PATH took another step forward this week, as the Electoral Commission approved its application to register as a political party. The People’s Alliance of Tower Hamlets (PATH) is now on the Great Britain register of political parties in England.
PATH Leader Cllr Rabina Khan welcomed the approval, saying, “This gives our coalition of long serving councillors and grassroots activists the platform we need to challenge Mayor Biggs’s record of service decline and failure. Never again can this borough fail Ofsted. Never again can we have bribery scandals on our planning committee. Never again can we top the league tables for rat infestations. Tower Hamlets needs a people’s mayor.”
Cllr Khan has set out the broad brushstrokes of what a PATH People’s Mayor would work for: •a fairer and more secure borough where everyone can succeed, regardless of race, gender or background; •tackling the housing crisis head on; •addressing violent crime – in particular the increase in gun, knife and acid attacks; one which invests in education, young people, teachers and social workers in order to engage with a generation of disenfranchised and disillusioned young people.
Cllr Khan understands the struggles and needs of the local community. She has spent her adult life in Tower Hamlets working with disadvantaged parts of the community and then representing them on the Council – and helping with individual problems at surgeries. Living here and bringing up a family has given her a user’s-eye view on Council services – a perspective she has not lost in her years on the Council.
PATH is a coalition of people similarly rooted in the community – whom Cllr Khan has brought together. A victim of knife crime; women who see the Council kicking away the last props of support which used to help them care for disabled children; people who have devoted their lives to bringing up the borough’s young people in safety and aspiration – PATH has not only brought them together, but has also helped them to realise what they have in common.
Cllr Khan has stressed that PATH is looking to the future. “The population of Tower Hamlets is set to have the most rapid growth of all London boroughs and is projected to increase to 364,500 by the year 2026,” she said, “but unfortunately the chances of our borough’s pressing issues being addressed under Mayor Biggs’s Administrations are slim. He is cutting basic services, spending fewer resources on our young people and neglecting the vulnerable and elderly in our community.
“PATH is focussing on building a brighter future the borough in which we live and work. Tower Hamlets is a borough that needs change at the top to bring us a renewed sense of hope which can only be achieved through local people feeling protected and well served in the uncertainty of this Brexit era.”
•Read more about it: Rabina calls for stronger anti-knife crime strategy Rabina slams Bungle-Biggs on housing plans
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