Your move: St Paul’s protesters issue their demands
By Ian Dunt Follow @IanDunt
Protesters camped outside St Paul's cathedral have issued a set of demands which could see them leave the area by the end of the week.
A document voted through on Monday night demands that the City of London Corporation open itself up to freedom of information requests, publish retrospective accounts back to 2008 and reveal its financial involvements.
Agreeing to the demands would be a historic move for the City of London, which functions as a secretive and somewhat anomalous local authority in which most of its electoral wards are controlled by private companies and financial institutions.
The arrangement is controversial, not least because so many of the institutions come from outside the UK, but successive British governments from 1945 onwards have failed to challenge its power.
Protest organisers are meeting the lord mayor to hand in their demands, which are surprisingly focused for such a disparate group mocked for their general aims and vague politics.
The document also calls for a commission, headed by the Archbishop of Canterbury and attended by representatives of the main Westminster parties, to look at reform of the corporation.
Among the moves suggested by demonstrators are an end to corporate votes in elections, the removal of secrecy practices and the decommissioning of the City of London police, with their officers being put under Met command.
The offices of lord mayor, sheriffs and aldermen would also be disbanded.
