Bradford West MP George Galloway has pulled out of a scheduled meeting with Bradford Chamber of Commerce after its president claimed the Westfield site occupation was damaging the city's reputation.

As reported in Saturday’s Telegraph & Argus, Chamber president Stephen Wright said while frustrations about the stalled development of the Broadway shopping centre were understandable, he believed the protest could do more harm than good.

Yesterday, Mr Galloway mounted a staunch defence of the occupation and criticised Mr Wright’s view.

He said: “I wholeheartedly support the occupation of the site as a way of drawing attention to the failure of this Council and the developers to even lay one brick there, and as a way of putting pressure on both of them either to start the development or get out of the way and allow others with fresh ideas to take over.'

Mr Galloway said he had been due to hold a meeting with the Chamber of Commerce on June 29.