directly involve the responsibilities of Harrow Council.

On Thursday, councillors are set to discuss a motion tabled by the borough’s Labour Group that concerns supporting residents on Universal Credit.

The rejected motion noted the outcome in Harrow, which saw Conservative MP Bob Blackman return an increased majority in the east of the borough and Labour MP Gareth Thomas re-elected in the west, albeit with a reduced majority.

According to the Conservatives, this represented a “round rejection of the Marxist ideology” associated with the previous Labour leadership.

They also wanted the council to recognise that, under Mr Corbyn’s leadership, Labour was under investigation for institutional racism.

The group said all forms of racism and anti-Semitism should be condemned by the council and that “extremist political ideologies have no place in a 21st century innovative society”.

According to Harrow’s constitution, motions can be declared invalid if they risk defamation, are frivolous or offensive, do not relate to the council or the borough, could disclose confidential information, or have been discussed at full council in the last six months.

The mayor was contacted to explain the reasoning behind his decision to reject this motion.