Overground services must improve, mayors and MPs demand
The mayors and MPs for Hackney and Tower Hamlets have written to Transport for London Commissioner Mike Brown to demand that Overground services at Hackney stations improve, after increasing reports from local people of delays and cancellations that make it harder for them to get around. Trains are also reported to be missing Hackney stations […]
Tower Hamlets Council opposes London City Airport growth proposals
Tower Hamlets Council members have agreed a motion in opposition to London City Airport growth proposals. The motion was debated at a full council meeting on Wednesday 18th September. Members criticised the environmental damage that would be done through any increases in operations and highlighted the detrimental impact that the airport has on residents living […]
Tower Hamlets Council condemns Government over special needs funding crisis
At a meeting of the full council (18th September 2019), Tower Hamlets Council overwhelmingly passed a motion criticising the government over its record on special educational needs and disabilities (SEND) services. The government’s funding for these services has failed to keep pace with rapidly rising demand, leaving local councils across the UK to pick up […]
Mayor Biggs backs ‘Cover the Cost’ campaign
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has backed a new campaign from the homelessness charity Crisis, calling for the government to urgently address the gap between Local Housing Allowance rates and private sector rents. Local Housing Allowance (LHA) rates are set by the government and are used to calculate Housing Benefit for tenants renting from private […]
Mayor Biggs calls for tuition fees to be scrapped as UK student loan debt soars
New analysis of official government projections shows that the total interest being racked up by graduates on their student loan debt is set to rise to £8.6 billion in 2024, an increase of £4.2 billion. Figures published by the Department for Education on student loan repayments show that almost all the rise in accrued interest […]
EU citizens’ rights must not be used as ‘bargaining chips’
The Mayor of Tower Hamlets has written to the Prime Minister calling on him to safeguard the rights of the 41,000 non-UK EU citizens’ who live in Tower Hamlets. The letter criticises the government for using the rights of EU citizens’ as ‘bargaining chips’ and calls on these rights to be taken ‘off the table’. […]
Special needs services now ‘at a tipping point’ warn London boroughs
Council cabinet members with responsibility for children’s services across London have co-signed a cross-party letter calling for an end to the funding crisis in Special Educational Needs and Disabilities (SEND) services. The initiative, led by Tower Hamlets Councillor Danny Hassell, sees 26 London boroughs warn the government that ‘we have now reached a tipping point’ […]
‘Dangerous’ NHS hostile environment policy must end
Mayor John Biggs and Dr Jackie Applebee, the chair of the Local Medical Committee for Tower Hamlets, have written to the Secretary of State for Health to warn that the Government’s ‘hostile environment’ policies in relation to the NHS may lead to ‘dangerous situations.’ The policies mean that hospitals must check whether patients are eligible […]
Drug-related deaths hit record levels in England as Prime Minister’s spending pledges ring hollow
New figures from the Office for National Statistics (ONS) show that drug-related deaths last year hit the highest level since records began in 1993. 4,359 people died from drug poisoning in England and Wales in 2018, up 16% from 2017. The ONS figures reveal that in Tower Hamlets drug-related deaths (covering drug poisoning and drug […]
Mayor Biggs attacks government ‘obsessed with no-deal Brexit’
Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs has criticised the government for driving the country towards a no-deal Brexit while at the same time leaving councils out of crucial work to prepare their residents for the possible outcome. New figures show the government is ploughing five times more money into ‘propaganda’ on a no deal Brexit […]
