AN EXECUTIVE MAYOR is accountable to the public who elected them, rather than to the Council. Nonetheless, the Mayor is alloted six minutes every meeting to address the Council. That’s about half an hour a year, or two hours each term of office.
The Councillors have to savour the moment. They are not allowed to ask the Mayor any questions, so they just have to put up with what they hear.
At the January meeting of the Council, the Mayor began by thanking the young singers who had come in to celebrate the Children’s Services Ofsted result. He welcomed the envoy whom the Government had sent to help the Council improve and looked forward to working with the envoy and his two assistant envoys. (He didn’t say if he was looking forward to finding the millions in the Council budget that the envoys’ help will cost, but Mayor Rahman is a positive man who will probably take that challenge in his stride.)
The Mayor then referred to the Council’s pension fund, subject of a motion later on the agenda, which called for the Council to audit where it is investing its pension funds – and welcomed the discussion. Then he changed up a gear.
Mayor Rahman told councillors that he was preparing the Budget for 2025/26, which will come to the Council next month. Its central theme is that the people of Tower Hamlets come first. He and Cllr Saied Ahmed, Cabinet Member for Resources, are looking forward to presenting it to the Council. (The public are probably looking forward, even more, to Cllr Marc Francis returning to the front benches and telling Lutfur he’s got it all wrong. It’s a big ask, but they are sure Cllr Francis is up to it – and, of course, up for it.)
The Mayor began with a reminder of his latest measure to combat the cuts of the Labour Government and support those local residents on whose heads the Labour axe is falling. The Mayor’s Winter Fuel Payments have gone to over 2,500 pensioners already and the deadline for applications was in two days’ time. “Those who have given so much need support in their time of need,” said the Mayor. Not only have we had the Winter Fuel Payments: Meals on Wheels, discussed at the last Council meeting, are coming.
Mayor Rahman said he was proud of the “outstanding” Offsted result. This is a marked improvement on the last rating of the Service (that was under the Labour Administration) and demonstrates how this Council is improving service delivery and resident satisfaction. He hoped his Administration can build on this in other services. He thanked the Chief Executive, the Corporate Director and the Deputy Mayor, who have all worked tirelessly to improve Children’s Services in the Borough.
Councillor Amy Lee then responded on behalf of the Labour opposition. Labour was not there in numbers: nearly half a dozen of their councillors had given apologies and there seemed to be under a dozen Labour councillors present.
Cllr Lee began by sending her best wishes to Labour Group Leader Cllr Siraj Islam, who was ill and whose absence had put her in the hot seat this Council. She went on to say that the Ofsted result was fantastic news and testament to the hard work of officers and stakeholders and partners. No thanks to the Deputy Mayor or the Chief Executive, then – but they had probably had enough thanks for one meeting.
Addressing the question of the Council’s Budge, Cllr Lee welcomed the news that the Government was handing out more money to Councils, especially money to tackle homelessness. (Perhaps the Government is using the money it has saved from the Winter Fuel Allowance – Cllr Lee didn’t say.) This won’t reverse 14 years of austerity, Cllr Lee admitted, so the Labour Gorup will be pressing the Government. She hoped that they would support financial settlements which would allow Councils to set three-year budgets.
Cllr Lee then welcomed the ceasefire in Middle East and she hoped we would now see a sustainable ceasefire. What a shame that the Leader of her Party had so resolutely refused even to call for a ceasefire in late 2023, then: ending the military attack on Gaza (and Lebanon, Syria and Iran) could have saved thousands of lives. Still, better late than never – and, by extension, better very, very late than on time.
Finally Cllr Lee welcomed the Government’s envoy and looked forward to working with him She said that “this side” is committed to improving the Council – echoing how MPs refer to each other, but not clarifying whether she meant “Labour” or “all Councillors who are not Aspire members”. Is Labour in coalition with the Green, the Tory and the Lost Sheep or not? We think we should be told. When she’s worked that out, Cllr Lee can take a moment to remember that the envoy is present to support the Council in improving – not to support Labour or the whole opposition to knock a popular Mayor.
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