What I have achieved in my five years
I have twice been elected Mayor of Tower Hamlets. Each time I have promised to serve the people, and each time I have delivered.
Education
Invested £380 M
My administration oversaw the building of new schools, like Bow School and St Paul’s Way School. 1,575 additional school spaces were created and improved quality of learning quickly became recognised nationwide. We introduced free school meals in primary schools, and provided Education Maintenance Awards of £400 for A-Level students. To help our students’ make the most of higher education, we also introduced Higher Education Awards, granting each student £1,500 per year.
This legacy must be revived! Our schools have slipped down the league table, with one of neighbouring Newham’s sixth-forms sending more children to Oxbridge than all of our sixth-forms put together.
Youth Services
48 YOUTH CENTRES
Youth services and education go hand-in-hand, and that’s why when I was Mayor, I made it a priority to invest in youth services and children’s centres. We delivered 48 youth centres across the borough, which has since been cut to 8. On top of the core budget, we set aside £10m a year (since, reduced to £2m) for in-house coordinated curriculum-based services, youth services, new youth centres and children’s centres.This legacy must be revived! Our schools have slipped down the league table, with one of neighbouring Newham’s sixth-forms sending more children to Oxbridge than all of our sixth-forms put together.
Housing
8,590 NEW HOMES
While in administration, we built more social and affordable homes than any other local authority in the UK—with 5,590 delivered and a further 3,000 in the pipeline. Over 3,000 overcrowded families were successfully rehoused, and our £168m Decent Homes programme saw every council home in the borough renovated for comfort and energy efficiency — 26,000 in total. Everybody deserves a decent place to call home!
Crime & Safety
55 EXTRA POLICE
Our young people are at risk every day because of the current Labour administration’s failings. Drug and knife crime are rampant and must be stopped.
When I was Mayor, we delivered £2.2m to fund an extra 55 dedicated local police officers, and 1,230 drug dealers were arrested under our ‘Dealer a Day’ initiative, seizing almost £200,000-worth of drugs.