Tower Hamlets Lead Member for Housing, Cllr Rabina Khan today hit back at Labour Mayoral hopeful John Biggs who has criticised the council for placing 94 families in short-term Bed and Breakfast accommodation as an alternative to shipping them out of the borough. The move is an emergency response to the Tory benefit cap, a policy Labour have refused to distance themselves from.
Cllr Khan said:
In October last year, Labour attacked us with the false claim that the Mayor was planning to secretly ship families out of the borough. Now they’re attacking us for not shipping families out of the borough. Am I happy that we’ve had to choose the lesser of twoevils? Absolutely not. But the benefit cap has left us a stark choice – use B&Bs or uproot people from their homes.”
Cllr Khan also hit back at claims that the move was unlawful:
“This is an emergency measure, and if John Biggs wants to take us to court to force us to eject families from their communities he’s very welcome.”
Mayor Lutfur Rahman 