Mayor Biggs responds to Chancellor’s spending review
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has responded to the government’s comprehensive spending review consultation, outlining the impact of continuing austerity on the council’s finances. Mayor Biggs highlighted that Tower Hamlets has already made savings of £190m since 2010 and has budgeted to make a further £30m worth of savings over the next three […]
Mayor Biggs & Cllr Blake write to Health Secretary about Gov’s testing failure
Mayor John Biggs and Deputy Mayor Councillor Rachel Blake have written to the Health Secretary Matt Hancock MP about the government’s failure to provide adequate Covid-19 tests for residents in Tower Hamlets. The government promised a ‘world-beating’ Test and Trace programme so that if people show symptoms of COVID-19 they can be tested as soon […]
Letter to Matt Hancock – Test & Trace
Letter to Matt Hancock MP, Secretary of State for Health and Social Care, from the Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs and Deputy Mayor Cllr Rachel Blake Dear Secretary of State We are very concerned at the failure of the government to provide adequate Covid-19 tests that our residents can easily access. Looking online today […]
Mayor Biggs backs Gordon Brown’s Alliance for Full Employment
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has backed the ‘Alliance for Full Employment’, a campaign launched last week by former British Prime Minister Gordon Brown calling for nationwide economic recovery policies that can prevent rapidly-rising redundancies and unemployment as the furlough scheme winds down. The campaign calls on the Government to extend economic support […]
Mayor Biggs calls on Government to scrap benefit cap to avoid evictions crisis for private tenants
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has urged the Government to use the brief extension of the evictions ban to scrap the benefit cap, which is pushing thousands of families into rent arrears and debt. The benefit cap, which limits the total amount of money that can be received through benefits, was introduced in 2013. The […]
Mayor John Biggs calls for government to extend support for businesses
Mayor John Biggs today wrote to the Chancellor and called for him to step in and extend support for businesses hit by the economic impact of Coronavirus. In the same week the furlough scheme started to be wound up, the Mayor highlighted his concerns that the ‘one-size fits all’ approach from the government of removing […]
Mayor backs ‘Time Out to Help Out’ campaign and calls for self-isolation to be recognised as a civic duty
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has backed a new national campaign ‘Time Out to Help Out’ which would see workers continue to be paid their full normal wage if they are requested to self-isolate under the NHS Test and Trace system. Many of those who are asked to self-isolate and who cannot work […]
Mayor demands support for higher and further education sector following exams fiasco
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has called on the Prime Minister to provide urgent support for the higher and further education sector following the ‘entirely avoidable’ exams fiasco. This week the Government eventually performed a U-turn over exam grades and announced that teachers’ predicted grades would be used to award GCSEs and A […]
Mayor slams Government over plans to scrap Public Health England during a pandemic
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has branded the Government’s decision to scrap Public Health England (PHE) during the Covid-19 pandemic as ‘irresponsible and astonishing’. The Government’s plans, first announced in a Sunday newspaper, will see the ex-boss of the TalkTalk mobile phone company Dido Harding take control of a new agency called the ‘National Institute […]
Time running out for private renters as eviction ban ends this week and Universal Credit claims soar
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has made a last-ditch appeal to the Government to bring in additional protections for private renters before the eviction ban is lifted at the end of this week (23rd August). Although the Scottish and Welsh governments have moved to increase protections for private renters, there have been no […]
