Skip to content
Search

Latest Stories

Lutfur Rahman launches re-election campaign

Lutfur Rahman launches re-election campaign

FORMER mayor of Tower Hamlets, Lutfur Rahman, has launched his campaign for re-election after being banned from office. 

  • Rahman served as mayor of Tower Hamlets from 2010 to 2015, but was found to be “personally responsible” for electoral fraud while in office and banned from standing in elections for five years.
  • He will stand as the mayoral candidate for the Aspire Party, founded after his old party, Tower Hamlets First, was dissolved when he was removed from office in 2015.
  • Rahman was voted in as the first directly-elected mayor of Tower Hamlets in 2010 as an independent candidate, but later founded the Tower Hamlets First Party, with which he was re-elected in 2014.

Lutfur Rahman Lutfur Rahman

The 2014 election took five days to complete and was later declared void by an election court. The court found in 2015 that Rahman was guilty of corrupt and illegal practices.

The court said Rahman had led a “ruthless and dishonest” campaign to smear Labour mayoral candidate John Biggs – the current mayor of Tower Hamlets – as racist.


Also Read | Johnson scraps Covid restrictions in England


Four Tower Hamlets voters brought the case against the then-mayor, with their lawyers accusing him of ‘personation’ in postal votes and at ballot stations, and of ballot paper tampering.

Judge Richard Mawrey said Rahman had: “Driven a horse and coaches through electoral law and didn’t care.”

The ruling removed Rahman from office, banned him from standing again for five years and forced him to pay a £250,000 fine. However, he was not prosecuted further.

Rahman will stand in the Tower Hamlets mayoral election on May 5 for the Aspire party. Although the council is almost entirely Labour-controlled, Aspire won a seat on the council in a by-election in August.

Biggs and at least two other candidates will also stand in the contest. Rahman’s office was contacted for comment.

(Local Democracy Reporting Service)

More For You

Dalai Lama

Tibetan spiritual leader Dalai Lama attends a prayer ceremony at the Main Tibetan Temple in McLeod Ganj on May 7, 2025.

Getty Images

Dalai Lama confirms spiritual role will continue after his death

THE DALAI LAMA has said that the 600-year-old Tibetan spiritual institution will continue after his death, and that his office will have the sole responsibility of naming his successor. The announcement came on Wednesday through a video message at the start of a religious leaders’ meeting in the Indian Himalayan town where he has lived for decades.

"In accordance with all these requests, I am affirming that the institution of the Dalai Lama will continue," he said, according to an official translation. The Dalai Lama also said he had received multiple appeals over the past 14 years from Tibetans in exile, Buddhists across the Himalayan region, Mongolia, and parts of Russia and China urging him to ensure the continuation of the institution.

Keep ReadingShow less
starmer

Starmer had already softened the proposals last week following criticism from Labour MPs who said the planned cuts to disability and sickness benefits went too far. (Photo:

Getty Images

Starmer makes major concessions on welfare bill to avoid defeat in Commons

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer avoided a parliamentary defeat on key welfare reforms on Tuesday, after agreeing to further concessions amid growing pressure from within the Labour Party.

Starmer had already softened the proposals last week following criticism from Labour MPs who said the planned cuts to disability and sickness benefits went too far.

Keep ReadingShow less
Visa UK

The aim is to attract graduate-level or above workers, making several low-paid roles ineligible for visas. (Representational image: iStock)

iStock

Government unveils stricter visa rules, to take effect from July 22

THE GOVERNMENT on Tuesday introduced the first set of tougher immigration rules in the House of Commons aimed at reducing the recruitment of foreign skilled workers, including in the care sector. The new measures are described as a “complete reset” of the UK’s immigration system.

The proposed changes, originally outlined in an ‘Immigration White Paper’ in May, include raising the skills and salary thresholds for foreign workers — including those from India — ending overseas recruitment for care worker roles, and removing more than 100 occupations, such as chefs and plasterers, from the shortage occupation list that currently allows certain visa exemptions.

Keep ReadingShow less
Starmer faces revolt as welfare bill vote sparks Labour uproar

Keir Starmer speaks during a reception for public sector workers at 10 Downing Street in London on July 1, 2025. (Photo by CARL COURT/POOL/AFP via Getty Images)

Starmer faces revolt as welfare bill vote sparks Labour uproar

PRIME MINISTER Keir Starmer faced the most serious test of his leadership on Tuesday (1) as his government’s flagship welfare reforms came under fierce attack from within his own party.

The day was marked by emotional speeches, last-minute concessions, and a deep sense of division among Labour MPs, many of whom said the proposed changes would push vulnerable people into poverty

Keep ReadingShow less
Lucy Letby

Letby, from Hereford in western England, was charged in 2020 after a series of deaths in the hospital's neo-natal unit.

Three senior hospital staff arrested in Lucy Letby case probe

POLICE on Tuesday said they had arrested three senior staff members at the hospital where nurse Lucy Letby was found guilty of murdering seven babies. The arrests were made on suspicion of gross negligence manslaughter.

The investigation was launched in 2023 at the Countess of Chester Hospital (CoCH) in northwest England, following Letby’s conviction and life sentence for killings that took place between 2015 and 2016.

Keep ReadingShow less