IT’S NEVER easy for a political party to write its manifesto. Usually the problem is how to condense all their aspirations, all the things they want to achieve, into a short snappy statement that people will read.

But when it comes to the May 2026 elections for the Mayor and councillors of Tower Hamlets, it seems the local Party has the opposite problem. They don’t know what to say.

This is the only conclusion that can be drawn from a leaflet recently delivered across the borough promoting Sirajul Islam as the Labour candidate for Mayor of Tower Hamlets.

First, Cllr Islam explains that he has been serving our borough for decades. He has worked for the NHS, he says, helped local people with their issues or got more council homes built.

That is a rather selective history. 
•In July 2020, Cllr Islam tweeted about the new Levitas House, not least because 25% of the flats would go to local people “on our local lettings policy”. That’s six flats going to local people. Better than nothing.
•He refused to sign a letter of protest after Labour Mayor John Biggs sacked the Council workforce and re-employed them on worse terms and conditions – the “Tower Rewards” debacle.
•He backed the Labour Mayor’s refusal to bring the management of the Council’s housing stock back in-house; and he supported the Labour Mayor’s decision to close the last four Council day nurseries.

Cllr Islam’s leaflet then has a pop at Mayor Lutfur Rahman, calling him a failure, before going on to say that voters will be hearing more from Cllr Islam over the next few months about how he plans to change Tower Hamlets “for the better”. Let’s hope Cllr Islam gets a move on, then – there are only two and a half months till polling day.

However, the notion that Cllr Islam has plans to improve the borough are rather undermined on the second side of his leaflet, which is a giant questionnaire. Voters are asked to tick a box to show what they believe is the biggest issue in Tower Hamlets, and then to write down their ideas to improve “our local area”. “Siraj”, the leaflet says, “will take your views into account as he develops Labour’s Manifesto.”

Labour’s manifesto used to be compiled by local members, all of whom could have a say in its contents. That was all changed in the recent years, with the national Labour Party removing members’ rights to have a say (again) and giving sitting Labour Councillors the power to decide the local manifesto. Now, it seems, they are all out of ideas – and appealing to local voters to tell them what they should promise.

Readers who would like to respond to Labour’s pleas for help may do so by scanning the QR code. (This is the only way to reach the online questionnaire, which is not flagged on the website.) Ideas you may want to suggest could include the following. 
•Keep Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Universal Free School Meals for all
•Keep Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s Education Maintenance Allowances for over-16s
•Keep Mayor Lutfur Rahman’s University Bursaries
•Keep homecare free (don’t restore John Biggs’s charges)
•Keep the Be Well leisure and sports centres in-house, together with free swimming for women and girls.
Etc.

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