Knife crime and corruption occupy the minds of East End voters in local elections

Labour is battling it out with smaller parties in Tower Hamlets, where memories of disgraced mayor Lutfur Rahman are still fresh
Tower Hamlets election candidate Rabina Khan speaking to mechanic Christopher Paul

"There was a stabbing just down the road and a shooting, I’m very scared my children will get mixed up in what goes on around here,” says Ashraf Ali.

The 46-year-old black-cab driver has lived in Mile End for six years and says community safety is one of the things he will be thinking about when he goes to cast his vote tomorrow.

“Last month my 15-year-old son was walking home from the mosque and heard loud bangs. The next day we read there was a shooting at Mile End station. It is worrying.”

After two men in their twenties were shot outside the Tube station Mr Ali helped set up Mile End Community Forum, which has asked the seven Tower Hamlets mayoral candidates to sign a pledge that they will tackle violent crime if elected.

Residents are voting for councillors in all 20 of the borough’s wards, as well as casting a ballot for a directly elected mayor who will lead the council.

“I’ll be voting Labour,” says Mr Ali. “I’m hard on the party and everything isn’t perfect but they are the ones that can sort it out. At the moment I’m looking over my shoulder, worrying about my children. It is the community that is suffering. We need a party that can be strong on crime.”

Tower Hamlets council has been led by Labour mayor John Biggs since 2015 and has faced significant challenges. In the last year violent crime has increased by about four per cent, according to police figures, and the borough has the highest rate of child poverty in the country. In 2017 an Ofsted report condemned its child services as inadequate.

Former mayor Lutfur Rahman is backing the Aspire party  
Nigel Howard

“There is nothing for kids to do around here”, says Tania Happe, 49, who grew up in Mile End. “We used to have more youth clubs. There was a club that took kids from different postcodes and got them all to mix from a young age.

“Then there was less of this E2 and E3 gang problem because they all knew each other as kids. But everything lost funding. Now what is there? Canary Wharf? Everything there costs money. I’ve not made my mind up about who’s getting my vote yet. Politicians all promise you the world. I can’t decide who will deliver.”

Rabina Khan, leader of the independent People’s Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH), says her experience as a community worker and mother of three makes her the right woman for the job. “There are two things people on the doorstep are worried about here — housing and crime,” says the Bengali councillor as she canvasses a social housing close in Poplar.

“There is a problem with young boys and gangs and we need to address that. I know what it’s like to be a working mum. Mums are worried, they are scared. I spoke to a woman who said the only thing she is more afraid of than her son being a victim of knife crime, is him being the perpetrator.”

When the Standard meets Ms Khan she is speaking to Christopher Paul, a self-taught mechanic who runs a motorbike-building club for young people. “I just set this up to keep my little brother out of trouble,” said Mr Paul. “We have about five lads coming regularly and it keeps them off the streets. We don’t get any council money so it’s nice that Rabina has said she will support us.”

But when it comes to actually voting the 31-year-old has not yet made up his mind. “I think there was some dodginess before with the mayor,” he said. “I don’t know if I’m going to vote yet. I might just stay out of it.” The “dodginess” refers to former mayor Lutfur Rahman, who was removed from office in 2015 after an election court found he was personally involved in corrupt practices and misusing council funds.

''A woman said the only thing she is more afraid of than her son being a knife victim, is him being a perpetrator''

Ms Khan was a member of Mr Rahman’s Tower Hamlets First party and cabinet member for housing. Despite being banned from politics until 2021 Mr Rahman helped launch another independent party, Aspire, and is supporting his former deputy, Ohid Ahmed, for mayor.

In the election that followed Mr Rahman’s removal, Ms Khan lost to Mr Biggs by fewer than 1,500 votes, with second preference votes securing his victory. Labour has 22 seats on the council, Aspire 10, PATH seven, and other parties seven. Mr Biggs says, lightheartedly, that if he loses at least he will get some sleep. “I’m working 80 hours a week, it is exhausting,” he told the Standard. “But I know I’m the right person for this job. Without being arrogant, I’m the only [candidate] who can do this job.

“I inherited a council where a lot of services were in crisis and we are still turning that around.”

Labour candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets John Biggs in Whitechapel 
NIGEL HOWARD

He insists the borough can only lose its corrupt reputation if the different parties stop the “divisive politics” that was “too common in the Rahman era”. He adds: “We need a mayor that is going to stand up for all communities.”

Of the seven mayoral candidates, three are former Labour councillors — including Conservative Dr Anwara Ali, who defected in 2010. However, defections and suspensions are not uncommon in Tower Hamlets.

Maium Miah was first elected in 2010 as a Conservative before running under the Tower Hamlets First banner in 2014. On May 3 he is standing for Aspire in Canary Wharf. “Aspire is for the people of Tower Hamlets,” he said. “We represent everyone, all communities.”

But Mr Rahman’s administration cannot be forgotten by some voters. Reema Mohammadi, 25, from Poplar, says she will be supporting Labour. “I don’t know who is going to win but I want to vote for a national party. There was so much that went wrong with the independents last time, my vote is safer with Labour.”

To avoid accusations of election corruption this time the council is implementing some of the toughest anti-fraud measures in Britain, including a police officer and exclusion zones at polling stations, and checks on households where over five voters are registered.

Local elections: All you need to know

Tower Hamlets is using the Government’s anti-fraud postal vote pilot. Each voter’s form is scanned through a computer where the signature is checked against their postal application.