by Hugo Pierre, Tower Hamlets Socialist Party and TUSC mayoral candidate in Tower Hamlets
New figures just released show what has been known for some time – Tower Hamlets in east London has the highest proportion of children living in poverty in the country. What a shame on the heads of all the establishment politicians – over 50% of the borough’s children live in deprivation. Of course Tory austerity is to blame, but locally Labour politicians and, unfortunately, Aspire councillors have pushed through cuts to council services that have blighted the lives of many families.
The previous Labour administration privatised the council’s nurseries, a service that could have given a good start to thousands of children born in the borough. Unfortunately the Aspire council has not returned the service back to the council. This at a time when childcare costs are a major outgoing. The council could provide free childcare to families if it once again ran and controlled nurseries. It could open up more in schools and community centres around the borough with professionally qualified staff at trade union rates of pay.
But the housing crisis is the major factor contributing to child poverty. The borough is the most densely populated in the UK, has the highest level of overcrowding and thousands of families living temporary accommodation. There are 25,000 people on the housing waiting list even after the council has restricted who can get onto it.
Councillors have failed to build council homes in the borough. Instead, greedy developers get plans approved for unaffordable housing, especially in areas like the Isle of Dogs where they can build sky-high and rent or sell sky-high! They may promise the council ‘social’ or ‘affordable’ housing then renege on that promise as soon as building starts.
We say build 3,000 council homes a year! There is a lot of building development going on but very few young people, who pay on average the fifth highest rents in the country, can afford to buy. Many are staying in ex-council homes and paying three or four times the rent of their council tenant neighbours living next door. Housing Associations have also joined the development bug as they look to exploit the homes they took over from the council and the value of land by building for commercial rents.
Socialist Party members have campaigned with tenants and residents to stop this profiteering on the Isle of Dogs and in other parts of the borough. However the council continues to approve developments of little or no value to local working-class people. The borough’s population has shot up by 20% in ten years while the housing waiting list has grown.
The mayor, Lutfur Rahman, has made some reforms that have helped – free adult social care, free school meals for all school children etc. However, the cuts made to the council’s budget have limited the real progress the council could make. The cuts also play a divisive role, allowing stories to circulate that the mayor’s party favours one section of the community over another.
The mayor’s party, Aspire, has no organisation beyond the elected and prospective councillors. This government has vindictively targeted this former Labour stronghold with auditors and other officials watching the mayor’s every move. Rather than fight for the resources the borough is in desperate need of, the mayor is collaborating with these officials and introducing spending restrictions on departments.
The TUSC campaign in the borough is being met with enthusiasm where we get our message across. The need for a mass campaign involving the trade unions, tenants’ organisations and community campaigners to win resources for the council to improve services for working-class people is getting an echo, especially among young people.
Read more: ‘Editorial: Should socialists be standing in Tower Hamlets?’.