Councillor apologises after livestreaming trip to toilet during Glasgow council meeting

A Glasgow councillor has apologised for his “mistake” after livestreaming his trip to the toilet during a meeting.

Bailie Hanif Raja, Labour, forgot to switch off his camera when he visited the bathroom while attending an online planning committee meeting on Tuesday.

The veteran Pollokshields representative said he has diabetes, which means he needs to go to the toilet more often.

Members of the committee, which was about to consider an application for a battery energy storage system, could see Bailie Raja as he sat on the toilet.

At that point, Bailie Elaine Gallagher, Greens, who had just taken over as chair of the meeting, said: “Before we start, Bailie Raja, are you aware that your camera is live?”

The camera was then turned off. Glasgow City Council has since removed the recording of the meeting from its website. A spokesman said the footage would be edited and then reuploaded.

Speaking to the Local Democracy Reporting Service on Wednesday, Bailie Raja said the incident happened “by mistake”.

“I do apologise,” he added. “It happened, the button was pressed and I didn’t notice.

“I’m diabetic. I need to go to the toilet every hour or so. I take a comfort break every time.

“You don’t sleep at night, you have got to wake up three or four times. That was the reason.”