New TH Labour Leader speaks first to ELN

James Frankcom: Josh Peck was elected by Labour councillors as their new group leader on Tower Hamlets council on Monday. In the same elections Motin uz-Zaman was elected the deputy leader. Josh replaces Helal Uddin Abbas who chose not to run again. In his first interview since becoming leader Josh Peck talks exclusively to the East London News. Fresh from the vote he told us, “Leading the Labour Group of councillors is an enormous privilege and a hard job. I will build on the good work done in the last year – 600 childcare places for example – but I’ll also be my own man. I want to spend a lot of time on the ground in the community making sure Labour’s message is heard.” Slamming the new government’s policies and the negative effect he believes they’ll have on Tower Hamlets he told the readers of the East London News, “Tower Hamlets is under attack from this Conservative/Liberal Democrat government – destroying the NHS, putting decent homes out of reach of many of our families and slashing funding for public services. Our job as Labour councillors is to fight these cuts as hard as we can.”He added, “We need to make sure that the impacts in a borough like Tower Hamlets are properly understood – with high levels of deprivation and very high housing rents for example, the Housing Benefit changes will force many families out – we need to come up with new policies [to deliver] good quality public services despite these vicious cuts.”Cllr. Peck received 61% support among the Labour councillors in what was a convincing win over his nearest rival, Cllr. David Edgar, who achieved 39% support. Commentators on local politics have claimed that David Edgar had the backing of Ken Livingstone and, it follows, may have been more inclined to support the eventual re-admission of Mayor Rahman into the Labour Party. With his defeat and the strong support shown to Josh Peck – who it is believed would oppose such a move – this now seems less likely, at least in the short or medium term.With reference to the issue of infiltration of the Tower Hamlets Labour Party by groups such as those identified by Channel 4’s controversial Despatches programme, Josh Peck told us, “In the past a small number of people have joined [Tower Hamlets Labour Party] for other reasons and this is unacceptable. The Labour Party will continue to work to ensure that only genuine members, who share Labour values, are part of our party.” Looking back on events over the past six months including Labour’s defeat in the battle to be Tower Hamlets mayor and the more recent loss of a by-election in Spitalfields, Cllr Peck blamed these calamities on the negative effects of internal infighting. Under his leadership he promised to refocus all the party’s efforts on re-engaging with the community and fighting on the issues that are hurting them now.“I want to continue building Labour membership in this borough – we are already one of the biggest local parties in the country and there are many Labour supporters in our community that we should encourage to join. But people must only join our party because they share our values and want to help deliver improvements to our borough.” When we asked Josh whether he would be standing against Mayor Rahman in a future mayoral contest he simply told us, “That’s three years away and I’m focussed on the job that needs doing today.”Councillor Josh Peck has represented the people of Bow West since 2006. The full results of the election for the Labour Group Executive, the organisation of Labour councillors at Tower Hamlets who currently form the majority in the council chamber, are;• Leader – Josh Peck (Bow West)• Deputy Leader  Motin uz-Zaman (Mile End East)• Chair of Group – Cllr Carli Harper-Penman (Bow East)• Chief Whip – Cllr Anwar Khan (Bow West)• Secretary – Cllr Judith Gardiner (St. Dunstan’s & Stepney Green) • Media and communications – Cllr Shiria Khatun (East India & Lansbury)• Policy and campaigns – Cllr Bill Turner (Mile End and Globe Town)• Party liaison – Cllr Lesley Pavitt (Bethnal Green South)In addition to these political positions the Labour candidate for Chair of the Council (who chairs council meetings and replaces the old civic mayor) is Cllr. Mizan Chaudhury who represents Bethnal Green South. Chaudhury’s nomination must be approved by the Full Council when it meets on 18th May.