Date set for formal hearing into three Luton councillors who breached Covid-19 guidelines

Labour councillors, Tahir Malik, who resigned as mayor, Waheed Akbar and Asif Masood, will face a local adjudication panel on Monday, October 12.

The trio issued an apology after social media coverage showed them attending a large gathering in the town, without any social distancing.

This triggered a huge number of complaints to the borough council, as well as local and national news headlines.

A petition calling for the three councillors to resign was also submitted to the council.

On Monday, October 12, the local adjudication panel - consisting of three councillors and three independent members - will meet at 10am to hear the evidence.

It has the power to impose a sanction of up to six months' suspension from the council.

Serious cases may be referred to a national case tribunal, which has the power to disqualify a councillor from any local authority for up to five years.

The adjudication panel, which is an offshoot of the council's standards committee, was due to meet last month but this had to be rearranged after a firm of solicitors representing one of the three councillors asked for a deferral.

In a statement, Luton Borough Council's chief executive Robin Porter said the public deserves to know the outcome of the in-depth investigation as soon as possible.