21.16 Kathy McTasney said there had been many rumours and fingers being pointed: which organisations receive mainstream funding, and is it just Bengladeshi and Somali groups? Cllr Chowdhury said that funding was given out in response to need. Most funding went to groups which served the whole borough. He read a list of groups which had been funded such as Age Concern and the CAB, and pointed out that the PwC report had said there was no bias. Kathy asked when, then, MPs and some councillors had suggested that grants were given on a biased basis, as it was stirring racial tension. Cllr Chowdhury came back suggesting that the red Tories and blue Labour were working together to stir up tension, which was a great disservice to the community.
21.14 A Mr Uddin asked if rumours were true, that Eric Pickles was sending in a hit squad to run Tower Hamlets schools. Cllr Chowdhury said that initial indications were that commissioners were not coming to take over the Council but to support the Council running good services. Mr Uddin wondered what would happen if commissioners tried to undermine the mayor. Cllr Chowdhury (with much heckling from the Labour benches) said that there would be transparency.
21.11 John Allison asked if Council services were being affected by the audit process. Cllr Chowdhury said that despite no fraud being found, commissioners were coming in and we did not know if they were coming to help or hinder us. It was worrying, but the Administration would be resilient and try to ensure resident services were run well. John came back saying he was astonished that councillors were spending so much time on negative campaigning when the mayor was essentially doing so well with services. Cllr Chowdhury agreed.
21.07 Mickey Ambrose asked what the police had found and Cllr Chowdhury replied they had found nothing to prosecute. Mickey came back, asking if there should be an apology from anyone here who did not support the mayoral administration, because it was causing the name of Tower Hamlets to be run through the mud – he was going to sporting awards soon and was fed up about everyone outside Tower Hamlets thinking badly of our borough. Cllr Chowdhury agreed that the opposition was in effect punishing the community for their own failure at the ballot box.
21.05 Stephen Becket asked if anyone knew why Eric Pickles had sent in PwC. Cllr Alibor Chowdhury replied that it was a party political move of those who had lost the election. Stephen asked if the move had also been inspired by Islamophobia and a desire to counter the UKIP agenda. Cllr Chowdhury then gave a list of Tory Councils where failings had been found – which confirmed these motivations.
21.02 Stuart Madewell has asked if the Mayor can negotiate the commissioners’ costs. Cllr Alibor Chowdhury answered that the costs will be decided by Eric Pickles – presumably with as little transparency as Eric Pickles allowed when he procured the services of PwC in the first place. Stuart came back and said that as the Labour Group support the Commissioners, he wondered whether they also supported the cost to this borough – not least because their Party had ignored poor performance such as the neglect over safeguarding children in Rotherham. Cllr Chowdhury hoped that Eric Pickles would be transparent over the ongoing costs.
21.00 We have finally reached questions from the public. Terry McGrenera has put the first one. He has asked the Council to consider having a different way of chairing meetings. At the moment, the Speaker is appointed on party political grounds, on the basis of patronage really – without any scrutiny of whether the person chosen is competent. Cllr Khan has replied that it is not in her gift to change the system: the opposition, Labour, will have to endure the majority vote in the borough, which is the result of the democratic process.
20.50 When Cllr Saunders became Leader of the Labour Group, she said that Council business must be conducted in an orderly manner. However, she has just moved that a second emergency motion be taken: this one on the Ofsted Report into Sir John Cass and six Muslim schools. At this rate, this meeting of the Council will not discuss any of the prepared business but will just be a party political canter through the topical issues of the day. Tower Hamlets First and Labour have just voted together (!) to debate the motion (Tories abstaining).
Cllr Saunders is now moving the motion. As usual, she speaks so fast that it is difficult to follow the content of what she says. She has made a strange point about people probably expecting the whole debate tonight to be about PwC, but wanted the Ofsted issue raised too. Although the motion handed round is seconded by Cllr Danny Hassell, it is Cllr Shiria Khatun who is speaking as seconder. The motion notes that the Council has no power over independent schools.
Cllr Alibor Chowdhury has indicated general support for the motion, but is amending it to include the names of the independent schools referred to. Cllr Rabina Khan has also moved an amendment to add in that there is no evidence of a “Trojan Horse” takeover, as rumoured in Birmingham, in any of these schools.
Labour and Tower Hamlets First have now passed the emergency motion, with the Tories abstaining. It is not really clear what it is trying to do.