Cllr Marc Francis

New from the IPPR: Fairer gambling taxes could raise the £3.2 billion needed to fully fund scrapping the two-child limit and benefit cap.

Tax changes would target high-stakes online gambling, slots and major betting firms – especially those based offshore.

Former PM Gordon Brown is backing it.

These KPIs from last week's Housing Management Committee show how far the service has deteriorated in past 3 years. The new leadership team is beginning to turn this around, but the data exposes Aspire's botched in-sourcing of THH and why Tower Hamlets Labour cllrs wanted proper cross-party scrutiny

Great to see work is now underway on the new council homes at the rear of Donegal House. These six new four-bed town houses were commissioned by Tower Hamlets Labour's Mayor in 2021 with funding from @sadiqkhanlondon.bsky.social. The Labour Govt's new £39 billion investment will deliver many more

Gordon Brown calls for gambling tax hikes to lift 500,000 kids out of poverty

Gordon Brown has piled pressure on the Government to drive down child poverty by hiking taxes on gambling giants.

Reader letter: Bow East Ward councillors on new Culturally Sensitive Substance Misuse Recovery Centre | Tower Hamlets Local Hub Its no surprise to see Green Councillor Nathalie Bienfait unconditionally backing Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s plans to create a ‘Culturally Sensitive

Thanks to ⁦@theslicetowham.bsky.social for publishing our concerns about Tower Hamlets Council’s refusal to engage with Bow residents before opening a Substance Misuse Recovery Centre in the old One Stop Shop or consider its impact on the high street + market. romanroadlondon.com/notices/read...

It is no wonder the Minister’s letter to the Envoys includes a sharp reminder of the fundamental change the Government expects to see, and the timeframe within which that should happen. Labour cllrs are demanding proper time is allocated to discuss this report at tomorrow’s Full Council meeting

Eight months after the Best Value inspection report revealed "serious failings" in the governance of Tower Hamlets Council + a "culture of patronage" under Mayor Rahman’s leadership, the Ministerial Envoys’ report that there has been plenty of activity but only very limited actual improvement so far

At our Full Council meeting on Weds, I will be asking why the Mayor is opening a 'substance misuse recovery centre' in Roman Road market without considering its impact on local businesses or speaking to any residents. No wonder hundreds are now supporting this petition www.change.org/p/stop-the-d...

Good meeting of Bow East Safer Neighbourhood Panel this week. Thanks to those local residents who came to talk about the issues in their streets/estates, and to the Metropolitan Police's Bow SNT for agreeing to increase patrols in those places and meet with some of Gateway Housing's residents too

A sharp warning to Tower Hamlets Council about the expectations of significant improvement too

Sorry to hear no-one has responded to your requests. Did you report it via the online portal or email? If the latter, please could you forward that to marc.francis@towerhamlets.gov.uk

At next week's Full Council, Tower Hamlets Labour cllrs will expose Mayor Lutfur Rahman's catalogue of failure on social housing. For three years, tenants, leaseholders, homeless/overcrowded families have been made big promises. And yet nothing has been delivered. Someone must be held accountable

And we will exempt newly built social homes from Right to Buy for 35 years, ensuring councils are not losing homes before they have recovered the costs of building them.

Have had confirmation there is no planning permission in place for the commercial events in Victoria Park. They are taking place under Permitted Development Rights, which allow for a max of 28 days. By my reckoning the structures will be there this summer for around 40 days. How is this lawful then?

Thanks to all those Bow residents who came to our meeting with @umakumaran.bsky.social MP yesterday to explain their concerns about Clarion Housing Group's services. The Regulator's investigation following their petition last year was inadequate and disrespectful. This needs to be looked at again

Looking forward to my first session back on LBTH's Development Committee tonight after a seven year absence. Interestingly, the application is to convert the vacant former Homeless Services offices on Roman Road ('Albert Jacob House') into 53 new council homes with commercial space at street level

Good to see Lord Cashman of Limehouse backing calls for reform to Housing Benefit subsidy regime for Temporary Accommodation. He + others at Neighbours in Poplar do great work with local homeless families. Hopefully some good news on this as well as the extra £39 billion for new social housing today

Rachel Reeves to unveils £39bn housing boost in spending review shake-up Chancellor promises biggest investment in social and affordable homes in a generation to hit 1.5m target

The Tories presided over a mass selling of our social housing, supercharging the Right to Buy and slashing grant funding.

I am proud of this Government reversing 14 years of decline, increasing housing spending by 50% and curtailing the Right to Buy.

www.theguardian.com/politics/202...

Seven of the 11 constituents in yesterday's advice surgey were homeless, overcrowded or need a move on medical grounds. This week's #SpendingReview2025 will provide a funding boost for new social housing. Mayor Rahman should apply for it instead of wasting more time/money on his failed Joint Venture

It is now nearly 3 years since Mayor Rahman & co. announced a new 'Joint Venture' to build "thousands of council homes". None of the deadlines for this project have been met and no brick has been laid. Every council home delivered since May 2022 was authorised by Tower Hamlets Labour's Mayor + cllrs

Watched this Cabinet sub-committee meeting earlier. To be fair, the reports published are clear about the poor quality of service currently and the Mayor asked some good questions. However, the exclusion of Opposition cllrs + absence of tenants means Aspire is marking its own homework. #NotBestValue

It’s time for Israel to halt its war of devastation in Gaza | Ehud Olmert The indiscriminate, cruel and criminal killing of civilians may see us be banished from the family of nations and summoned to the ICC, with no good defense

It’s time for Israel to halt its war of devastation in Gaza | Ehud Olmert

Today I submitted an Urgent Question on the situation in Gaza to Parliament which was selected but then upgraded to a ministerial statement.

This was my contribution 👇

The death and destruction in Gaza is only intensifying. We need concrete action to end the horror.

In Parliament today, I called on the Government to be firm on when they will sanction Netanyahu and other Israeli leaders for their role in atrocities in Gaza.

Nice to catch up with residents on St Stephens estate and especially to meet some who have moved into Mary Driscoll House. These excellent new council homes were commissioned by Tower Hamlets Labour's Mayor in 2019. Next week's #SpendingReview2025 must deliver the funding for many more to be built

Great to meet the teams at Chisenhale Art Place, Gallery + Dance Space this week. These charities provide wonderful opportunities for the whole Tower Hamlets community - giving young people a chance to discover their talent + artists space to develop. If you don't know them, do drop in next Saturday

Thanks to the Waste Services staff who joined me on an inspection of Bow earlier. Its encouraging to see some signs of improvement in this service in recent months + a positive attitude to solving problems. Still a long way to go though and LBTH really must do better than this low rate of recycling

Thanks to Tower Hamlets Council's Highways Team for their positive response to concerns of local businesses about the road closure on White Post Lane. Its not completely sorted yet, but their order for the developer to open access at weekends and from late afternoon weekdays should ease the impact

Spoke yesterday to an Tower Hamlets Council tenant who has been left with a leak thru their ceiling for the past 2 years. Its now so bad his children can't use their bedroom. Mayor Rahman's chaotic meddling in this service has led good staff to leave and the Regulator to issue this damning judgment

It’s great to now have this evidence. It also shows why ministerial/HMT demands for more evidence before approving spending can be misguided. As @instituteforgovernment.org.uk previously argued it takes at least 5yrs to gather evidence for big preventive programmes. Ministers need to show leadership