Tower Hamlets Independent Councillors were stunned at last week’s Council meeting as John “Two Jobs” Biggs moved quickly to cordon off his rule as mayor of Tower Hamlets from independent scrutiny. He made sure all the top jobs were kept for his Labour pals.
Every Council in the country has an Overview and Scrutiny Committee (O&S) to keep an eye on the executive body. Under Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Administration, the Chair of Tower Hamlets O&S was always a Labour Councillor. Now the Labour Mayor John Biggs has given the Chair of O&S to his Labour pal Cllr John Pierce. The two Johns both sit in the Labour Group of Councillors – so John Biggs’s policies will be scrutinised by one of the men who sat in the same Group making up the policies in the first place. The new way of doing things was hatched up at the same meeting of the Labour Group of Councillors which decided which of their members would be getting top jobs working for John Biggs at the Town Hall.
The Labour Group were very consistent when Lutfur Rahman was mayor in stating that the mayor should be open to independent scrutiny. They would go on and on (and on and on) about how they wanted Mayor Lutfur Rahman to come to Overview & Scrutiny Committee meetings so that they could question him direct – and they were furious when he did not do so. John Biggs promised to put an end to all that and pledged to attend Overview & Scrutiny. This will clearly be a very easy commitment for him to keep, as he is unlikely to face probing questioning about his policies from a councillor who was in the room when he made the policies in the first place.
Cllr Oli Rahman, Leader of Independent Group, said: “During the campaign, John Biggs talked about transparency, openness, accountability and a fresh start in local politics… The part-time Labour mayor of Tower Hamlets, John Biggs, is now refusing to be scrutinised in the Council… What is John Biggs, the Labour Party and their chums in local the Tory Party, afraid of?”
Cllr Rabina Khan, Independent candidate who came a close second to John Biggs in the mayoral election, said: “We will continue to fight for the people of Tower Hamlets, and we will do that by holding John Biggs and his Labour cabinet to account. We are a local grassroots political movement and our focus is very much on the welfare of the community, not on building our careers in Westminster politics. “Despite operating under the full brunt of Tory cuts, we will be leaving behind a legacy of services, the fate of which, lies in the hands of John Biggs and his Labour cabinet.”