YouTube pulls plug on Worthing council meeting

During a meeting of the full council on Tuesday evening (July 14), members were in the middle of a discussion about racism when the feed was cut.

The debate centred around a motion on notice from Paul High (Con, Heene) calling on the council to reaffirm its commitment to condemning racism.

Shortly before YouTube pulled the plug, Helen Silman (Lab, Heene) had asked for all mention of Prime Minister Boris Johnson to be removed from the motion, accusing him of making ‘racist comments’ in the past.

The motion included a quote from Mr Johnson, spoken in Parliament early in June, in which he said he understood ‘the anger and the grief’ felt by people all over the world when it came to racism.

Mrs Silman said: “His platitudes are easily spoken but do nothing to challenge the conditions that lead to racist violence against black, Asian and minority ethnic people in this country.”

She was supported by Margaret Howard (Lab, Broadwater), who spoke about the disproportionate number of black people subjected to stop and search by Sussex Police over the past year.

Moments later, the feed was cut.

Despite the timing, it is not yet known if this discussion was the reason YouTube stopped the recording from being broadcast.

A council spokesman said: “We are aware that there was an issue with YouTube during the Worthing Borough Council meeting last night.

“We are currently investigating the cause and aim to have the recording back online as soon as possible.”

The recording came back online at around 11am this morning.

The items that were not finished during the meeting are expected to be carried over to a later date.

A spokesman for YouTube said: “This video was auto caught and rejected by our system, however upon review we determined the video is non violative and have reinstated the content.”

As well as the racism discussion, which centred around a Motion on Notice from Paul High (Con, Heene) calling on the council to reaffirm its commitment to condemning racism, the meeting was also due to consider a Motion relating to Black Lives Matter.

Tabled by Henna Chowdhury (Lab, Gaisford), it asked the council to tackle bias, racism or discrimination; to write to the government to address the disproportionate impact of Covid-19 on black, Asian and minority ethnic people; and to continue working with Sussex Police to ensure policing in the county is proportionate and fair to all residents.

A council spokesman said an appropriate time to reschedule both items was being considered.

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