Council - Wednesday 8 October 2025, 7:00pm - Tower Hamlets Council webcasts

Council
Wednesday, 8th October 2025 at 7:00pm 

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  1. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  2. Shupriya Iqbal
  3. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  4. Cllr Mufeedah Bustin
  5. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  6. Cllr Amina Ali
  7. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  8. Mr Stephen Halsey
  9. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  10. Mr Matthew Mannion
  11. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  12. Mr Matthew Mannion
  13. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  14. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  15. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  16. Mr Matthew Mannion
  17. Cllr Amina Ali
  18. Cllr Marc Francis
  19. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  20. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  21. Mr Matthew Mannion
  22. Mr Matthew Mannion
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  1. Mr Stephen Halsey
  2. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
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  1. Public Speaker
  2. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  3. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  4. Public Speaker
  5. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  6. Public Speaker
  7. Cllr Marc Francis
  8. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  9. Public Speaker
  10. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  11. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  12. Public Speaker
  13. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  14. Cllr Ohid Ahmed
  15. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  16. Cllr Ohid Ahmed
  17. Cllr Ohid Ahmed
  18. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  19. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  20. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  21. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  22. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  23. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  24. Cllr Sirajul Islam
  25. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  26. Shubo Hussain
  27. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  28. Cllr Saied Ahmed
  29. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  30. Cllr Rebaka Sultana
  31. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  32. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  33. Cllr Peter Golds
  34. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  35. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  36. Cllr Peter Golds
  37. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  38. Mayor Lutfur Rahman
  39. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  40. Mayor Lutfur Rahman
  41. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  42. Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled
  43. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  44. Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled
  45. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  46. Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled
  47. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  48. Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled
  49. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  50. Mr Matthew Mannion
  51. Abdi Mohamed
  52. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  53. Mr Matthew Mannion
  54. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  55. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  56. Mr Matthew Mannion
  57. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  58. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  59. Shupriya Iqbal
  60. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  61. Mr Matthew Mannion
  62. Mr Matthew Mannion
  63. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  64. Shupriya Iqbal
  65. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  66. Shupriya Iqbal
  67. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  68. Public Speaker
  69. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  70. Public Speaker
  71. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  72. Cllr Ahmodur Khan
  73. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  74. Cllr Ahmodur Khan
  75. Cllr Ahmodul Kabir
  76. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  77. Public Speaker
  78. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  79. Abdi Mohamed
  80. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  81. Public Speaker
  82. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  83. Cllr Iqbal Hossain
  84. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  85. Public Speaker
  86. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  87. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  88. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  89. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  90. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  91. Public Speaker
  92. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  93. Cllr Marc Francis
  94. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  95. Cllr Marc Francis
  96. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  97. Public Speaker
  98. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  99. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  100. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  101. Public Speaker
  102. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  103. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  104. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  105. Public Speaker
  106. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  107. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  108. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  109. Public Speaker
  110. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  111. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  112. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  113. Public Speaker
  114. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  115. Cllr Mohammad Chowdhury
  116. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  117. Public Speaker
  118. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  119. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  120. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  121. Public Speaker
  122. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  123. Cllr Ahmodur Khan
  124. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  125. Public Speaker
  126. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  127. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  128. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
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  1. Mayor Lutfur Rahman
  2. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  3. Cllr Sirajul Islam
  4. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  5. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  6. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  7. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
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  1. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
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  3. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  4. Cllr Saied Ahmed
  5. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  6. Cllr Mohammad Chowdhury
  7. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  8. Cllr Rebaka Sultana
  9. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  10. Cllr Abdul Wahid
  11. Cllr Musthak Ahmed
  12. Cllr Abdul Wahid
  13. Cllr Musthak Ahmed
  14. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  15. Cllr Abdul Wahid
  16. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  17. Cllr Ayas Miah
  18. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  19. Abdi Mohamed
  20. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  21. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  22. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  23. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  24. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  25. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  26. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  27. Cllr Iqbal Hossain
  28. Cllr Gulam Kibria Choudhury
  29. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  30. Cllr Maisha Begum
  31. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  32. Cllr Maisha Begum
  33. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  34. Cllr Ahmodur Khan
  35. Cllr Ahmodul Kabir
  36. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  37. Cllr Ahmodur Khan
  38. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  39. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  40. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  41. Mr Matthew Mannion
  42. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  43. Shupriya Iqbal
  44. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  45. Cllr Mufeedah Bustin
  46. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  47. Abdi Mohamed
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  1. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  2. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  3. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  4. Cllr Saied Ahmed
  5. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  6. Cllr Kabir Ahmed
  7. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  8. Cllr Asma Begum
  9. Cllr James King
  10. Cllr James King
  11. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  12. Cllr James King
  13. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  14. Cllr Peter Golds
  15. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  16. Cllr Nathalie Bienfait
  17. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  18. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  19. Cllr Sabina Akhtar
  20. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  21. Cllr Abu Chowdhury
  22. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  23. Cllr Asma Islam
  24. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  25. Cllr Asma Islam
  26. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  27. Cllr Bodrul Choudhury
  28. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  29. Cllr Mufeedah Bustin
  30. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  31. Mr Matthew Mannion
  32. Mr Matthew Mannion
  33. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  34. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  35. Mr Matthew Mannion
  36. Cllr Maium Talukdar
  37. Mr Matthew Mannion
  38. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
  39. Mr Matthew Mannion
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  1. Mr Matthew Mannion
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  1. Cllr Suluk Ahmed
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Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:00:35
Thank you.
.
and I'll be chairing the meeting today.
I'd like to thank everyone for attending,
including members of the public in the public gallery.
Before we start the meeting, I'd like to bring you up to date
with my activities as a speaker of the Council.
I have been to a variety of events since July and I have particularly enjoyed all the community
events taking place during the summer holidays.
In particular, at the end of July, I attended the Disabilities Post Day event at Mylan Stadium,
which was a fantastic event enjoyed by everyone taking part and supporting.
I was also invited to Community Fund Day for children and families with a range of activities
and an event celebrating summer holiday activities with certificates for children taking part.
I have continued to attend citizenship ceremonies in July and August welcoming new citizens
to Tower Hamlets.
In August and September, in addition to cultural events and celebrations, there were remembrance
gatherings including the Marchant Navy Day commemorative service at Tower Hill, which
which I attended as the speaker of Tau Hamles is one of the patrons of the event.
Finally, I joined the many thousands of people who enjoyed the return of Brickland Curry Festival,
meeting the straws holders and local businesses in the borough,
who along with the council pulled out all the stops to make it a wonderful day.
I look forward to keeping you informed of my activities at future meetings
and to work with you and being supported by you throughout my terms as a speaker.
Now, before we start, I must remind you that we have important rules to get through our
businesses.
If anyone shouts, anyone shouts out or otherwise disrupts the meeting, I will be forced to
adjourn and you may not be able to take any future part in the meeting.
I also remind all members and the public that if I stand, you must sit down and be quiet.
I will now ask the Monitoring Officer to set out our rules and expectations in more detail.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Shupriya Iqbal - 0:05:03
Full Council is one of the most important meetings and there is a lot on the agenda.
So to make sure we can manage our business appropriately, I would like to remind all
members and the public that you must show courtesy and respect to all speakers.
You must not shout out or otherwise disrupt the meeting.
If you disrupt the meeting, you may be removed.
I would remind all members to keep all contributions brief and relevant to the subject matter under
discussion.
To not stand or start to speak until you have been called, to speak through the speaker
and do not address comments to other members or the public gallery.
To not interrupt each other or make comments whilst other members are speaking and to be
respectful to each other at all times.
To not criticise officers during proceedings and most importantly if the Speaker, the Chief
Executive or I stand, all members must sit down and be quiet.
Although only used as a last resort, the Speaker may ask for removal of any member or visitor
should their behaviour become disruptive.
Also, if any member has a point of order to make, a reminder that you must start your
intervention by stating which point of the constitution or the law has been broken.
The Speaker will select members to speak on items from all sides of the Chamber and in
line with any submitted lists.
He will also look to those indicating during the meeting that most agenda items have strict
time limit. So not all those who request may be able to speak. The Speaker will also look
to vary the members we hear from, so he may not take requests in the order received.
Please also note that supplemental information has been published, including proposed amendments
to motions for debate and a new motion relating to one of the petitions.
I will now hand back to the speaker.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:07:17
Thank you, Supriya.
Please note that to speed up the meeting, I have also asked officers to take a larger
role than they have previously on admin items, procedure and on the voting process.
I will now ask the head of democratic services to take us through any possible...
Mr Speaker, with the permission, I was hoping maybe in your speech you might say, given the tragic events that we've seen in our country,
the recent attack on the synagogue and the loss of life, the attack on the mosque and the far right, extremism and the...
Sorry, did you write the point of order, sir?
Cllr Mufeedah Bustin - 0:08:05
The point of order is that I'm asking for the council to hold a minute silence for the thousands of children who have been also lost throughout the world.
especially the conflict in Gaza, in combining the issues of the synagogue, the mosque, the attack on the mosque,
and the children who sadly passed away in Gaza.
I'll call for a minute of silence.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:08:23
Thank you.
We will do it at the end of the meeting.
It is tradition to start with the minutes before the meeting concludes.
Cllr Amina Ali - 0:08:58
With respect I would ask you to reconsider.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:09:03
Can we do it under the speech if that clears up everything?
Sorry, Mr. Speaker.
I'm happy to confirm, Council, if that's okay.
I think there's just a bit of confusion at this end.
Mr Stephen Halsey - 0:09:28
From the Council's perspective, we respect the request and would suggest that if members agree,
we do that at the end of when the Speaker's just finished his speech now,
Not at the end of the meeting, that was just confusion on the dais.
I'll follow up, sir.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:09:44
Thank you for clarification, I have to speak.
OK, so it is getting end of the speech now,
but I'm just asking Matthew to invite the changes
to the procedure rules and starting with...
Sorry, Matthew, if you can clarify this.
Thank you, Mr Speaker. I'll stay seated if it's okay.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:10:13
There might be little notes I need to take as we go.
The Speaker has asked me to go through a couple of admin bits and procedure changes and also the admin items at the start of the agenda.
But actually we'll start with the request we've just had for a minute's silence because that is the end of your speech.
So, can I see whether members are happy to have a minute of silence?
Okay, all right.
I will time it.
Yes.
Okay.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:10:42
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:11:58
Okay, thank you, everyone.
So moving on, on the agenda we have two reports which have exempt appendices and which potentially
require us to move into exempt session.
Starting with the report on the exit payments, it would be useful for members to indicate
which they wish to discuss it, as if we do, I suggest we move these items to the end of
the agenda so we can clear the gallery and not then have to try and get people back in
again.
On the exit payments, do people wish to discuss that one?
I'll take that as a no.
On the Audit Committee one, do people wish to discuss that one?
No?
Okay, fine.
So we won't move into exempt session on those two items, so we'll take them in the order
that they come.
And then there was one other request I think that there was for a change to the order of
business as well.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:12:52
Thank you Matthew.
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 0:12:55
Mr. Speaker, under the procedural rule 12 .1 and I would like to suspend the procedural
rule 17, allow the petition item 5 .6 on genocide to be brought forward and due to amount of
business we have Mr. Speaker, to keep the total number of petition discussed to four.
So I would also propose that petition 5 .3 cricket pitches and 5 .1 be child poverty to
be deferred until the next meeting.
Also consider motion 12 .3 on Gaza with the Gaza petition in debate as it has exceeded
over 2 ,000 signatures.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:13:39
Can I see a seconder for that proposal?
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:13:41
Yeah, we've got a seconder.
Okay, so.
For clarity, there is a petition, the sixth petition on the agenda, it wasn't due to be
talked about today but members are requesting that it is.
We will take the vote on that specifically and then we will deal with the motions bit
of it afterwards.
So are people happy to move that procedure rule that we hear from that petition and that
we defer the petitions on child poverty and the cricket pitch to the next meeting.
Mr Speaker, sorry, I think residents have come here in good faith this evening expecting
Cllr Amina Ali - 0:14:27
to be allowed to present a petition and I don't see why they're no longer going to be
Cllr Marc Francis - 0:14:35
allowed to present their petition.
I think it's an abuse of people that have taken time and effort
to collect a petition and then to submit it and are
prepared to come this evening.
I don't see what excuse there is for deferring our petition.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:14:50
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 0:14:55
Mr Speaker, you have a proposal and a seconder.
Can I request you to move to a vote?
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:15:02
We will move to a vote on that proposal then.
So all those in favour of that change of the order of business?
All those against?
All those abstaining?
Okay, so that's carried.
Now, the petition has 2 ,000 signatures, so I'm taking it from the Live, Work and Study
in the borough, and that has been verified.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:15:27
I'm taking it from your request that you'd like the petition debate as part of that.
So there are two motions on the agenda that are linked to that topic, and groups have
the right to have their petitions heard as part of that debate.
So you've indicated that you would like the aspire one to be discussed as part of that.
Is that the same with the Labour group you would like yours discussed as well?
Members will need to propose and second those motions during that debate.
Okay, so that's that one.
So I think that is all of our procedure changes for tonight.
So we will carry on.
Although it is actually me for the first couple of bits.
So as you say, I'm doing the admin items.
So first one is apologies for absence.
And we've got apologies for absence from Councillor Amina Ali.
Is there any other apologies that anyone is aware of?
Councillor Sabina Khan.
And Councillor Sabina Khan.
Okay, thank you. I'm not aware of anyone online or anyone joining late either.

1 APOLOGIES FOR ABSENCE

2 DECLARATIONS OF DISCLOSABLE PECUNIARY INTERESTS AND OTHER INTERESTS

The next item is Agenda Item 2, declarations of disclosable pecuniary interest.
Would any member who has a disclosable pecuniary interest to declare on any item please indicate.
I will take that as a no.
So we will move on to agenda item 3, which is minutes of the previous meeting and the

3 MINUTES

draught unrestricted minutes of the last council meeting are presented.
We have had one note that we should have added Councillor Oudam at the attendance list.
We will correct that.
With that correction, are there any other amendments or is everyone happy with the minutes?
I will take that as agreed.
Thank you very much.
We now move on to agenda item 4 which is to receive announcements.
I hand over to the Chief Executive, Steve Halsey, to make some announcements.

4 TO RECEIVE ANNOUNCEMENTS (IF ANY) FROM THE SPEAKER OF THE COUNCIL OR THE CHIEF EXECUTIVE

Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Stephen Halsey - 0:17:21
A lot has happened since the last Council meeting on the 16th of July.
I want to take a few moments to reflect on a number of substantive issues.
Firstly I would like to refer to our best value and continuous improvement journey.
I previously updated Council on how we are reshaping our continuous improvement plan,
moving to a structure that is delivery focused and more accessible.
We put a great deal of effort into socialising and testing the plan over the past few months
to ensure that it is collectively owned and co -produced as we lay the foundations for
sustained improvement and embed a culture of transparency, accountability and collaboration.
Collaborative work has included a session with the Council's senior leadership team
focused on how directorates can support the continuous improvement plan and briefing sessions
with elected members focused on socialising the plan. At that session, time was taken
to consider how elected members would want the continuous improvement plan to evolve.
The plan is also being shared at a series of chief executive ratios for which over 1000
members of staff will be engaged. We also held a workshop with the Transformation Assurance
Board on the 22nd September to test and reflect on the next iteration of the plan. The new
meeting of the Transformation and Assurance Board in November will be asked to agree a
revised version.
The session on the 22nd of September focused on considering the views of local government
specialists, ministerial envoys and Transformation and Assurance Board lead representatives about
how the plan should prioritise a range of potential outcomes and objectives and how
the Council and its partners will measure the impact of the plan and the objectives
it comprises.
The workshop was particularly helpful and supportive of the journey that the council is on.
We also held two member workshops in September, led by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny, to co -design a framework for a new political culture.
In total, 27 of our 46 elected members directly contributed to one or both workshops, which were informal, interactive and, I hope, fun.
Members worked hard and late into the evening on both occasions to drive forward this incredibly
important element of the wider Continuous Improvement Plan.
The result of this work is a Members Pledge which will be based on listening and working
together, civility in political debate, resident first leadership, respect and inclusion, it
will be aspirational and future focused.
Going forward to help us on our continuous improvement journey, I invited Carolyn Down,
Steve Bullock and Jenny Rowlands to have an anchor day in the Town Hall every couple of
weeks. Their engagement with ministerial envoys, elected members and a range of staff will
be enhanced. In other news, I would like to thank those
members who have engaged over the last few days with the Local Government Association
peer review team that have been considering the Council's progress against the 18 recommendations
that resulted from our 2023 Corporate Peer Challenge, also administered by the LGA.
We await their formal feedback in the next couple of weeks and I will advise the Council
of that feedback at the next full Council meeting.
I'm also pleased to announce that the annual residence survey has been completed and I
have received the external consultant report.
It will be reported formally through all the appropriate committees, but I am pleased to
say that in almost every measure the council is performing better than the local authority
average.
Highlights include that 83 % of people are satisfied with town as a place to live.
The local government average is 74%.
90 % of people say that they get on well with one another.
The London average is 73%.
Of course the council will continue to aspire to deliver the best services possible to residents
and we will use the feedback from the survey to inform service priorities moving forward.
And to finish with, I would like to mention two campaigns that have promoted our community cohesion agenda so important during these times.
Our Love Tower Hamlets campaign included the Town Hall Open Day in September linked to the Open House London,
which was an opportunity to celebrate this fabulous building.
Around two and a half thousand people attended.
Open House London, the coordinating body, have confirmed today
that the event attracted the greatest number of visitors to any Open House venue in London.
On the same weekend we had the return of the Brick Lane Curry Festival
with over 22 ,000 people visiting our borough.
And finally, our free summer events programme between June and September
welcomed an incredible 50 ,000 visitors to over 800 events in our award -winning parks and open spaces.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:22:18
Thank you Steve. We now move to agenda item 5 is received to receive petitions.
Council has received six petitions altogether.
We have now four to be hired and one, is it four or five?
Just for clarification.
Four?
To be hired and one for noting only.
Nothing for noting.
For each petition, I will invite the person who is speaking to present their petition
and they will have up to three minutes to do this.
We will then move to four minutes for questions from members before finally hearing from cabinet
members for two minutes. The motion on genocide has 2 ,000 signatures so there will also be
a 15 minutes debate by councillors on that petition. I know that many of you in the public
I feel strongly about the issues raised, but I ask
that you do not disrupt the meeting.
No one except the petitions and members can speak
at the meeting tonight.
It is in everyone's interest that we can have good water
and move through the process in a calm and efficient way
so that the counsellors and petitioners can have their say.

5 TO RECEIVE PETITIONS

Agenda 5 .6, the first petition is on condemning the genocide. The petition has been brought
to the council for debate under the petition scheme as it contains over 2 ,000 signatures
from people who live, work and study in the borough.
I therefore call upon Faisal Ahmad, Abdullah Faliq and Amuddin
to present the petition on condemning the genocide.
Thank you.
I would just like to remind you that you have three minutes to present the petition.
Thank you.
Public Speaker - 0:25:26
Good evening and thank you Mr Speaker and respected councillors.
We stand here today because two years on the genocide is still ongoing and silence is no
longer an option.
Since October 2023, the people of Gaza have faced unimaginable horror, relentless bombing, siege and starvation.
Entire families have been wiped from the civil registry, hospitals have been destroyed, schools and refugee camps have been bombed.
A thousand -year -old churches and mosques have been reduced to rubble.
And according to the medical journal, The Lancet, more than 70 ,000 civilians have been killed, the vast majority of them women and children.
Save the Children reports over 20 ,000 children have been killed.
That's an entire generation of children who should have been learning, laughing and
dreaming of the futures.
Instead, they lie beneath the rubble.
The United Nations and leading human rights organisations have concluded what so many
of us already know, that Israel is committing genocide in Gaza.
Journalists have been killed in greater numbers than in both world wars combined.
Civilians are starved, displaced, and even targeted at aid distribution points.
And while this unfolds, the British government remains complicit.
Not only does this government refuse to acknowledge the genocide,
it supplies arms and F -16 parts, using attacks, criminalises peaceful protesters,
and rolls out the red carpet for wanted war criminals instead of arresting them.
A recent Channel 4 documentary revealed that in August alone this year,
Over 110 ,000 bullets were shipped to Israel.
But the people of Ta 'amlet refused to be silent.
Our borough has a proud history of standing up against injustice, from the black shirts
in Cable Street during the 30s to the National Front and the BNP in the 70s and 80s, and
more recently the EDL in the 2000s.
And today, we proudly stand with the people of Gaza.
This petition calls on Ta 'amler's Council
to turn words into action.
First, to issue a letter of condemnation
to the UK government, demanding an end to the arms sales,
imposing of sanctions against Israel,
and respect for international law.
Secondly, to establish a Gaza -Ta 'amler Friendship
Forum, a partnership between our Council, community,
and volunteer groups, NGOs and institutions, with their counterparts in Gaza, a forum to
acknowledge exchange, knowledge, culture and support, amplifying the Gazan voices here
and in Gaza.
And thirdly, to support a lasting memorial for the children killed in Gaza, right here
in Ta 'amlet, a memorial that will stand as a symbol of compassion, remembrance and unity,
ensuring their names and storeys are never forgotten.
This is not about politics, this is about humanity and doing what's right.
It is about saying loudly and clearly that the people of Tahemlitz reject the genocide,
reject our government's complicity and stand firmly on the side of justice.
I just want to finish by saying something.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:28:43
I just want to leave the audience with this famous saying, for evil to triumph, it is
enough for good men to do nothing.
So let us not be the ones who do nothing.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, petitioners, for bringing such an important statement.
I now...
Yeah.
Now we have four minutes for questions and answers.
Does any member wish to put a question to the petition?
This is not a debate but that will come later.
Please just ask a question.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 0:29:40
In a recent report the British government found no evidence of genocide in Gaza.
Yet today you've mentioned genocide several times.
Please explain why you believe a genocide has taken place.
Public Speaker - 0:29:56
So we disagree with the government's position.
There is a genocide happening in Gaza.
Not only us, but the following organisations have all declared it as a genocide.
So you've got the United Nations, the ICJ, Amnesty International, Oxfam, Human Rights Watch,
International Association of Genocide Scholars, Save the Children, even an Israeli human rights organisation, B 'Tselem, they've said it was a genocide.
So it's understandable why the UK government refuses to see what the rest of the world can see so clearly, because that would mean them admitting to having blood on their hands.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:30:39
Public Speaker - 0:30:44
Cllr Marc Francis - 0:31:00
I think it is a good idea to have a
of all days, two years after the massacre of 1 ,200 Israeli citizens, most of whom were
civilians as well.
Your petition doesn't even mention that fact as having precipitated this onslaught by the
Israeli government against the Palestinian people.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:31:26
Public Speaker - 0:31:27
So, questions like this only seek to divert attention away from the immediate and ongoing
kind of humanitarian crisis in Gaza and Palestine, where the people have endured suffering for
more than 75 years.
This conflict or whatever you call it, this genocide, didn't start on 7th October, it
started in 1948 and even before then.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:32:01
Can I cheque my monitor please?
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 0:32:07
Thank you for bringing the petition. I just wanted to understand how the Friendship Forum
will look like and who will lead it and what will you achieve from it.
Public Speaker - 0:32:19
Thank you. We imagine the Friendship Forum as a community -led initiative, bringing together
residents, after -hamblers, NGOs and voluntary sector to establish relationships with our
counterparts in Gaza. The aim of the forum would be to educate, promote and understanding
shared cultures and strengthen unity to help rebuilding of Gaza. Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:32:45
Yes, final question. Can I take Councillor Ojedaah with please? Thank you.
Thank you, thank you Mr Speaker. Yes, I agree with you. This is not about politics, it is
about humanity and I'm not sure how do I start but obviously this issue has been around for
I was told that this is an international issue,
it's nothing to do with this council,
Cllr Ohid Ahmed - 0:33:11
hence I couldn't actually bring my motion in this chamber.
Tonight I'm pleased that at least you were able to bring...
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:33:19
Can I have your question, Councillor?
What would you tell us as a councillor,
Cllr Ohid Ahmed - 0:33:25
how do we behave when we talk about Palestine and Gaza issues,
particularly in the region of Gaza?
Cllr Ohid Ahmed - 0:33:39
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:33:41
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
I think we have a lot of questions.
on why your motion or whatever wasn't heard before.
I mean, that's not going to do with us.
I think we just run out of time now.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:34:07
Yeah, just so we know this was a bit late.
Okay.
Thank you, Petitians, for your petitions.
You may go back to your seats now.
and there is now 15 minutes for members to debate the petition.
I understand we have a motion from both groups
and therefore call upon members to move and second the motion.
Councillor Saeed Ahmed, can you please move your motion as tabled?
You have three minutes.
Mr Speaker, I'm doing it.
Thank you.
It's okay.
Sorry, Saeed.
My name is doing it.
My name is doing it.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 0:35:16
I rise today not just as a Councillor, but as a father, a son, and a member of a borough that knows what it means to stand against injustice.
What's happening in Gaza is not a conflict, it's a genocide.
Over 70 ,000 civilians killed, 20 ,000 children, entire families wiped out, hospitals flattened,
aid convoys bombed, and the world watches in silence.
Tower Hamlets today does not stay silent.
Our borough has always stood on the right side of history,
from the cable street to Al Tabali Park.
Sorry, Al Tabali.
And today we stand with Gaza.
Aspire supports this and demand within it.
We back the letter of condemnation, we back the Gaza Tower Hamlets Forum,
and we back a lasting memorial for the children whose lives...
Mr Speaker, let me also speak to the opposition's motion on Palestinian recognition.
Recognition matters, but not when it's used as a political shield.
Labour's motion is a cynical attempt to rewrite their record.
Mr Speaker, Keir Starmer said Israel had the right to cut off food, water and electricity.
David Lamy dismissed UK arms to sail as helmets and goggles.
They refused to call it a genocide.
They refused to act.
Now with thousands of children dead, they want to foster but our residency through it.
So do we.
Aspire stood with Gaza from day one.
We mobilised solidarity, we backed actions, not slogans, and we will continue to do so.
Let me say this clearly, Mr. Speaker.
We condemn the recent anti -Semitic attack in Manchester and attack in the mosque.
Hate against Jews is just as veiled as hate against Muslims.
Our power stands united against genocide, against anti -Semitism, and against Islamophobia, and against every form of hate.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:38:02
Thank you, ladies.
Can I ask please, can I, any seconder?
Mr Speaker, I formally second and reserve my right to speak.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 0:38:20
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:38:23
Okay.
Councillor Sirajul Islam, can you please move your motion?
You have three minutes.
Thank you, Alain.
Cllr Sirajul Islam - 0:38:42
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker, and Islamically, peace and blessings to you all.
We are gathered here this evening, two years and one day since the 7 October attack, in
in which Hamas killed 1 ,200 people, including 36 children,
and took 251 hostages in an assault in southern Israel.
Today, there remains 20 Israeli hostages
believed to be alive in Gaza.
Murdered on 7 October, Israeli Jews and Arab seasonal workers
from Thailand and others from across the globe.
Jewish communities here in the UK waited for confirmation
as to whether the loved ones were alive.
Mr. Speaker, no person should have to go through that.
to the footage broadcast and then the painful agonising
wait of finding out what the loved ones made
through the violence on that day.
But since that day, Gaza has been subjected
to a campaign devastation that has shocked the world.
More than 65 ,000 Palestinians have been killed
by the IDF, including around 20 ,000 children.
Hospital schools and refugee camps have been struck.
famine has taken hold and almost the entire
population has been displaced.
These are not accidents of war.
their predictable consequences of military strategy,
ways without restraint or care for human life.
The recent findings of the United Commission on Inquiry
are clear.
There is credible evidence that genocide has been carried out
by the State of Israel against the Palestinian people of Gaza.
These findings cannot be ignored.
The UK's decision to recognise the State of Palestine
is a historic welcome step.
It acknowledges what should have been accepted long ago,
That peace and justice for Israelis and Palestinians is impossible while one people live under
the occupation and siege of another.
Our government must now act with courage and principle.
It must use its voice and its leverage to stop this horrific war, to impose consequences
for the continued assault on Gaza, to oppose the legal expansion of the settlements such
as the E1 project.
Business as usual, the government committing such acts is not compatible with our values
or obligations under international law.
Mr Speaker, the motion before council tonight welcomes
the overdue recognition, but it also calls for unity
and tolerance for hate and division.
When there is war in the Middle East,
it reverberates across the globe.
We must not turn against each other or our neighbours.
It's exactly what the extremists want.
In Ta Al Hamlet, we stand as we always have,
for human rights, for peace, and for justice.
This motion is a message from our borough that the world must not look away and the recognition must follow with action. Thank you
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:41:22
Thank you, thank you
Can I know just ask the seconder is to this?
councilman Schubert
Shubo Hussain - 0:41:38
The second in here. Thank you. Mr. Speaker. I would like to
I would like to thank Council Islam and the petitioners for bringing in this petition
to the Council today.
The government's decision to recognise the State of Palestine is a welcome and a historic
step.
It is a recognition that Palestinian people have always had a right to self -determination,
a right that has been denied for generations.
The decision offers a glimmer of hope to millions who have endured occupation, blockade, and
in denial of the most basic human rights.
But hope alone is not stopping the killing.
Since October the 7th, more than 70 ,000 Palestinians
have been killed, including 20 ,000 children.
Entire families have been wiped out.
Hospitals, schools, and refugee camps
have been reduced to rubble.
Numerous charities, experts, and UN bodies, and the UN body
have found credible evidence that genocide is being carried out by Israel in Gaza.
We in the UK cannot look away.
Recognition must be followed by the use of every diplomatic and economic lever to stop
this genocide, to protect civilians and to hold those responsible to account.
We must enact a full arms embargo on Israel, as we have done countless times on other countries
when states like Israel's government continues to commit this genocide.
Here in Ta 'amuz we have seen the pain and passion of our residents.
Many have taken to the streets peacefully to call for an end to the killing.
Muslims and Jewish communities who I speak to regularly all want the same thing.
Peace, justice, dignity for every human being.
This motion sends a message from our bara that will not stay silent in the face of atrocity
and that we stand for humanity and international law,
and that we will always challenge hate in all forms.
Mr Speaker, I second this motion with pride.
Recognition is a beginning.
Now the killing must stop and the justice must follow.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:43:50
Thank you, Councillor Shabu -Sain.
Does any other members now wish to speak
on the motion submitted by Councillor Mayim Talib Dar or by Councillor Shiraadul Islam.
I'll look to call as many members as I can in the time available from the list of speakers.
All speeches are limited to three minutes.
I'll ask members to keep their contribution brief and remind you that this is a debate
between members and not an opportunity to ask further questions to the petitioners.
So please be mindful.
I can now call upon Said, Councillor Said please.
Thank you, thank you Mr Speaker.
Cllr Saied Ahmed - 0:45:07
The people of Tower Hamlets and the world have seen enough on our TV screens and mobile
phones.
We are tired of empty gestures and words from world leaders.
We're not prepared to accept anything less than an immediate end to the genocide, an
end to ethnic cleansing and oppression of the Palestinian people and an end to the UK's
complicity in human rights violations.
If my labour peers agree with what we are saying today and
what they bring forward, I ask them to resign from the parties
and stand with the people, resign from the parties that is
complicit, the government is complicit in human rights
violations in Palestine.
I have been deeply moved by how communities in Tarah Hamlets have
expressed support for the people of Palestine.
Thanks to the petitioners for bringing this forward today.
Residents here are clear that they expect their representatives in this chamber to act.
It is an honour for me to support this administration motion and to reaffirm the administration's
commitment to support the people of Palestine and respect their rights to self -determination
and freedom from oppression.
While I welcome the government's finally come to a forced agreement of accepting Palestinian
statehood. It means little while they remain complicit in Israel's genocide in Gaza.
No, it is not enough for the Labour Party to simply recognise the state of Palestine
while it denies the genocide of Palestinian people and ignores the advice of experts in
genocide scholars, Human Rights Watch and even the United Nations. Israel is the only
country in the world that is allowed to illegally operate in an apartheid state, to openly commit
war crimes and to abduct and kidnap foreign citizens without any threat of consequence.
It must be remembered how in the early months of the genocide, Labour ministers went on
TV and told us that Israel had the right to withdraw power, food, water from the Palestinian
civilians. This cannot continue and must be called up. The UK have acknowledged that Palestine
exists, but it does so at the point at which 90 percent of all homes in Gaza have been
destroyed. West Bank is under constant siege, 70 ,000 people have been killed and survivors
now face famine and starvation in this modern day and age. What state will there be to recognise?
And our government continues to support Israel in carrying out its destruction of Gaza and
children are very precious. We protect and care for children. But in Gaza, 20 ,000 innocent
children killed in 23 months according to Save the Children. Also, it estimates that
21 ,000 children have been left permanently disabled. While a state recognition is welcome,
it is far, far too late. This motion resolves that the council urges the government to immediately
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:48:06
We are making the effort to divest from all those areas.
Thank you.
Please be quiet.
I call upon Rebecca Sultana.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Rebaka Sultana - 0:48:32
I have said it before and I will say it again.
My commitment to a free Palestine began long before I was elected as a counsellor in 2022.
Since being elected, I have used my platform to speak out and to share the truth about the ongoing genocide.
Every single day, we see images that break our hearts and families wiped out in moments.
Enough is enough.
It is now powerful that today we can finally speak about this openly in this chamber, without fear and with unity.
Just over a decade ago, councillors from Tarham let's visited Palestine as a delegation and our community has never forgotten that act of solidarity.
Our residents voted us in, our residents spoke up and their voices must always be heard.
Let me be clear, innocent lives should never be taken, no matter who they are.
Nothing can justify the ongoing genocide and killing of innocent women and children.
What we are witnessing is self -defencing.
I have said it from the start and I will say it again without fear.
This is genocide.
I am grateful that the government has finally recognised the state of Palestine.
A long overdue step but recognition must be followed by the reelection to stop the bombing
and the blockade and hold those responsible to account.
This is the community that made me who I am and I will always give back by standing up
for justice, for peace and for a free place time.
Thank you so much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:50:24
Can I ask Peter Gold, please?
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 0:50:32
Over the loss of any life, any human life, is a tragedy.
Cllr Peter Golds - 0:50:39
But while we are meeting today, there are people holed up trying to seek a solution,
trying to a get the hostages out and be stop the bombing if we had if we have
time for a motion wouldn't it be a good idea to say that Tower Hamlets send it
to the American ambassador and say that the Council of Tower Hamlets supports
peace proposals to ensure that one Israel stops bombing and two that
Amash withdraws the hostages. We must understand that. This is a terrible situation. Look,
everybody knows I'm Jewish. I'm pretty observant and I believe in Judaism and the Jewish people
and I know enough about that to know that Jews have 4 ,000 years of history in that I'm
I'm Jewish. I'm also very sympathetic to Muslims and I'm sure you have your views.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:51:50
But Jews have 4 ,000 years to ask for history in that part of the world.
Can I just interrupt? Can you just stop from the public? Are you interrupting? Please.
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 0:52:00
May I? The scourge of anti -Semitism is a deadly, deadly business.
Cllr Peter Golds - 0:52:05
Jews were thrown out by the Babylonians.
They were dispersed by the Romans.
They faced the Ottomans, the Christians of all types, the Christians of all types, Roman
Catholic, Protestants and the Orthodox.
Jews want to live quietly and personally and practise the religion that we do.
We don't proselytise, we don't expect anybody else.
I have one thing to say about Tower Hamlets.
We're in no place for hate week.
There are eight national grounds for no place for hate.
Homophobia, antisemitism, ageism, sexism, Islamophobia and disability.
Why has Tower Hamlets removed antisemitism and replaced it by transphobia?
Does antisemitism have no place in the London borough of Tower Hamlets?
And anybody who wishes to understand that, go on the website and look.
It's on the National Hate Crime Awareness Week 2025.
Tower Hamlets must and should stand against antisemitism and Jew hatred.
Thank you. Thank you Peter.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:53:22
I'm very conscious of time here.
I just have one more.
I can take just Mr. Mayo wants to say something.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman - 0:53:39
I was going to speak later on in my speech
about the issues of Gaza, but I must speak now.
What happened on the 7th of October is wrong,
But the cynical attempt to conflate what happened on 7th October to the genocide what is going
on now is equally wrong, equally cynical.
Let me say this, let me say this ladies and gentlemen, the Labour, I didn't want to say
this but I must say this, they had two years to bring a motion, six months before election,
motion on Palestine, recognition of Palestine. Palestine doesn't need to be recognised by
us the British. Palestine is a state in any event. Occupation started 70, 80 years ago,
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:54:33
ladies and gentlemen. It didn't happen now. The double standard of us the British and
Mayor Lutfur Rahman - 0:54:38
the West. When it comes to Ukraine, when it comes to Russia, the boycott, the sanctions,
Even football has been boycotted. When it comes to Israel, no boycott. We vote again,
again in the Security Council, either we abstain or we vote with the Americans and with Israel.
The double standard of the British Foreign Minister and the Prime Minister and the Labour
Party must stop. Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:55:09
Thank you. Thank you.
Please do not disturb the meeting.
We just, you know, if you want to show up, it will be very quick and that's it.
Thank you.
Mr Speaker, you're not being fair.
Mr Speaker, you're not being fair.
Sorry, I've just run out of time.
I think we just...
Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled - 0:55:35
Mr Speaker, you're not being fair.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:55:36
and you have given opportunity to aspire to Labour and the Conservative bar.
You have forgotten...
Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled - 0:55:44
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:55:45
Thank you, thank you. Please, please, please, can I just ask...
Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled - 0:55:52
Members, members, members, please, can you sit down, please?
Members, can you please sit down?
Members, please sit down. Please, can you conduct the council meeting in an ordinary way?
Please listen to the speaker. Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:56:05
Thank you very much.
Now I will ask the head of the democratic service to conduct the votes, please.
Sorry, Mr Speaker.
You did not respond to my request.
Cllr Saif Uddin Khaled - 0:56:18
Well, I don't think the Aspire councillors are the speaker.
The speaker, I want a response from the speaker.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:56:29
.
Thank you.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:56:45
What is the procedural rule?
There is no procedural rule.
The Council is a duty of care to its
counsellors
Abdi Mohamed - 0:56:52
and the amount of abuse
we have gone through is unacceptable
for the monitoring
.
The chief executive
is not doing anything
to protect us.
I have gone through so much abuse
because of a motion I'm presenting for the past couple of days to see my colleagues go through hissing and jeering and amount of abuse they've just seen.
Can we have some control of this meeting?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:57:16
Was that a point of order?
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:57:24
Okay, we've got votes on two motions.
Can you please be quiet please, thank you very much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:57:31
Sorry, Mr Speaker, I reserved my right to speak.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 0:57:34
I understand from the Speaker that we're moving to the vote.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:57:36
So there are two motions.
There is one from the Aspire group, one from the Labour group.
If they're both passed, we'll look at what we do then, but we'll take votes on them individually
first and see where we get to.
So first up was the motion from the Aspire group.
Can I see all those in favour?
Point of order.
Sorry, just...
Sorry, Mr Speaker.
I just I don't want to obviously just sorry
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:58:03
Can I just clarify
Can I just clarify what rules have been broken
You have been, you are not fair
Mr Speaker you are not fair
You have independent Councillors here
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:58:20
Councillors, please sit down
Councillors, please sit down
Councillors, please sit down
Please, can I ask you to please sit down?
Shupriya Iqbal - 0:58:31
Members, if you say you are raising a point of order, then the first thing you must do
is say which part of the constitution or the law has been breached.
Otherwise it's not a point of order.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:58:45
Can I ask Mr Chu to please carry on with you?
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:58:51
Well, while there was that brief interruption, I was asked to just double cheque to see whether
the groups would be happy to merge their motions.
I'm taking that as that's contended.
We will go back to the vote.
So we had a vote.
We saw those in favour of the aspire motion.
I see those against.
Those abstaining.
Okay.
Thank you very much.
And then for the labour motion, those in favour of the labour motion.
Thank you very much.
Those against?
And those abstaining?
Okay, so the aspire motion was carried and the labour motion fell.
Thank you very much, Mr Speaker.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 0:59:36
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 0:59:43
I'm just going to move to agenda 5 .1, petition on...
Thank you.
Moving to the petition 5 .1 on failure of the housing system.
Now moving to the next petition to be presented.
I asked Terry McDonagh to present the petition on the failure of the housing system.
You have three minutes to present your petition. Thank you.
Can we all leave quietly please so we don't disrupt the meeting. Thank you.
Members need to take a seat so Terry can have a seat.
Can I ask everyone please if you are leaving, you may leave or if you are here, please sit down and just be quiet. Thank you.
Shupriya Iqbal - 1:01:30
Members, please can I ask you all to be seated so we can hear from the petitioner who is
here.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:01:36
Shupriya Iqbal - 1:01:38
Members, members, please do be seated.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:01:40
Can we please all sit down and be quiet so he can present his petition?
Thank you.
All right.
Let's go.
Public Speaker - 1:02:05
This is a petition to highlight the failures of Tarhamlet's housing system.
I begin.
Last November I presented a petition to Tarhamlet's council about the provision of social housing
or more accurately the lack of provision.
Whether it was just a coincidence, but a week later the Chief Executive at a meeting of
the Overview and Scrutiny Committee announced that Tarhamlet was referring itself to the
housing. Torghamet's council, in preparation for the inspection, sent a 25 -page folder
to the regulator, setting out the context in which the housing services it provides
operates. The results of its findings were published in April. It stated that our judgement
that there are serious failings in how Torghamet's delivered its services and that significant
improvement is needed. Based on their findings, the inspectors gave
tarhamlets a C3 grade. Grade C4 is a failure. Yet the minutes of the Housing Subcommittee
in September stated by a housing officer gave details on the positive outcome from their
inspection. Although tarhamlets are misrepresented, it's the findings publicly, it is reluctantly
accepted its failures and has set up a new housing committee under the
Mayor to help improve service to tenants. It is a pity that the derisory
two -day inspection by the Regulator of Social Housing was limited mainly to
safety matters as there are serious failings in its provision in other areas.
The serious failings in other areas include the lack of transparency and accountability,
as well as a weakness on the reliance on its website.
In particular, it stated, information about complaints provided online is difficult to access and are contradictory.
Also, it is noted that there is no provision for studio homes which are ideal for single
people in Tarnham, as there is no slated policy provision for studio flats despite the London
Plan Policy H10 and the Local Plan Policy SH1 -2, specifically stating that all developments
must contribute towards mixed and balanced communities. I submitted a request to the
Monitoring Officer in April for a ruling, but I have received no reply. Perhaps she
and her staff were too busy writing warning letters to me.
Legally, the Equalities Act requires local authorities to fulfil its functions in a way
to advance the equality of opportunity.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:05:16
Thank you. Your time is over now.
Sorry, you let the previous petitioner continue on.
Thank you.
Tarhamlet's failure has broken the Equalities Act in my case and also for the thousands of other people.
He quoted Tar Hamlets as recognising that overcrowding is its biggest housing issue
but only if they have a large family.
The same criterion doesn't apply to other people.
Tar Hamlets has presided over a blinkered and partisan housing system which discriminates
against the majority of other people in the housing waiting list, particularly the growing
number of single people living in the borough.
Thank you.
And despite the fires,
Your points are not official.
Public Speaker - 1:06:09
State fire and Shadwell.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:06:10
Thank you, thank you.
Okay, now we, there are now four minutes for questions.
Does any member wish to put their questions,
please, please note your question first
without giving any statement or anything.
We'll go straight to the question
so we can accommodate more members in.
Thank you.
Okay.
Take Farouk.
Councillor Farouk, please.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you, petitioner.
Cllr Ahmodur Khan - 1:06:47
The petitioner is a keen observer of Tarham's social housing.
Petitioner, can you please let us know how long this issue has been persist.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:07:02
Cllr Ahmodur Khan - 1:07:06
Okay, the petitioner is a keen observer of Torghammer's social housing.
Can you please let us know how long these issues have been persist?
Thank you.
How long should it work?
It should have been ongoing.
Ongoing?
How long this?
Yes, it is.
Cllr Ahmodul Kabir - 1:07:33
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:07:34
Public Speaker - 1:07:36
I'm sorry I didn't understand what you're saying, but thank you for your question.
It's a very good question.
If you go back and look at the planning applications, which I do in the Strategic Development Committee,
you see the provision for five bedrooms, plenty.
You see the provision for four bedrooms? Plenty.
You see the provision for three bedrooms? Plenty.
You see the provision for one bedroom? Maybe not so much.
You see the provision for studio flats? Nothing.
And then it's been going on for a long time.
And then you, we have the largest growing young population.
You provide them with free lunches, you provide them with money, grants for their uniforms.
What happens when they leave school, when they want to leave the home?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:08:28
You don't give any permission at all. You don't even acknowledge them.
Thank you, thank you. Can I ask Councillor Abdi Mohamed for your comments please?
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Any questions?
I'm just thanking the petitioner. Thank you for bringing the petition.
Abdi Mohamed - 1:08:43
Can I ask, is your experience very similar to other residents' experiences?
I wonder if you can speak a bit more about some of the other petitioners
and the experiences that they've had with their housing system.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:08:54
Public Speaker - 1:09:00
Just me! The facts speak for themselves.
We have a growing young population and we're doing nothing to provide homes for them.
We're just like nowhere else.
And if you, all of you, if you expect them to vote for you next year, forget it.
Because you're doing nothing for them, so why should they do anything for you?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:09:24
Thank you. Thank you, Thierry. Can I just move to the final question from Iqbal Hussain, please. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Thank you.
Cllr Iqbal Hossain - 1:09:34
The question is,
what are the issues listed in the social housing judgement?
This has been updated since.
Has the petitioner seen the changes?
Have I seen any changes by this administration?
None of the website corrected.
The website has been updated.
Have you seen the changes in the website?
I have not seen any changes.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:10:05
Public Speaker - 1:10:06
I must admit I haven't actually, but you mean, sir, it's not for me to monitor them.
It's for the council to monitor their own performance.
And as I said, the regulator of social housing said that they are contradictory and different
So that needs improvement. So, send that to me. I'm pointing it out.
And I expect you, as a council, to do something about it.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:10:45
Thank you very much. Thank you.
Thank you. Thank you, Terry. Thank you, Mr. Nagar.
Thank you very much. You now can move to your seat. Thank you.
Now to conclude this item, does Councillor Kobiwa Ahmed,
Committee Member for Regeneration, Inclusive Development and House Bill,
wish to address the meeting in response to the petition?
You have two minutes. Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 1:11:19
And Terry, thank you for your... Where's Terry gone?
Terry, thank you for your petition.
So, in relation to the housing regulator grading, which was C3, the majority of London authorities
who have been inspected are getting C3 gradings.
There's a few who've got better than us.
The reasons behind it is years of underinvestment within stock and stock depletion, as you know.
So a lot of the housing estates we have in Tower Hamlets,
a lot of them have passed their sell -by date,
so we're doing a lot of retrofitting
in order to tackle the challenges we have
around dampened mould and so on and so forth.
There is an improvement programme in place
that we're working with the housing regulator,
and if we achieve the targets that we've set,
we should be hitting a C1 rating, hopefully.
We've set up in relation to transparency and accountability.
Terry, I know you're a part of the Tenants' Voice, which is the subcommittee for residents in relation to housing management.
We've also set up a housing management subcommittee which sits every month.
All the papers are published so there is clear transparency from complaints to repairs all the data is on there
And all the KPIs that were monitored in relation to the housing regulator
So let me assure you that transparency is there and you can have live site of those
Datasets that also goes to the housing regulator as well
lastly
You and I will have to
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:13:05
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 1:13:06
on what overcrowding or how overcrowding is defined.
I know in previous conversations with yourself,
you've said you live in a one bedroom
and you are overcrowded as a single person.
I will have to unfortunately disagree with that.
Where, thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:13:20
Thank you.
Thank you, Kansalakabian Ahmed.
Thank you very much.
That concludes the item.
The petition stands to refer to the corporate director for housing and regeneration for
a regional response within 28 days.
That concludes the item.
Thank you very much.
Now we move to Agenda Item 5 .2, Petition on Community Safety Risks.
For the next petition, I ask
Mandana Bostani and Carl Forden to present the petition
regarding the community safety risk ongoing reckless driving on Roman Road.
You have three minutes to present your petition.
Thank you very much.
Public Speaker - 1:14:19
I'm Mondana and I've lived in Bow for over 20 years.
This is the first time I've ever done something like this.
I'm not political and I'm certainly not anti -car in any way.
I started this petition after picking up my two young kids from school at 4pm and witnessing
again the crazy driving of overtaking, ignoring zebra crossings and speeding down Roman Road
that I witnessed consistently and how unsafe it made me feel for myself, my children and
my elderly mother that often collects my children.
Once I shared my petition, it soon became apparent
that it was an issue for many in the community
and many shared tales of frustration and storeys
of near misses they had seen or were involved in,
hence I met Cal, a neighbour who joined to help me.
Roman Road, especially the stretch from Grove Road
up to the market is a hub for the community,
but also feels a very dangerous stretch of road.
A significant minority are not respecting the 20mph speed limit and taking advantage
of the perfectly straight and flat nature of the road.
In addition, often drivers use it as a cut through from the A12 and do not adjust their
speeds accordingly.
As a reminder of the fact, if you are hit by a car at 20mph you have a chance of fatality
at 10%, at 30mph 40 % and at 40mph you have a huge fatality percentage of 85%.
We know and welcome the Tower Hamlets Road Safety Plan that targets zero road fatalities
and serious injuries by 2041, but that is 16 years away, so want to press for sensible
proportionate and reasonable measures to be put into place urgently.
We do not want these to come as a result of a death or a serious injury.
To reiterate, I am just a local resident raising safety concerns for myself and over a thousand
other people who signed my petition.
I'm no traffic enforcement expert but from the limited research I've carried out, those
sensible, proportional and reasonable measures could save lives.
Examples could be repeater signs every 100 metres.
The stretch of road in question has none, nor any traffic calming measures.
Driving at 20mph requires conscious behaviour to acquire a new habit.
Unexpected reminders and cues could help.
Speed measures are on neighbouring main roads that all carry busses and emergency vehicles,
yet Roman Road has none.
Vehicle activated signs which help to remind drivers of their speed are another option.
Positive messaging rather than fear have been proven to be successful,
e .g. a little bit slower, a whole lot better.
Has the Council ever considered the national scheme of Community Speed Watch, where members
of communities with the support of local police record then fine speeding vehicles?
Would the Council join us for a day to visit first hand what we are seeing daily?
Or could you involve local schools, creating banners for lampposts to help provide those
queues needed to remind drivers to adhere to the limit?
I've also read about a kids court where drivers that are caught speeding either have the choice
to pay a fine or go to a local school to face the children in a court, which apparently
resonates well with the speeding drivers.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:17:28
Your time is up.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
Thank you.
There are now four minutes for questions and as usual I would ask does any member wish
to put their question to petitioners, not making a statement or comments.
I start with Mark Francis please.
Thank you very much Mr Speaker and thank you and welcome to the Council Chamber.
Cllr Marc Francis - 1:17:59
Thank you so much for collecting this petition, a petition that many people I guess have wanted
to see happen but haven't had the initiative, taken the initiative so thank you.
Councillor Abdi Mohamed and I and Councillor Amina Ali have raised similar issues in our
ward as well as on Roman Road.
I wanted to ask two questions. First of all, are you aware that the current Mayor, Lut
Ferraman, and his team removed all the traffic calming measures when they were elected after
2022, including the traffic calming measures that were specifically designed for Bow and
Roman Road? And secondly, are you aware that the day after your petition was published
in the Slice online magazine, the council and the police sent a speed gun team down
there to do the measuring which was really welcome except for the fact that
they did it at 5 p .m. when everyone was just quilting along the road.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:18:51
Cllr Marc Francis - 1:18:54
Is she able to tell us how many times she's seen a speed gun operation happening since that day?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:18:59
Public Speaker - 1:19:01
Sorry I'm aware of both of those items and actually I heard that the traffic
that day was back -to -back so that actually the speed guns had no benefit at all.
This is something that happens regularly.
So me and my children actually went out petitioning at weekends when we could, and I underestimated really.
I was quite naive when I started this petition. I could have got a lot more signatures if I had six, if I didn't work,
if I wasn't a full -time worker and a full -time mum.
But everyone I think I spoke to had witnessed it, was annoyed with it, was frustrated with it.
I could literally count on one hand the people that hadn't witnessed it.
It is a consistent and dangerous issue and we all have the right to be able to walk on
a pavement on a residential street and not feel scared.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:19:54
Thank you, Commissioner.
Can I ask Sabina, please, your question.
Thank you, Speaker.
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:20:04
Thank you to the petitioners for coming in today with such an important issue for the
Council.
I don't know if you are aware, but policing speeds
falls on the metropolitan police.
Have you reached out to the police?
If so, what was the response?
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:20:19
No, I haven't reached out to the police.
Public Speaker - 1:20:21
I've been looking at more community solutions that
could help, because I'm conscious about money
constraints or time constraints, and also knowing
that you had removed the plans that had been put in place.
So I was looking at more kind of community -based solutions that might help.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:20:44
Can I ask Councillor Natale please your question please.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
Thank you for the petitioners.
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 1:20:53
Could you just tell me what your reaction was and your feeling was when someone was actually killed on Roman Road because of a speeding vehicle very recently?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:21:01
Public Speaker - 1:21:05
I mean I just think it kind of has confirmed a lot of people. Everyone doesn't feel like it's not going to happen. They just felt it was a matter of time before it happened.
And the fact that it happened during the petition just kind of proves our point even more so.
It is dangerous. Cars are not respecting the 20 mile an hour limit and it's well known that 20 miles an hour does help to save lives.
I think the TFL did extensive research and they found that 35 % lives were saved
and 75 % in children when the 20 mile an hour speed limit was introduced.
So it just needs to be controlled better so that people actually honour that law.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:21:54
Now I'm going to ask to conclude this discussion.
Does Councillor Abadade -Choudry wish to address the meeting in response to the petition?
You have up to two minutes.
Thank you.
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:22:12
Thank you, Speaker, and thank you, petitioners, for your petition and the numerous ideas you've
provided us.
So officers from the Council's highways and transportation teams are aware of resident
concerns about driver behaviour on Roman Road and nearby streets.
Officers have reviewed the road safety dashboard and can confirm that the average speed on
this section of Roman Road is approximately 15 miles an hour.
With the 85th percentile speed, the speed at or below 85 % of traffic is travelling,
being 20 miles an hour.
While some vehicles may occasionally exceed the speed limit, the data indicates that the
majority of drivers are complying with the speed regulations.
It is important to note that the enforcement of speed limits fall under the responsibility
of the Metropolitan Police, as Councillor Lachter mentioned, and your concerns will definitely
be raised with them.
The highways team, in collaboration with our community safety team, will continue to work
with police in addressing speed enforcement.
Partnership meetings take place regularly, allowing data review and joint working to
address the concerns of our residents.
Reports of speeding or dangerous driving witnessed by residents can be made to the Metropolitan
Police for investigations via 101 or through their website, which helps the police to allocate
resource to speed enforcement in key locations.
And as a final point, it's something that I can raise with officers within the Council
and we have regular meetings with the police one to one.
I'll raise this particular issue with them there too.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:23:44
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Petitioner, your question and answer is over.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
That concludes the item.
The petition stands to refer to the corporate director for communities
for written response within 28 days.
Thank you very much.
We have, we had 5 .3 petition on additional cricket pitch that have been deferred until
the next meeting.
So we move to this one here.
Okay agenda item 5 .4 petition on left hand green police station.
For the next petition, I call on Kaderul Kebreya Tariq Abdullah Shuaibullah to present the petition
regarding the Btukhangiran Police Station.
You have three minutes to present the petition.
Thank you.
Public Speaker - 1:25:02
Thank you.
Good evening, Mr. Speaker, Mr. Mayor, Honourable Councillor and members of the public.
I am Saeed Abdul -Ataik joined by Brother Kadyruhl and Shwewola.
We are here tonight to voice the concern of hundreds of residents who stand united in
their belief that Bethnal Green Police Station's front desk must remain open.
Across London, we have seen many police stations close their doors, including several in Tahemles.
Now, Battlegreen faces this same threat.
This comes at a time when violent crime is increasing in our city, along with many other types of crime.
This is not just about losing a service counter.
It is about breaking the promise that safety and justice should be accessible to everyone
in our community.
If this front desk closes, the nearest alternative will be in Stock Newton.
That's over three miles away and in a different borough.
This will create real problems for our most vulnerable residents.
The elderly ones, family without cars, people in crisis who need to speak to an officer
face to face when they need.
We understand there are financial pressures, but this decision is short -sighted.
It fails to recognise the digital solution cannot replace human compassion.
And that trust is built through personal interaction, not online forms.
At a time when crime is rising, we should be improving access to police service, not
reducing it.
The Council has shown strong commitment to the community safety throughout their investment,
the investments such as enforcement officers, the dedicated drug enforcement team, CCTB
operation and vital support services.
So we ask you to continue this leadership by formally opposing this closure, demanding
full transparency from the Metropolitan Police and ensuring a complete assessment of how
this will affect our local community.
On behalf of our old residents, we urge you to stand with us, keep Bethnal Green front
desk office, it's a vital service and it's a frontline service and it shows that in Tohomles
our community's safety will always be the priority.
Thank you everyone.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:27:47
Thank you.
Can I just, there are now four minutes again for questions and I would ask members not
to make any statements or just go for the questions straight.
Thank you.
I'll take Councillor Coburn first please. Thank you.
Thank you petitioners. Do you feel it's fair that while Tower Hamlets plays a pivotal role
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 1:28:30
and plays a very active partnership role with the police within our various partnership boards
that we should not get a counter service in Tower Hamlets and our residents should have to go to
Hackney or other boroughs in order to report crime.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:28:48
Public Speaker - 1:28:50
Thank you, Councillor. I don't think it's fair.
It's fair for anyone that they have to travel somewhere to access to that kind of vital service.
This is something that
very close, it should be very close to the community.
And these are all the time, it shouldn't be like that.
And obviously we can't deny there is need of online access,
web and everything, but it doesn't replace the service
that we need, the community need.
There is vulnerable people, elderly people,
there is, I mean, all sort of the resident
that they need the service when it needs.
And it is not definitely fair at all for everyone, even if it is a single person can't access
to this service.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:29:39
Can I just ask Muhammad Chaudhry, please.
Thank you, Mr Speaker, and thank you for the petition.
Cllr Mohammad Chowdhury - 1:29:46
Do you know how many people used the front counter desk in the last month or in the quarter
of the last year?
Do you have any data?
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:29:54
Okay.
Public Speaker - 1:30:00
Thank you, Councillor. We don't have the concrete statistics of that, but we haven't researched that widespread, definitely.
But obviously the response that the community has given to us when we spoke to the community, that is, it's a vital service that we mentioned.
and it is a service that everyone needs it.
It doesn't matter how many people is going and how many people is not going.
I think that statistic doesn't help at this moment.
It is a service that we need.
It is a reassurance for the community also.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:30:40
Can I ask Peter Gold please?
Thanks for coming.
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 1:30:47
Tower Hamlets has a population larger than Swansea or South End on the sea.
Do you not think it's utterly ridiculous that we don't have a police station, but they do?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:30:57
Public Speaker - 1:31:04
Thank you, Councillor again. So yes, thank you. Thank you for these comments. Yes, we need it.
We do not need the police station to be closed.
There were five police stations serving this borough, but that has been closed.
I mean six at this moment.
If that closed, it would be six.
But obviously, closing is not the solution
when the crime is going up and up, rising everywhere.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:31:32
When we need this service, the closure cannot be a solution.
Thank you, Mr. Commissioner.
I'll just take the last question from Councillor Kabir.
Ahmed Al Kabir.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Thank you.
Thank you, Commissioner.
Please be quick, yeah?
Thank you for your petition.
I'm really grateful.
Cllr Ahmodur Khan - 1:31:46
Would you be interested in contributing the community forum and discuss policing to help
us find solutions?
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:32:00
Public Speaker - 1:32:01
Yes, I'm being conscious of time in short.
Yes, we would be very interested.
We want to work with the police and the community to improve the safety of the community.
So we should make a collaborative effort within the community.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:32:14
Thank you very much.
You may go back to your seat.
Can I just ask to conclude this discussion, does Councillor Abu -Tahir Chaudhry, cabinet
member for Safer Community, wish to address the meeting in response to this petition?
You have two minutes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Speaker, and thank you to the petitioners.
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:32:37
We obviously have a motion about this same issue, so I will be going to a lot more detail.
But in terms of what the demands are to seek a full explanation from the police is something that I had saw as soon as
I had find out about the situation. It was something that as
Councillor Gold's reaction sort of proved it was quite puzzling why we wouldn't have any front counter
and it's something that we have also raised on a pan London level where
borough leaders have got together and we've had a number of meetings with the police leadership. I think
I think the mayor is very active in speaking on behalf of residents for this issue.
And the residents' demands for the mayor right into government, which is already done,
will continue lobbying government to make sure that they reverse this decision.
And we have some form of front counter in the borough.
I will be going into a bit more detail when we propose a motion, but for now I think that's sufficient.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:33:38
Thank you very much for this concludes the item agenda and the petition stands referred
to the corporate director for communities for a written response within 28 days.
Thank you.
We had on agenda item 5 .5, the petition of child poverty in
Taohamles, it is being deferred to the next meeting.
Thank you.
We move to the next agenda, six, which is Mayor's report.

6 MAYOR'S REPORT

I'll call upon Mayor Lutur Rahman to give his report
to Council.
You have six minutes.
Thank you.
Thank you Mr. Speaker, Salaam alaikum wa rahmatullahi wa barakatuh.
Greetings and peace to each and every one of you.
Mayor Lutfur Rahman - 1:34:35
I know everyone in this chamber will join me in reiterating the Council's condemnation of the heinous anti -Semitic attack on the Heaton Park synagogue in Manchester.
It was all the more horrific that the attack would place on Yom Kippur, the holiest day in the Jewish calendar.
As I know, you will also join me in condemning the arson attack on the mosque in East Sussex,
which has been investigated as an Islamophobic hate crime.
Our thoughts and prayers are with those who tragically lost their lives in Manchester
and the last loved ones and with the wider Jewish and Muslim communities across the country
after these abhorrent acts of violence.
We are working closely with our partners, including community faith leaders, and are
no place for hate forum to ensure all diverse communities in East London, entire Hamlets
are supported. For centuries, ladies and gentlemen, the East End has welcomed all communities
and all faiths. We are proud of that history. Last Saturday was the 89th anniversary of
the attempt by the fascist Blackshirts to march through Cable Street in an attack on
the local Jewish community then. It was not just one group but all diverse groups in the
We are one of the most diverse boroughs in the UK and we are also one of the most cohesive,
where 90 % of our residents from different backgrounds say that they get on with each
other. I'm incredibly proud that in the face of recent attempts to stir up fear and prejudice,
we brought 22 ,000, over 22 ,000 people together to celebrate East London's diversity, our diversity,
at our Town Hall Open Day and the iconic Brick Lane Curry Festival which we brought back after nearly a decade.
These joyful events brought thousands of people together through food, art and culture
to pay tribute to the East End's rich cultural and culinary diversity.
I would like to thank the residents, community groups, businesses and officers who made these
two fantastic events possible.
There will always be those who try to divide us, but the East End is defined by our values
of solidarity, unity and hope and the forces of division will never prevail here in Tarah
Hamdas.
Inshallah.
Recent acts of violence here in the UK made us reflect on the sanctity of human life which
has been brought so sharply into focus by the slaughter, yes slaughter, we are witnessing
in Gaza which the United Nations has now formally declared as a genocide. Their suffering is
one that no words will ever truly be able to capture and as we speak the genocide continues
and women and children are still relentlessly bombed. Two years of daily hell on earth.
In my lifetime, I have not seen such disregard for human life.
Conservative estimates, ladies and gentlemen, are put in the number of Palestinians murdered in this genocide to be almost 67 ,000.
This includes at least 18 ,500 children. 18 ,500 children.
Not including those under the rubble or not identified.
United Nations Special Rapporteur Francisco Albini says 680 ,000 may be the real number.
Sad. And yet the Labour government, the current Labour government, which despite the UN's
conclusion still refuses to define what is happening Gaza as a genocide, continues to
do business as usual with the Israeli government. When will our leader stop turning a blind
eye to the biggest crime of our age. Two weeks ago the government recognised the state of
Palestine. A recognition ladies and gentlemen that is 70 years too late. They do not need
recognition from the same state that sends weapons to kill them. They need real solidarity.
They need the killing to stop. They need us to do what is in our power to try to stop
this genocide. Mayor Wertz is not going to stop the genocide. We need boycotts, we need
sanctions, and we need a real arms embargo.
Tarhamdul's Council was among the first to choose to divest working people's retirement
funds from crimes against humanity. And we hope through our example the rest of the public
sector follows and invests in communities and infrastructures over weapons of death.
Investing in our communities is what our administration has been about since we got elected in 2022.
We have used our resources to protect families through universal free school meals, free school uniform grants, free home care, affordable homes.
Rejuvenated our youth services for youngsters. Winter field payments, remember that? Free summing and many more innovative policies.
We have delivered all of this and more while keeping our council tax the sixth lowest in
London with a freeze for low income residents and the exemption for the most vulnerable.
It is policies like these which build a more equal and just society which provide hope
and unity rather than the politics of division and despair.
We are determined to continue to deliver for our boroughs residents ladies and gentlemen.
This week we welcome back the local government association as the Chief Executive said, peer
review team, two years after the first visit.
While we are still waiting for the formal report, we are delighted with their informal
feedback on the Council's progress.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:40:31
We will continue to work tirelessly for you to further improve our excellent services
support for people of timelessness.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Can I ask Councillor Lassie, leader of the Labour group, would you like to respond to
Mayo's report?
You have two minutes.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Sirajul Islam - 1:40:57
So I begin by expressing my horror.
My eye and my Councillor's felt when we saw the news from Manchester last week.
Many of us in this room know what it feels like to face threats on our holy days.
The anti -Semitic terror attack that took life of three people who simply wanted to observe
the holy days of their loved ones should serve a reminder to all of us that the fight against
hatred and extremism is never over.
Had it not been for the bravery of one security guard and the fast response from Manchester
Police that day, then I fear things may have got worse.
Only days later, a mosque in Peacehaven was firebombed by a masked man.
Thankfully, there was no one in the building at the time.
In our own borough, the police investigated an arson attack in the Britannia Hotel earlier
this year, which was made against East London Mosque.
Mr Speaker, we are living through troubled times, rampant inequality that has been exploited
by those with darkness in their hearts and greed in their minds.
In the coming weeks, there are further plans for agitators to visit our borough and cause
chaos.
Mr Speaker, we would not allow them to do so.
This week, I wrote to the Mayor to offer a meeting so that we can discuss how all of
us in this room can put our differences aside and stand together against the waves of hatred
lapping out in our borough shores.
In the words of Joe Cox, we share, far more common than what divides us.
The borough is the best of London and best of Britain.
It is a beacon and an example of what is possible
when we open our hearts and homes
to those that are different to us.
I hope this evening will have reasoned and spirited debates
about what is on the agenda.
There will be many watching this evening
hoping that we're divided, we're not divided
and hoping that we're not sniper and bigger.
I ask all of us to show them we will not be deterred,
diminished or divided.
And lastly on Gaza, I think we've already had a
passionate debate and discussion.
I just leave with a quote from Dr. Hosam Samlot,
who's the Palestinian ambassador to the UK.
And he says, I quote, above all, this moment belongs
to the people of Palestine.
It is the fruit of more than a century of struggle,
sacrifice, steadfastness, and love for our home country.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:43:17
It is because of the resilience that the state
of Palestine has been recognising it today.
Thank you very much.
Can I ask Mayor Lut
Ruhman, would you like to respond?
You have also two minutes.
Thank you very much.
It doesn't have anything.
Mr Speaker, can I just clarify something?
It was an earlier comment, if that's okay.
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:43:43
I think earlier when Councillor Gough was mentioned about antisemitism, which is quite
a concern.
Yeah, okay.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:43:48
I was just checking on the website.
Shall I finish it?
Okay.
We'll just carry on.
We're just moving to agenda item 7 now.
There's motion on for debate submitted by the administration.
The debate will follow the rules of debate at council procedure rules 13 and will last
No more than 30 minutes in total.
Councillor Abu -Tahir Chaudhry, can you please move your motion as set out in Agenda plus
your friendly amendment?
You have four minutes in total.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.

7 ADMINISTRATION MOTION DEBATE

Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:44:35
Broken promises, yes, broken promises again and again from politicians in the Labour Party.
I'm referring to the Mayor of London's Manifesto Pledge last year, where he promised to maintain
a 24 -hour police front counter in every borough.
Lo and behold, what does the London Mayor Sadi Khan decide to do?
Closes 18 front counters across London, including the only one in our borough.
Shame.
The front counter in Limas is gone, Lehman Street is gone, Arbours Square is gone, Bricklaine
is gone and so is Isle of Dogs.
I have witnessed first -hand the countless times my dad had to accompany victims.
It has served many of my constituents, your constituents members, and visitors to our
borough.
The front counter serves as the only face -to -face opportunity to report crime.
So when the news first broke, I was flabbergasted and raised concerns immediately with the borough
commander.
To be fair to the local BCU leadership, they have been very understanding to date and to
clear this decision comes from central mayor overseen by the Mayor of London.
Last month I joined a London Council meeting with an assistant commissioner.
Every borough shared concerns and I highlighted the following.
Tower Hamlets has a significant population that speak English as a second language and are
digitally excluded. How will these barriers be managed without a front counter?
How will gang tensions be managed when Tower Hamlets residents may need to travel to Stock
Newington to report crime, especially those on probation who need to physically sign in
at the front counter. Why were alternative options not discussed with the borough? Or,
as we were actively discussing, opening a police hub in Brick Lane at the time of the
announcement, we have one of the highest number of council funded police officers which we
could have reprovisioned. We could have even considered running it with volunteers like
Like Harold, but none of this was put on the table and I'm still waiting for a written
response from the Assistant Commissioner.
Whilst the Met anticipates £7 million of savings through the tough choice, as they
call it, the Mayor and I have not let tough financial decisions in this Council impact
community safety.
As lead member of community safety, I'm so proud to have presided over one of the greatest
packages of investment in enforcement, protection,
diversion and treatment services across Greater London.
In the last three years, we've tripled the size of our local
enforcement service, begun modernising and expanding CCTV
across streets and estates, increased funding for domestic
violence and substance misuse support,
introduced a new K -9 unit, and launched a specialist anti -drug
squad, the first of its kind in the UK.
We've done all this because our residents continue to tell us
every year that drugs, ASP, and safety in public spaces
continue to be the number one priority.
Whilst our borough crime ranking continues to reduce
and currently sits at ninth spot from an inherited rank
of two or three, I'm still puzzled
while Tower Hamlets joins the following boroughs
in closing front counters.
Walls and Forests who sit 21st out of 32 London boroughs,
according to the recent crime ranking.
You've got Richmond, who sits 32nd, essentially being one of the most safest boroughs in London.
Sadly, crime is still an issue in our borough because of drivers like deprivation.
And to rebuild public trust and confidence in the police, this decision and things like last week's Panorama programme really questioned their approach and pace of change.
In passing this motion, I hope all councillors will join me in calling on the Met to re -evaluate the decision to close Bethnal Green front counter.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:48:20
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 1:48:24
If we're going to succeed in keeping this invaluable resource open for our residents, we need the support of every councillor here.
Help us to fight austerity and protect our community, I formally move this motion.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:48:33
Thank you very much, Councillor.
Can I ask Councillor Saeed Ahmad to second the motion.
You have also three minutes.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Saied Ahmed - 1:48:45
I formally second this motion and the proposed closure of the public facing police station
in Befrongreen is yet another sign of how austerity directly threatens the safety and
security of our communities.
Across the country, we are seeing the effects of decades of conservative and labour rule
where the public sector has been drained within an inch of its life.
Cuts and crimes are linked.
And it is no surprise that nationally shoplifting has risen
over 50 % since 2015, robberies are up 64 % and knife crime is up 89%.
This rise in crime has only been compounded by the hundreds of police stations
that have been closed across London in that time, including five in just in our borough.
That's a shame on the Labour Mayor at the moment, because this is, as an administration,
we have set aside £8 .5 million in a year to respond to the cuts, which among other
things have allowed us to massively expand our team of enforcement officers, provide
businesses with support and expand our CCTV operations,
unlike our opposition party who were in their time cut CEOs,
they cut youth services and they cut other vital
services to provide community safety and assurance to our residents.
Our investment and actions have been welcomed by our residents,
many of whom are feeling increasingly vulnerable and unsafe
and who want more visible anti -crime measures, not less.
We heard from the local petitioners, we want Bethnal Green front counter open.
Many of our constituents fear the consequence of a further reduction in visible policing.
They have also already lost counters in the Isle of Dogs and Lion House near our areas
and they worry about the impact on crime rates and response times
and are frustrated that they are seeing less police instead of more.
The idea of having zero police front desk in Tower Hamlets is a great cause for concern,
especially with rising rates of hate crime and racial violence from right wing and far right groups.
We are seeing a lot of crime rise across our borough.
We are seeing crime across the whole of the country, some horrific actions taking place.
And in those areas we have vulnerable women and children using our transport services
and our streets and we require Mr Speaker that those frontline desks remain open for
our vulnerable residents who need to go and speak to someone at the front desk to remain
open. There is not a single, there would not be a single front desk service available and
that cannot continue. That's why I support this motion for an urgent crime summit which
is needed now more than ever to provide solutions and reassurance to all our constituents.
Thank you.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:51:43
Thank you, Councillor.
I'm going to ask Councillor Asma Islam, please can you move your amendment?
You have three minutes.
Thank you.
distracted
.
University of
Cambodia
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Mohammad Chowdhury - 1:52:32
I stand to propose the amendment tabled by the Trans Labour Group.
Before I begin my substantive remarks, I want to acknowledge the Aspire Group for finally
correcting the misleading information in the original motion.
For too long they lack the courage to admit that the Bethnal Green Police Station itself
is not closing.
It is the front desk counter that faces closure.
That distinction matters.
And while I commend their honesty today, it is a shame it took this long.
But let us be clear, Mr Speaker. The closure of the front desk counter is not a minor administrative
adjustment. It is a serious blow to community -based policing in Tahel Hamles. This is not just
about bricks and mortar, it's about visibility, it's about trust, it's about access. Bethnal
Green Police Station has long stood as a symbol of safety and accountability in our borough.
The front desk counter is where victims of crime, vulnerable residents and concerned
citizens go to speak to a real person and not a chat bot, not a voicemail, not a remote
call centre.
It is where policing meets the public.
So closing this counter sends the wrong message.
It tells our community that face -to -face policing is no longer a priority.
that in times of crisis they must navigate digital systems or trouble further afield.
There's the human connexion, the reassurance of his speaking to someone in uniform is expendable.
And Mr Speaker, there's another comment I would like to make.
When I see the motion of the table by Aspire, I'm being confused because I don't know whether they want to talk about
they want to talk about the closure of the counter or they want to brag about the things they have done.
For me, sometimes I feel like this is a justification for the counter to be closed,
because if they have done so much, then maybe it's a justification for the closure of the counter.
However, we need more visibility, not less.
We need officers who know the streets, who know the people, who are accessible and accountable.
closing the front desk counter undermines that mission.
Let us oppose this closure,
not just in words, but in action.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:54:56
Thank you very much.
Thank you, thank you.
Sorry about the confusion earlier, Mr. Chaudhuri.
I had different name here.
Okay, now I want to ask,
still Rebecca Sultana, are you seconding the...
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I'm proud to second this motion.
Cllr Rebaka Sultana - 1:55:16
Bethnal Green Police Station sits right in my ward, so I know fast and how important
that 24 -hour front desk is to local residents.
It's not just any building, it's a place where people go when they feel unsafe, when they
are in crisis or when they simply need to speak to an officer face to face.
My own son served as a police cadet and experienced that as a proud mother I will always cherish
and remember it showed me the positive role policing can play in shaping young people
and building bridges with the community.
That's why visibility and accessibility matter so much.
When local policing is present and open, it inspires trust, respect and even aspiration.
This amendment calls for exactly that, fairness and accountability.
It asks that the closure be suspended until a full impact assessment is done, including
the effects on safety, accessibility and equality.
It also calls for a public meeting, joint work with the Metropolitan Police to find
alternative and an urgent conference to bring everyone together.
As a time when confidence in policing has been shaken, the last thing we should do is
let our only 24 hour front desk close.
Let's keep that door open for the people of Bethnal -Ginn
and Tower Hamlets and let's show that we do care.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 1:57:01
Thank you.
Does any other member now wish to speak on the substantive motion submitted by Councillor
of the amendments submitted by Councillor Chaudhry.
I have some names here already.
I'm just gonna go through.
Can I have Councillor Mustaq Ahmed, please?
Cllr Abdul Wahid - 1:57:35
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I support the administration's motion challenging the proposed closure of the Bethnal Game Police
Station to the public. Let's be clear, this is austerity in action. The government continues
Cllr Musthak Ahmed - 1:58:05
to put profits before people, cutting vital services while crime rises. I speak, Mr Speaker,
Cllr Abdul Wahid - 1:58:11
from personal experience. I get the opportunity to attend various police stations including
Bethnal Green as a police station representative to help and serve people at the police station.
During various hours of the day, including late at night, I have seen people arrive frightened,
Cllr Musthak Ahmed - 1:58:33
confused and in urgent need of help, whether it's a young person held after a minor altercation,
an appropriate adult from the family members sometimes, a victim of assault, someone reporting
a theft or a resident struggling to understand their rights, even seeing the front of his
lights on during the evening provides reassurance to many of our people in the community, particularly
the vulnerable. This is a sign that help, the sign that help is nearby if they need
it. Closing the front counter will strip away that lifeline, forcing residents to travel
further navigate digital systems which many of our community members are not familiar
with, or wait in intimidating environments, increasing stress and fear in moments of crisis.
Mr Speaker, Ta 'a Hamlet's residence consistently tells us that community safety is a top concern.
And we have listened.
This mayor and this administration have listened.
Despite limited resources, this administration has
invested over 8 .5 million annually in community safety.
We have hired 36 enforcement officers,
launched a specialist drugs unit, upgraded CCTP across
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:00:11
Cllr Abdul Wahid - 2:00:13
26 states, and even introduced a new dogs unit.
We are doing our part.
Now we demand the same from the Met.
We are calling for what my colleague,
Councillor, has already mentioned.
This is not just about Bethnal Green,
it's about the future of policing in our borough.
Let's stand together and send a clear message.
Tau Hamlet will not be ignored.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:00:42
Can I call Councillor Ayers to be here, please?
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Ayas Miah - 2:00:52
Within the last few years, about five police stations were closed.
It was a very unfair decision for our community.
And the front desk is a very vital service for our community.
About 300 ,000 people are living in Tower Hamlets and a vast, not majority, I would say a huge
number of people, especially the elderly, they are not familiar, not comfortable to
report any incident through the online.
So a front desk service is very important for our community.
And I think as a council we should consult or have an urgent meeting with the City Hall,
mayor of London and commissioner of the Metro Police Service
because the city hall collected huge number of revenue from tower homeless
so I assume they will see a lack of finance, they cannot afford to continue the front desk services
but every year the amount of revenue they are collecting for tower homeless is huge
so they are partly responsible as well
So we should demand the mayor of London and Met Police to reconsider that decision urgently for the sake of the safety and security of our community. Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:02:08
Thank you, Councillor. Can I call on Abdulullah, please?
Thank you, Mr. Speaker. Having spent a long time in policing matters over the years, I think I'm a little bit qualified, but I just want to make a correction to the lead member.
The arbour square police station was not closed in this millennium. It was in the last one
I know he's young and he's inexperienced but as a fact
But I agree with the sentiment that community safety it by far is the number one issue
Abdi Mohamed - 2:02:40
but I've been said that I also want to acknowledge this side of the bench counsellor this Chaudhry who
eloquently said that the over
photos
opportunities by the current administration about the canine unit
which was I think the former mayor's kind of idea. The wonderful photo that used to
happen under the leadership of Councillor Ojid Ahmed who's not here in
this room at the moment when he was the lead member of you know looking like a
small army of Theos which under Labour was introduced in entire Hamlets. I think
the perception is that we're fighting crime 8 .5 million being spent in this
borough it must be good. I think the important thing is that having a
front desk is important.
However, maybe we could look at working,
and as Councillor Ayers has finally spoken,
and it's good to hear him speak in the council,
what we can do is work with our assembly member,
a labour assembly member, to work with MOPAC
to look at a voluntary -led service,
if this is what's going to happen, if.
Obviously we don't want it to happen.
We have a very strong, vibrant, voluntary sector community,
third sector community, you know, entire homeless,
that we look towards maybe opening a voluntary -led initiative to engage with residents, working
with the Theos, working with the community safety, working with a number of partners,
a neighbourhood watch, to make sure the elderly, the residents, those with English as a second
language, those who are digitally deprived, have a point of accessing information, reporting
crime in this borough.
So all I will say is that sometime blowing Taheemler's own trumpet, as his current administration
does with photo op and cleaning up Al Tabali Park for a photo op, it actually gives a wrong
impression to the outside world and I think we need to take lessons from that.
But we, I think we can all agree across the bench is that they need to keep the community
safety, the light on as a police station is somewhat very eloquently said, gives reassurance,
gives confidence.
But if you're going to purchase all these extra theos, let's put them out in the community,
visibility is reassurance, reassurance means confidence in our community and crime will
Thank you very much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:04:45
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:04:58
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:04:59
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:05:09
the Labour Mayor of London, Sadegh Khan.
Let's just make that very clear.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:05:15
Sorry, members. Members, sorry.
Was this a point of personal explanation, Councillor?
Okay, in that case, please, can you let him speak?
Can you just repeat that again, please, quickly?
Yeah, I'm signing up because I was named.
Just to clear up, there was no mention of time
whether it was this millennium or last millennium.
The point being, we've had a number of sanctions,
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:05:39
well, front cameras in this situation, they're closed.
So that comment was irrelevant.
And then secondly, what I'm trying to say, the main point here is a Labour mayor has decided to close this down.
And I don't understand how a Labour councillor can stand up and defend that.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:05:54
Thank you, Councillor. Thank you, Ms Noldrick. Thank you.
Thank you. Can I just ask Councillor Goulamp, could you please?
Thank you.
Cllr Iqbal Hossain - 2:06:10
Cllr Gulam Kibria Choudhury - 2:06:18
The proposed closure of Bethnal Green Police Station counter is not just a financial decision,
it is a blow to public trust and community safety in our neighbourhoods.
This decision will increase response time and deprive residents of front counter to
walk up to.
Residents are likely concerned the fear slower response time, reduced police visibility and
lack of access, especially our elderly, digitally excluded and non -English speaking communities.
These closures disproportionately affect the most vulnerable.
Mr Speaker, our administration has stood, not stood, idly by, we have invested over
8 .5 million annually in community safety.
We have hired new enforcement officers, launched a specialist drug unit, upgraded CCTV across
our state and funded domestic abuse services.
We have done this with limited resources, but we cannot do it all alone.
Mr Speaker, no amount of investment can replace the assurance of visible policing and accessible
policing.
and we should not accept further erosion of our public safety infrastructure.
Mr. Speaker, we don't want voluntary led service, we want proper service.
Our opposition colleagues, if I don't have misunderstood, they have indirectly supported this closure.
We don't want to support this front counter -closer. Thank you.
And we ask everyone to support our motion.
Thank you, Councillor.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:07:46
Can I ask Councillor Shiraazul Islam, please?
Your name is here if you want to.
I just got your name here.
Anyway, we don't wish to speak.
We'll call for the...
Councillor...
Mysha, yeah, thank you.
Cllr Maisha Begum - 2:08:22
Thank you, Mr Speaker. Initially, I did want to go on the pathway of talking about collaborative
effort, but it's sad and unfortunate that it's kind of become a point -scoring conversation.
The administration decided to mention about women's safety and the most vulnerable in
community, but Philcha also mentioned the fact that they just pretty much launched
the Women's Commission and established it just a year ago. They
focused about women's empowerment by only having consultations now and quite
a few of the meetings are also during lunch times when sometimes they're all
working mums and also sometimes they have childcare commitments so it would
have been interesting had they also highlighted that in that
conversation. But yeah, again, I didn't really want to mention that point. But because there
was a few councils across the floor that were, I feel like, used that as a political point
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:09:30
scoring to mention women's safety. But aside from that, I'd like to move towards more of
Cllr Maisha Begum - 2:09:33
positive direction and talk about collaborative effort. There are other
boroughs and other constituencies working together, creating petitions,
working across the floor like ourselves in whether it's an opposition, whether
they're working independently and they're working alongside their leaders
of the council and their member of parliament. So if we can create a bridge
form of parliamentary dialogue alongside our entities and actually
this, we can work collaboratively as a community representing all our residents, whether they're
elderly, the most vulnerable, with disability needs as well. It's important that we recognise
that it's our community first, their needs first, and then think about after, about in
terms of what we can, sorry, and then second, also think about what we can do as councillors
to help push that forward, because it's true, what the councillors have mentioned across
It is about accessibility, it is about increasing trust and confidence and we need to do that
as elected representatives.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:10:40
Can I call the next speaker?
Councillor Ahmad El Kabihi, please.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Ahmodur Khan - 2:10:54
Thank you for giving me a chance to speak.
I speak in strong support of my residents of Bethnal Green and across the Tower Hamlets
who are calling for the protection and their reopening desks for their police station.
Mr Speaker, over the past two decades, our borough has lost five police stations, Abreu
Square, Lemon Street, Limehouse, Brick Lane and Isle of Dogs.
Now the Metropolitan Police are planning to close Bethnal Green Police Station desk, the
sixth closure in recent years.
Mr Speaker, this proposal has caused real concern across our community.
Residents tell us they are already struggling to see police officers in their neighbours.
Cllr Ahmodul Kabir - 2:11:44
They fear that in Bethnal Green closure, response time will be worse and serious crime could
rise and the residents and those not delighting, illiterate, who really on face -to -face policing
rather than online reporting.
We all know that the real community safety concern from visibility from seeing police
officers in our street, taken to the residents, acknowledging them to the face -to -face people
are there protected.
Mr. Speaker, this is not just a building, this is a lifeline.
Mr. Speaker, a place where residents could see their officers and they feel safe.
Mr. Speaker, I would like to ask my dear opposition, I asked last time as well, what they have done for their political life, they are proud of for the residents.
I can show you what we have done for the proud of.
Mr. Speaker, we spend, we spend, Mr. Speaker, endless, endless list, Mr. Speaker.
2 .8 million we spend recent budget for 36 deal.
We spend 3 .7 million face to CCTV camera.
Mr. Speaker, 270 ,000 CCTV camera and 20 ,000 new business crime, 100 ,000 for established
new drugs and 200 ,000 core funding, domestic abuse support.
We have many endless leaves.
Mr. Speaker
This shows council has serious that about community safety and concern resident have noted
they feel assured that the Tower Hamlet Council is
reinvesting where their matter most
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:13:39
Cllr Ahmodur Khan - 2:13:41
Despite but despite all the progress and metropolitan police plan to closing Bethel gear station
We condemn that we stand that it is a wrong measure.
Mr Speaker, we strongly call our Councillors colleagues and opposition
to please help the residents, not for the political issues,
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:13:56
support them for the real need.
Thank you very much.
Thank you very much.
Thank you.
That was the last speaker. Thank you.
Councillor Abutah Hachodri, do you wish to exercise your right to replay?
You have three minutes.
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:14:16
I think everyone does agree that the front counter needs to remain open in Bethnal Green.
I think what's puzzling is the decision had actually been made without a proper equality
impact assessment being done by the Met Police.
This is something that's being done now.
As a way of update, I think they will be making a decision following that sometime this month.
Whatever the decision is, let's just assume that it is to close Bethnal Green.
It does concern a lot of our residents collectively.
We are working with the police to find all kinds of solutions to some of the issues that we have in the borough.
But it is genuinely disappointing and I wanted to put on record that I cannot believe still that we won't have any front counter in this borough.
and having those, sitting in those Pan -London meetings,
asking those questions I mentioned right at the beginning,
what are some of those options, you know,
for people that have to sign in
as part of the probation service?
What are the sort of plans in place
for vulnerable residents going to Stoke -Newington?
Why didn't we consider some other options?
And those are exactly things that hopefully
I will be pursuing with colleagues,
whether it's on a Pan -London level
or at least from a borough level with the mayor.
I know the mayor has written, but honestly speaking,
The proposal has come to engage with other parliamentarians and GLA members,
but they are in positions, or some of them sit on the GLA board,
to work with the London mayor in trying to reverse that decision.
Why is it that Tower Hamlets is still on the list for a cut?
Why is it that Labour who sit in power, whether that's regionally or nationally,
haven't been able to influence that decision?
We are here as an independent body, an administration that runs Tower Hamlets,
trying to find a labour decision that's been made.
And for me, that's a disappointing fact here.
So we will continue lobbying and we will expect
and welcome support from colleagues here,
but we do want the front counter, Bethnal Green,
to remain open.
Well done.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:16:13
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor.
I think that's why I would need some assistance
from Matthew, the owner services now,
I will now conduct the vote, please.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:16:33
Okay, so we have two amendments, but I'm assuming you're accepting your own as a friendly.
So we have a Labour amendment and then the main motion.
So we'll start with the Labour amendment.
All those in favour, please show.
Thank you.
All those against.
Okay, so that falls, so we just take the main motion unamended.
All those in favour?
Okay, and I think that's pretty much unanimous.
Okay, thank you very much.
Oh, while I've got the microphone, just to say, we start at 7 .08, so 10 .08 is the guillotine.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:17:25
Thank you very much.
We now move to agenda item 8, the opposition motion for debate.
The debate will follow the rules of debate at Council Procedure Rules 13 and will last
no more than 30 minutes.
Proposed amendments to this motion have been published as a supplementary pack.
Thank you.
Can I just ask the monitoring officer to say a few words at this point?
Thank you.
Thank you, Speaker.
Shupriya Iqbal - 2:18:08
Members, a reminder that this is a sensitive issue.
Members of the public are in the gallery and the meeting is being webcast.
Please be mindful and carefully consider the language that you use and its impact.
Please be respectful to all concerned.
Thank you.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:18:26
Thank you.
Thank you very much for clarification.
Councillor Mofida -Bastien, can you please move your motion?
You have four minutes.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Mufeedah Bustin - 2:18:44
I want to echo the solidarity that has been shown tonight in the Chamber for the Jewish
communities, the Muslim communities, and the people of Palestine.
It's been an interesting couple of days, so my picture was on GB News.
They could have chosen a better photo.
I wouldn't have minded if they'd actually read the motion, but clearly they didn't.
Because this is not a motion about labelling anyone.
How many times have I stood up in this chamber talking about women in politics?
How many times have I encouraged women to get involved and stand up for what they believe in?
I don't know you have to agree with what you have to say, but I will defend your right to say it.
Unless, of course, what you have to say is prejudiced, racist or fascist.
So if this isn't a motion about labels, what is it about?
It's about overcoming division and creating community cohesion.
It's about agreement.
Because everyone agrees that people are right to be angry
about a lack of affordable housing.
We also agree that people are right to be angry about the length of time
it takes to get a doctor's appointment.
And we all strongly agree that all women and children should be safe
in their homes and in the areas they live.
So I say to residents, hold the government to account on these issues.
You should, you must, hold us to account, hold your councillors to account on these topics.
Because I hope we can also agree that hard working council staff should be able to go about their jobs without being abused or intimidated by people.
I hope we can agree that sexual violence against women shouldn't be weaponised to progress racist and fascist agendas.
And I hope we can agree that all residents, no matter how long they have lived here, are
safe, respected and heard.
And I hope we can agree that in facing the rise of the far right, we need to put our
political differences aside to unite in the face of hate.
I've been out speaking to residents on the island over the summer, door -knocking, leafleting
and protesting.
And do you know what the majority of residents want?
They want a quiet life.
They want to go to work, come home, have their tea, their supper, their dinner, whatever
they want to call it, have a cup of tea, watch a bit of TV and go to bed.
But that life, that life doesn't come easy and we can't take it for granted.
After the Steven Yatsley Lenin support march on September the 13th, a comrade sent me a
photo of a message someone had written on a bus stop. It said, we are not outnumbered,
we are out -organised, build community. And I want to thank Unison and Stand Up to Racism
for showing us that tonight. We're not outnumbered, we're building community.
I became a councillor because I believe in representation and to be a voice for those
that who didn't have one.
I didn't become a councillor to stay silent
in the face of racism, and I didn't become a councillor
to put aside my principles.
I refuse to be on the wrong side of history.
We need strong leadership, and we need these flags
to be taken down.
I want to end by reading an email that I received
from a constituent this evening.
She said, as one of your constituents,
I wanted to thank you for raising your motion.
My heart breaks seeing all of the vandalism in our streets every day.
I continue to volunteer with charities to try to make our community a better place,
but it does feel like a very uphill battle these days.
My heart sinks every time I leave the house and have to walk by yet more vandalism.
I feel incredibly unwelcome in a part of the world that I have poured countless
hours of blood, sweat and tears into and called home for over 15 years. I don't feel brave enough
to participate in counter protests or demonstrations but I'm continuing and increasing my voluntary work
to continue generally supporting all of our neighbours and community. I hope it goes well
this evening. We must do more.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:23:13
Thank you. Can I just call upon Councillor Abdi Mohamed, if you would like to second
the motion.
Abdi Mohamed - 2:23:32
Thank you Mr Speaker. Can I start by thanking Councillor Busted for proposing and speaking

8 OPPOSITION MOTION DEBATE

so eloquently about this motion. I'm proud to second it because tonight this council
stands where Tell Hamlet has always stood, on the side of decency, courage and community.
We must be resolute in ignoring the noise. So the people online saying the most racist
and horrendous things about us, they are and always will be background noise. The important
The most important part is that our bara's storey is one of defiance.
From the battle of Cable Street to the amazing work carried out after the murder of Al Tabani.
We've shown time and again that when hate comes to our streets, we come together.
The father has tried to divide us. They've failed before and they'll fail again.
And to be absolutely clear, raising concerns about safety of women and children is of course legitimate.
To those same groups, they must not allow themselves to be co -opted by the far -right.
It does not help, it actively hinders.
But let's be honest, the angle we've seen isn't just about flags or protests.
It's about a decade of austerity, housing crisis and insecurity from the last government.
Families squeezed, services cut and homes that never got built.
The far right feeds off frustration, twisting real pain into false blame.
So yes, we'll call out racism and stand up to fascists.
But it's this Labour government also tackling the root causes.
This means better homes, better jobs and rebuilding trust, street by street.
Locally, Labour Group is proud of our brilliant No Place for Hate teams and campaign.
They do amazing work on a shoestring.
We as 46 councillors and politicians need to do a lot more to support them.
To the staff of this council, thank you.
I'm a proud trade unionist, so thanks from me and the Labour group who want to show our
appreciation and say thank you for getting on with your job in the face of abuse and
threats.
Mr Speaker, the far right want to turn on each other.
But we know our diversity is our strength.
As a Councillor, I am determined to work with residents, faith groups and unions to reinforce
the solidarity that defines East London.
Let's be clear, there is no place for hate here and there never will be.
Whether your family has been here for five generations or five months.
Tell Hamless is your home and you are welcome.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:26:16
Thank you.
Can Councillor Abutale's children please remove your amendment?
You have three minutes.
Thank you Mr Speaker.
I think I can speak for the entire spy group when I say that it is our duty as elected
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:26:39
officials to stand up to movements of hate wherever and whenever they appear in our borough.
We can also agree that the failure of this country to properly invest in affordable housing
and curb the cost of living crisis has created the conditions that allow far -right movements
to thrive.
This motion must be passed in order to show that Tower Hamlets Council will always stand
up for our oppressed communities, especially migrants and asylum seekers, but also the
working people that have lived in this borough for generations and should not have to struggle
to get by.
However, if we are to truly take a stand against the rising tide of hate in the UK today, then
we must also hold to account the current national government that have fanned the flames and
have continued to divest from the working class.
Since the beginning of the Prime Minister's campaign last year, he has refused to stand
up for immigrants and asylum seekers and continued austerity cuts to crucial social programmes
such as PIP and winter fuel payments.
And while many of those cuts were reversed due to public outcry, the feelings of abandonment
and anger that they left in our most impoverished communities remain.
Just a week ago at Labour Party Conference, our Home Secretary announced plans to make
it significantly more difficult for hardworking immigrants to get indefinite leave to remain,
in a speech which implied that even those who have lived and worked here for a decade
cannot be trusted to stay.
The amendments I am proposing today will keep the positive commitments and calls to action
put forward by my Labour colleagues, while also holding into account all the national
leaders that have brought us to this point.
I hope you all will join me today in establishing Tower Hamlets' status as a local authority
that stands up for the oppressed, no matter who those oppressors may be.
And as I've got another minute, I thought also touch on the issue of immigration and crime as a lead member of community safety.
Some will make you believe that there is a correlation and we've lost control.
But we haven't and it's not just from the crime survey and I wanted to share that with you today.
But NHS hospital data has shown knife assaults have actually fell to a 25 year low last year.
The number of being treated for violent assaults have halved from what it was 25 years ago.
Then we have 35 ,000 household crime survey for England and Wales, which shows robbery
down 60 % in two decades, burglary down by two thirds, car theft halved and all violent
crimes halved since 2005.
But here's the thing, at the very same time over the last 20 years, the immigrant population
has doubled.
So now if immigration genuinely was causing more crime, you would expect the opposite
trend.
So why do so many people believe otherwise?
because social media thrives on fear and exaggeration.
And I think it's at that point,
I've got a few more things to say,
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:29:35
but I think I've made the point about crime and immigrants.
Thank you.
Can I call my intelligence please to second the amendment?
You have the side.
Yes, thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Got the wrong name here.
People who live in our borough have a unique
Cllr Saied Ahmed - 2:29:54
and personal understanding of how our diversity is our greatest strength.
More than most places, we exist as a model for how people from different backgrounds
not only get along well together, but support and uplift each other.
Everyone here will know that in Tower Hamlets, generations after generations of people have
consistently united to protect one another from division and hate.
The far -right have tried, without success, to depict us as a no -go borough.
But we all know this very well, that we could not be far from the truth.
We are united and we stick together.
We know that this is a place that accepts and celebrates people of all ethnicities and backgrounds.
It is what makes us strong, and no amount of fearmongering or race -baiting will change how we feel about our to our hamlets communities.
Where over 90 % of our residents think we are a place where people of all backgrounds get
on together, we are far from an island of strangers, as the leader of the Labour Party
would have us believe.
I have visited the Britannia Hotel, stood in solidarity against all division and hate.
There is nothing new or surprising about establishment politicians using migrants to distract from
the key economic problems of our times.
It is in fact that migrants contribute more to the UK's
economy than they take out.
It is also the fact that the top 1 % of the richest people
in the UK own almost a quarter of the country's entire wealth.
This is the reality that we are facing.
This is the reality that we are being
led to ignore as a result of the politically manufactured
hysteria around flags, boats and hotels. But let me be clear, the British flag is not an
inherently divisive symbol. In fact, the flag can be used as an expression of unity and
togetherness and for celebrations during times. I therefore second our amended motion today.
As a council, we need to be clear about our commitment to anti -social, anti -racism and
community cohesion, but more than this, delivering on our budget, investing in housing, employment
opportunities and local advice services means that we are refusing to leave communities
behind. We all stay together. I also support the call to continue and expand the great
work of the No Place for Hate campaign, which will work alongside the Council's draught
community cohesion strategy in order to foster understanding, inclusion and belonging within
in our communities.
Thank you.
Thank you, Councillor.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:32:38
I just discovered the members now wish to speak
on the substantive motion submitted by Councillor
Mofidabastian on amendments submitted by Councillor
Abutale Choudry.
Please, if you can raise your hand, then I'll just take
a go, Councillor Kabir.
Thank you.
I'm in first place.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Can I start by thanking Councillor Buston in delivering such an eloquent speech to such
an important motion.
And it personifies why language is so important.
Cllr Kabir Ahmed - 2:33:27
And I'm going to mention a quote I heard on LBC Radio from Lucy Powell MP.
which was that Labour shouldn't try to out -reform reform.
And that's very important because the rhetoric
that's going around the media from government,
from the Prime Minister, is really shaking the foundations
of the immigrant community and the migrant community
and those who have settled in this country
and call this place home.
The standards that are being set in terms of what
political discourses and what political debate is and what is identified as racist, the goalposts
have shifted. The legitimising of verbal attacks on various communities irrelevant of their
legal status in this country because their first identification is through visual observations
of are they coloured, do they belong to this country, are they one of us is identified
simply visually and then questioned later.
We see what's happening in the United States of
America with ICE agents, grabbing hold of people,
taking them into detention centres, and then asking
them, do you have a right to stay here?
That is a reality that was mentioned on LBC News
this morning.
Now, please, it's really important we get to the
fundamentals of this, and I urge members opposite,
urge your party to bring debate back to the centre
ground and not move more to the right. When statements by the Prime Minister are made,
particularly reacting to reform speeches around settlement in the UK is a privilege that is
earned, not a right, that sends shockwaves. When they speak about illegal migration and
and then say we're going to change the foundation of how one can be a legal citizen in this
country from five years to ten years does not target illegal migration, it targets legal
migration.
We know when we go to the hospitals, when we go to schools, there's a hospital just
on the other side of this building.
There are migrant workers there, there are nurses, doctors, we know this, we live this.
We can see the diversity that exists in this room.
So I come back to it again saying words are important.
Jonathan Hinda, Labour MP, states, too many working class people see labour as the party
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:36:09
of immigrants, minorities, those on benefits.
So I ask you, words are powerful, words have meaning.
Please lobby your MPs to bring politics back to the centre ground where you can have grown -up
debates.
Thank you.
Can I ask James King?
James King.
Chancellor James King, please.
Thank you very much.
And I think it's fair to reflect that this motion
Cllr Asma Begum - 2:36:30
is about what we can do as a council,
about the threats of the far right as well.
So we need to reflect that while they're very important
observations made, that we need to look at things
in the wider picture.
Anyway, I don't want to be the white middle class person
who gets up and tells everyone why racism is bad.
I mean, of course I'm not faced with the same personal fear
victimisation in the chaos of the far right activity in the borough that I've lived in
for 17 years.
I wanted to highlight to some by speaking, who may not understand otherwise, how all
races and religions and classes in Tower Hamlets generally do live harmoniously side by side
and will not be divided by outside agents looking to stir up trouble.
So myself, I was born and raised in Essex, but like many people in Essex, I can trace
my family roots back to East London.
Great grandparents who lived in Limehouse's Chinatown, Irish women escaping the family,
French weavers living in Brick Lane, it's not an unusual storey, it just goes to show
how reductive it can be by dividing Britain and British people by race and religion.
When you scratch the surface it goes back.
But as my colleague, Councillor Mohammed said, we can look at the past, be respectful of
the past, but we've got to realise what unites us as British citizens is where we live, the
situation we live and where we're moving forward together.
So I want to quote an article from The Mail, which is talking about an immigrant community
in the East End. It says, and I'm quoting, unfortunately strong separatist influences
are at work. A powerful movement has arisen to retain their faith, their distinct language,
their manners and life. They want to be many of them, a people wholly apart, a nation within
a nation. Classic tropes of otherness and Britishness, alienation described there. But
Cllr James King - 2:38:03
that article was from 1913. It was describing the Jewish community of Tower Hamlets. It
reminded me a lot of the article that was published in June by the Daily Mail, speaking
about how primary school in Whitechapel, how there was no child in there who had English
as a first language. Again, the tone of the article presenting itself was very factual,
Cllr James King - 2:38:27
but its implications were more subtle, and they're more subtle than they were in 1913,
and caused a wave of grief not only for those and abuse for the teachers there, but the
community in town Hamlets as well. The effect was the same as it was over a hundred years
ago, talking about otherness and division. One character sharing the article from this
June is called Stephen Yaxley -Lennon. He shared the article with him, he cried, this district
was once synonymous with Jack the Ripper and the Cray twins, the home of true cockneys.
And that just goes to show how the far right do not understand what the East End is all
about. They think it's about murderers and gangsters. It's not the case. And as I was
saying, it's about us working together and trying to find common solutions to the problems
that we face. And indeed, this motion puts very practical steps in place for the council
to demonstrate the sentiment, ensuring residents working with the police who have been overstretched
by this activity across London, and to look at the root causes that are seeing this wave
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:39:30
of chaos and far right agitation coming forward. Thank you.
That's why we want to make sure that our public services aren't crumbling,
wages are not just depressed and we're doing everything we practically can
to call out racism, but look at the root causes as well.
Thank you.
Can I call Peter Gold, please?
Cllr James King - 2:39:49
You know, growing up as a little boy,
I have a wonderful storey of what Councillor King has just said,
of when the Goldstein family arrived at London docks.
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 2:40:01
They decanted from a boat and there was a man absolutely terrified because he knew he
Cllr Peter Golds - 2:40:05
had to give his name and he prepared very carefully his name and then when asked his
name he said in Yiddish I've forgotten which is showing forgotten and suddenly discovered
when he'd arrived in the United Kingdom he was Sean Ferguson. And it tells you the eccentricity
and slightly the glories of what I would call
the real East End.
East End is not the East End of villains and criminals.
It's real people that have lived together in a hodgepodge.
Now let me turn to the Isle of Dogs.
The issue of the Britannia Hotel,
of which we knew was going to open on a,
we were told on a Friday,
the council were told on a Friday
that it was coming on Monday, caused concern.
Within a few days, a group of ladies
said they were concerned. We know that they expressed concern. They were talking to other
ladies from the Isle of Dogs, but, but, but they're not far -right fascists. They're the
sort of people that stood against Derek Beacon. And a couple of them were outside the town
hall this evening, and the moment that the extremists turned up, they went home, because
they didn't want what was good and decent of the Isle of Dogs to be sullied by people
that have come from outside of our borough.
When all this started, I sat back because I told you,
I've in the past two years faced extraordinary racism.
I don't like being told or getting an email
telling me to go back to Poland.
I've only ever set foot in Poland once in my life
and I won't tell you why I was there or what I want to see.
I have no connexion with Poland,
but East London is my home.
It's where my family came to
and where we have deep, deep roots.
And I wish to stay here.
And many people have said to me,
why do you live in Tower Hamlets?
Because I love Tower Hamlets.
I love the people.
I love the extraordinaryness of the people, the wackiness.
And able to tell all the weird storeys about the borough.
And I hate and detest people that come to us
and make racist remarks.
I mean, strangely, and people say,
well, you're a conservative, yes,
but we're also the first party to have four women leaders, one Jewish leader, one South Asian leader,
and currently led by a black woman. So I don't think we're quite that bad.
Just look at it. We're not quite that bad. But we do believe in our country.
Now if we quickly go about this flag issue, let me just say something.
Let's mention Winston Churchill and Margaret Thatcher, two people who were formidably English.
Five seconds, Peter.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:42:46
Cllr Nathalie Bienfait - 2:42:49
Did they ever give a press conference at Downing Street with the Union Jack either side of them?
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:42:53
Maggie Thatcher and Winston Churchill didn't need to tell anybody they were English.
Everybody understood it. Sorry, I fired out and I can't carry on.
I'd love to have said more, but thank you Mr Speaker.
Thank you. Can I call the sub -inhabitator please?
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:43:11
Thank you Mr Speaker. So I'm speaking this evening both as a Councillor and a resident of the Isle of Dogs.
community that I love and the place that I have seen extraordinary change and one
Cllr Sabina Akhtar - 2:43:19
that continues to face deep and growing inequalities. Across our borough and
especially on Isle of Dogs, development has been rapid and relentless. Tower
cranes dot the skyline, new towers rise year by year, yet many of the residents
who built this community feel increasingly left behind. The truth is
simple, development has not been equal and its benefits has not been shared
We have seen some of the most expensive apartments sitting next to overcrowded estates where
families are waiting years for secure housing.
We have investment pouring in, yet too many people struggling to access doctors, schools
and affordable groceries.
When people feel excluded from decision making and left out of the prosperity happening on
the doorstep, resentment grows and that resentment is precisely what the far right feeds on.
Far right voices do not offer real solutions, they offer scapegoats.
They tell people that the problem is the neighbour, the fellow resident or the local community.
But the problem is not diversity, the problem is inequality.
So as councillors and this council, we must tackle the root causes and means taking a hard look at how we can manage and plan growth.
So if we stand up to extremism, we must tackle inequality.
That means real community participation in regeneration, infrastructure that keeps pace with growth,
and a clear stand against division in all its forms.
So I have seen on the first, the fear and the terror that the far right demonstrations,
some of the demonstrations that were outside the Bitania Hotel, which have really created a lot of tension in the local community.
So the people of Tarihamel need this motion and I agree with Councillor Miffida, we need
to show unity and we need to let people know as local councillors and the mayor that we
stand up by people and we protect residents when they are told they don't belong here.
So in the past few months we've seen many multiple acts of violence, hideous reactions
reactions to the community and migrants and we shouldn't really welcome this and it's a fear that could happen to one of our own families.
So I know many of the Labour colleagues here, like ourselves and the members of the Aspire Party,
we're all worried of the rise of the far -right fascist parties and the violence that comes along with them.
However, we have the responsibility to call out Keir Starmer and the other Labour leadership who have chosen to victimise
and place them in the hotel
without any discussion,
without any consultation
and, you know,
with the local community at all.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:46:03
This has led to disinformation,
Cllr Abu Chowdhury - 2:46:05
hatred and division
in the community.
When growth is fair, inclusive and
accountable,
the five I have no ground
to stand on.
I'm proud to present
a community that is diverse,
hard -working
and resilient.
Let us ensure
the Isle of Dogs
and the Hamlet
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:46:23
It remains a symbol of not a division but shared progress.
Thank you.
Can I pull out Sama Islam please?
Sama Islam.
Thank you.
So thank you Mr Speaker.
Cllr Asma Islam - 2:46:36
This motion is more than policy.
It's about the soul of our borough and the soul of our country.
My father came to this country with little more than hope in his heart.
He faced racism, he was even once held at knife point.
But he never stopped believing in Britain, he never stopped loving this country for the
opportunities it gave his children.
He called it home and now I get to call it home.
And I will do everything I can to make sure my children and all our children get to call
it home.
Because Britain is not just a place on the map.
Britain is a promise.
A promise that no matter where you come from, you can belong.
that you can build a life, raise a family and be part of something bigger than yourself.
We saw the promise in action during the pandemic.
When neighbours checked on each other, when food parcels were left on the doorstep,
when we clapped for carers and looked out for the vulnerable.
That was the best of our country. That was hope.
But today we are seeing something else.
We are seeing fear.
Fear that feeds on inequality, on the housing crisis, on the cost of living crisis, on the
sense that some communities are being left behind while others are being blamed.
These are real problems but they are being twisted by those who want to divide us.
Some would have us believe that we must choose between keeping our communities safe and showing
compassion to others, that we can only have fairness if we exclude, that we must look
after some by turning our backs on others. But that's not who we are, and those are
not the only choices. We can and must do better. We can make our communities safer by investing
in our services, in housing, in jobs, in mental health, not by scapegoating migrants or stoking
suspicion. We can listen to residents' concerns without giving space to hate. We
can build a borough where everyone feels safe, respected and heard, no matter how long they've
Let's be clear, the far right does not speak for Tower Hamlets.
They never have, they never will.
This motion is a line in the sand.
It says we will not be silent, we will not be divided, we will stand together against
hate, against fear and for hope.
Let us meet division with dignity and hate with humanity.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:49:07
Let us build a borough and a country where every child grows up knowing they belong.
Cllr Asma Islam - 2:49:09
That is the Britain that my father believed in, that is the Britain I believe in, and
that is the Britain that we all must fight for together.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:49:20
Can I just very quickly, the last speaker, I think Bodhul Chaudhary, please, if we can
be quick.
All right.
Thank you, Mr. Speaker.
I want to begin by saying this.
Cllr Bodrul Choudhury - 2:49:31
The residents of Tower Hamlet are a very welcoming and open -minded residents here.
We have had tensions in the past, we have got tensions at the moment and we will face
tensions in the future.
As a cabinet member for equalities, I care deeply about the community cohesion and see
the rise in tensions to be something deeply concerned.
My focus since joining the cabinet has been on ensuring community is heard and consulted
on councils policies throughout. It is shocking to me that the government would
choose to take such a drastic action Mr. Speaker to overtake a hotel, fire staff
and place people in a community without any consultation to residents and
without any consultation with the Council or the Mayor's Office.
Mr. Speaker, I believe that we need to be compassionate to those fleeing war,
and that we are stronger with immigration diversity.
I don't believe that this administration has proved time and again in its policies
and direct resources where people need them.
You reduce the burden on all people and allow them to breathe, live in harmony, the rich
borough, the diversity that we have in this borough.
Working people shouldn't be fighting poor migrants looking for a chance for safety in
our borough, Mr Speaker.
Also, I'd like to highlight the hotel, the Italian hotel that we are talking about on
this. I was there on a Saturday a few weeks ago. It's breaking and making divisions in
our community. We've had this before, we've had this now, and we will have this in the
future. We will stand by people in need, and I can assure you, under the administration,
We will do whatever it takes for the safety of our residents.
Thank you very much.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:51:58
Thank you very much, Councillor.
Happy birthday to you as well, I believe.
Your birthday was yesterday.
Yes, Councillor Mufi Dababstin, do you wish to exercise your right to reply?
You have three minutes.
Thank you.
and I'd like to thank everyone for their contributions tonight.
Cllr Mufeedah Bustin - 2:52:27
When I was drafting this motion, I deliberately made it apolitical,
because I think we're at a time where we need to put politics aside.
In relation to the issue with the flags, I think it was only a few years ago
we had the Queen's Jubilee, and the street where I lived was decorated in Union Jacks,
And we had a wonderful, wonderful day.
But the flags that we're seeing around the island aren't about bringing communities together.
They're put up in the face of anti -immigration.
My daughter went to football camp over the summer and she wore her England strip football kit.
She looked great and she was very proud.
And we were very proud of her.
This isn't about not being patriotic.
This is about making sure that our communities feel safe.
It's Black History Month, October is Black History Month.
Councillor Islam talked about her father and grandfather's experience.
For a lot of us in this room, we have similar storeys.
We have this generational trauma.
Flags and images bring a lot of that back for us.
They remind us of what our elders went through, how little it feels that that time has brought us.
I'm going to do two things today that I have never done in this council chamber since 2022.
I'm going to agree with Councillor Kabir Ahmed and say, yes I know, I'm shocked as well,
And I agree that Labour shouldn't out -reform reform.
And I'm also going to thank the Mayor
and thank Mayor Rahman for his activities
in bringing together lots of different groups
to unite for the Anti -Fascist March on the 25th of October.
I hope we can all come there together as a community.
And I want to quote a couple of lines
from Keir Starmer's speech at conference.
He said, Britain stands at a fork in the road.
We can choose decency or we can choose division.
And I think in Tower Hamlets we are choosing decency tonight.
I'm going to end though with a quote from Lord of the Rings.
Uh oh.
Oh, I don't.
When Gandalf says,
It's not real.
All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given to us.
We're living in difficult times. It's frightening, it's scary, it's intimidating.
But let's unite, let's stand together and let's kick the far right out of Tower Hamlets.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:55:17
Thank you. I will now ask Head of Democratic Services to conduct the votes please.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:55:35
Thank you Mr Speaker and after the vote I think there are a couple of procedure bits
we will cover as well. So on to the votes. We have a main Labour motion and we have an
All those in favour of the amendment?
All those against?
Any abstentions?
OK, so that's carried.
So we're now looking at a motion as amended by the Aspire Amendment.
So all those in favour?
I think that's unanimous.
Anyone against?
Just to cheque.
Or any abstentions?
No.
Okay.
Great.
So I think there are a couple of procedure bits.
Can I just take them in an order?
Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:56:22
So I first got a note about withdrawing motion 12 .1, which is Sabina Akhtar's motion.
Can I just have a confirmation, Councillor Akhtar, that you're withdrawing that?
Yes.
Okay.
Thank you.
And then Councillor Tolop, you wanted to propose something as well.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 2:56:40
are mindful of time and we have four important reports and we also have our respected chair
of the standard board here.
So I would like to under procedure rule 12 .1, I would like to propose those four reports
before the end of day.
Thank you.
So if I understand that, it was to say we carry on long enough to take those four reports
If we extend slightly.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:57:09
We immediately hear the reports.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:57:10
9 .1, 9 .2, 10 .1 and 0 .2.
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 2:57:19
Can we bring forward the standard report first?
Okay.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:57:24
So we will make sure we hear all four reports but we'll do standards first.
Can we have a seconder for that proposal?
I formally second.
Thank you.
All those in favour of that?
Yeah.
Okay, and I'm taking this none against and we carry on.
OK.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 2:57:41
Thank you very much.
We go to now 9 .2, the annual report of the Standard Advisory Committee.

9 b) Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee

Mr Matthew Mannion - 2:58:17
I'd like to welcome John Palford, Co -operative Chair of the Standard Advisory Committee,
to introduce the report, please.
Thank you.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
I'm glad to have escaped the guillotine.
I'm delighted to present the annual report of the Standard Advisory Committee.
I'm not going to take you through it, but I'd like to comment on two particular matters.
First, the Monitoring Officer and the Committee are concerned about the length of time it
takes for some members to respond to requests for information following a complaint about
them. We need to look at this through the eyes of residents. If we want to be seen as
as an efficient resident focused council,
members need to respond immediately to requests
from the monitoring officer.
Such is our frustration with some members
that the committee is urging the monitoring officer
to rule that members failing to respond without good reason
are in breach of the code of conduct.
Why would you want to be the first member in this borough
to be publicised in local media,
to be in breach of the Code of Conduct for not acting in the best interest of your voters.
Please respond as soon as possible. Secondly, last year, and sadly, there was an increase
over the previous year from 11 to 19 complaints. It would not be unusual in an election year
for there to be a further increase.
I hope not.
Because what's different this year?
It is that we are all very much aware
of what was said to be a toxic political atmosphere.
Whether or not that was or is still true,
we are now in the midst of the political culture problem,
led by the Centre for Governance and Scrutiny.
Many of you attended their first workshop.
Two weeks ago I attended the second one as an observer.
During that session it was agreed to adopt a Pledge of Future Behaviour.
I'm looking forward to doing whatever I can to help you in developing that at the next workshop
when I'll be speaking and seeing how it will work with the Code of Conduct.
Once again, I would like to thank members of the committee and officers for their support
in our work.
Mr Speaker, I shall be happy to respond to comments and questions.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Thank you.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 3:00:58
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 3:01:04
Can I ask, um, um, Koulav Mayim Talib to formally propose, um, the report?
You have three minutes.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
Cllr Maium Talukdar - 3:01:11
I would like to propose we go to a vote, uh, due to your mindful of the time and also can
Can we take the three reports in one go?
Four reports, sorry, four reports.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 3:01:22
Any seconder?
I formally second, Mr Speaker.
Thank you.
Yeah, this, yeah, it's agreed.
Okay, so we...
I will pass it to the Democratic Service.
Thank you, Matthew.
Thank you, Mr Speaker.
We will move quickly through the votes.
Mr Matthew Mannion - 3:01:57
The first item we are on is the Annual Report of the Standards Advisory Committee.
So does full Council agree to the recommendation in the report to note the Annual Report of
the Standards Advisory Committee?
Okay.
Moving backwards then to 9 .1.
This was the statement of gambling policy.

9 a) Statement of Gambling Policy 2025 - 2028

Do members agree to the recommendations to agree the revised gambling policy and agree
that the current no casino resolution remains?
Okay.
Brilliant.

10 a) Appointment of the Independent Chair of the Audit Committee

We will now move on to 10 .1, which is about the appointment of the independent chair of
the Audit Committee.
Do Council agree the recommendation in the exempt appendix to appoint the named individual
in that?
No decision of the monitoring officer to postpone the next meeting and thank Charlotte Webster
for her work on the committee up to now.
One more to go.

10 b) Localism Act 2011 and approval of exit payments

Which is 10 .2, which was the Localism Act, approval of exit payments and does Council
agree the exit payments as set out in the report and the appendix and the contractual
and pension rules.
Okay, in that case I turn back to the speaker to close the meeting.
We don't do questions, we don't do motions.
Cllr Suluk Ahmed - 3:03:21
Thank you.
I think we've come to the end.
And I want to thank you all for taking part.
Now we close the meeting. Thank you.
Mr Matthew Mannion
Head of Democratic Services
Tower Hamlets
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