350 + turnout to last night’s community safety meeting, organised by the Limehouse Community Forum (LCF).

Mayor Biggs, Commander Williams, DS Mike Stubbins, Inspector Fran Reynolds, Cllr Begam and Anne Corbet from Tower Hamlets were on the panel, chaired by Conor McDonnell, Limehouse’s Ward Panel Chair.

To give some early context to the purpose of the meeting and why it was called so promptly into the New Year is down the recent spike in violent crime and anti-social behaviour. This new crime wave led to the creation of Operation Naga and DS Stubbins informed the community that 35 crimes had been linked in recent weeks. Victims range from as young as 12, up to 60. However, only 5 arrests have been made since the launch of Operation Naga.

Liberal Democrat Member of the London Assembly, Caroline Pidgeon, writes to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police Force following allegations of corruption in Tower Hamlets 

In December Tower Hamlets was in the news for all the wrong reasons again. On 10 December The Times reported on "secret recordings apparently connecting a Labour council to an alleged £2m corruption scandal" (BBC, 10 Dec 2017).

A police investigation was launched, but following the failings of the investigation into the 2014 elections in Tower Hamlets, fears were raised that the bribery case may not be properly investigated. In light of this Caroline Pidgeon has written to the Commissioner of the Metropolitan Police seeking clarity.

Almost 2,350 academics from the EU have resigned from UK universities in the past year, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. That’s up 19% from 1,975 two years ago (i.e. before the Brexit vote), and up 10% from 1,938 last year.

Police in the Greater London Authority are facing a real-terms cut of £23M in 2018, the Liberal Democrats have revealed.

Before Christmas the government announced that core funding for police budgets will remain exactly the same this year as in 2017.

Taking into account inflation, that means police in London will face a real-terms cut of £23.33m.

1667 patients in area have faced waits of half-an-hour of more in ambulances outside A&E so far this winter, Liberal Democrat analysis has revealed. Of these, 286 faced waits of over an hour.
 
In the week to 31^st December, 1381 patients faced waits of over half an hour and 286 spent at least an hour waiting in ambulances outside A&E.

Over 100 homes in Tower Hamlets have been sitting empty for two years or more, research by the Liberal Democrats has revealed. 

The figures, uncovered through Freedom of Information requests, show that there are over 210,000 homes across the country that have been empty for six months or more. Of these, 61,251 had been empty for two years or more, 23,596 for five years or more, and over 10,900 have stood empty for at least ten years.

The Liberal Democrats have criticised local Labour MP Jim Fitzpatrick for failing to stand up for jobs in Tower Hamlets by refusing to back a crucial amendment to defend Britain's place in the single market.

Thank you to all the local residents who have contacted us following our recent news story about Wapping’s slow broadband speed.  A large number of you are rightly angry about the poor service from broadband providers. What we need to do now is build a 'map' of broadband quality across Wapping. Please help us by filling in our survey.

As residents of Wapping, we were all shocked and saddened by the recent death of a pedestrian on The Highway. This is a terrible incident, and our thoughts are with his family and friends. Tower Hamlets Lib Dems have been fighting for more action on road safety, and it is sad that this has not happened in time to avoid this loss of life.

Amber Rudd has told police she does not want to see them “asking for more money” from the Government, despite a major increase in recorded crime and an unprecedented terror threat.