Did We Break the Law?

We thought that we’d take a look at the disclosures of the new batch of Newham councillors. (Details correct as of 26/7/22)

We are pleased to see that there are a number of new members of ‘Landlords for Labour’ in the incoming group.

We are less impressed with the administration of the majority group. It is our understanding that declarations have to be submitted and published within 28 days of election. That being so, almost all of the new declarations have been submitted late. Including, it seems, those from the Green Group.

This is what the government’s guidance states:

Failure to do so is an offence under the Localism Act 2011. Section 30 provides the statutory basis that requires disclosure within 28 days. Those who fail commit an offence.

Those councillors that have yet to submit theirs (as of 26/07/22) have been highlighted in bold.

We don’t know the reason for this. Perhaps the Whips are not up to the job. Perhaps compliance with a legal obligation is now considered to be an optional extra.

1) Cllr Caroline Adaja. Full declaration (including her company Directorship). Published 1st July. No surgery details.

2) Cllr Musawwar Alam. No declaration. No surgery details 

3)  Cllr Syed Bashar. Full declaration. Published Thursday 23rd June. No surgery details 

4)   Cllr Nur Begum. Almost a full declaration. Published Thursday 23rd June. The declaration makes vague reference to "Income from Buy to Let ". No specific property described. No surgery details. 

5) Cllr Elizabeth Booker. No declaration  No surgery details. Considerably less forthcoming than she is on social media. 

6) Cllr Rita Chadha. Full declaration. Published 1st July. No surgery details 

7) Cllr Luke Charters. Has submitted a declaration Published 1st July ; his Surgeries are on the 2nd Thursday of the month, 6pm, East Ham Library.  We do understand though that Cllr Charters does not wish to inconvenience the residents of Wall End too much by holding more than one surgery a month.

8) Cllr Areeq Chowdhary. Full declaration. Published 23rd June. No surgery details 

9) Cllr Carolyn Corben Full declaration. Published 24th June. Freelance film director. Declaration of Interest includes the narrative "holiday lets"!?  Surgery details provided 

10) Cllr Femi Falola. No declaration. Surgery details provided 

11) Cllr Mohammed Ghani. Full declaration posted 24th June. 

12) Cllr Lewis Godfrey. Full declaration. Published 8th July. Published Surgery details provided.

13) Cllr Imam Haque. No declaration. Surgery details provided. 

14) Cllr Nate Higgins. Full declaration, Surgery details provided. Published 18th July. Two scheduled surgeries per month, one on a Sunday morning. Cllr Higgins has been in touch to inform us that he started a new job in July and that his details were uploaded three days after he began. This is the reason for the ‘late’ declaration; it wasn’t really late! We are happy to add this information.

15) Cllr Dina Hossain No declaration. Surgery details provided. 

16) Cllr Sabia Kamali.  No declaration. Surgery details provided. 

17)  Cllr Danny Keeling. Full declaration. Surgery details provided. Published 23 June. Two scheduled surgeries per month. One on a Sunday morning.     

18) Cllr Jemima McAlmont. Full declaration (including two Directorships). Published 23rd June. Reference to her husband's property letting businesses under spouse. No surgery details 

19) Cllr John Morris. Full declaration. Published 23rd June. Surgery details provided.

20) Cllr Thelma Odoi. No declaration. Surgery details provided.  

21) Councillor Miraj Patel. Full declaration. Published 1st July. Surgery details provided. 

22) Councillor Ken Penton Full declaration. Published 1st July. Surgery details provided. Apparently holds a surgery every Saturday 

23) Councillor Rohima Rahman. Cllr Rahman appears to be relying upon a declaration made in 2016, before she left the council under something of a cloud. If there have been no changes to her circumstances, this would probably suffice. However, if this multiple property owner has increased her portfolio, it would probably be insufficient.

24) Councillor Simon Rush Full declaration; Published 24th June. Surgery details provided. 

25) Councillor Madeleine Sarley Pontin. Full declaration. Published 22nd July. Surgery details provided. 

26) Councillor Amar Virdee. No declaration. No surgery details 

27)Councillor Cecilia Welsh. Full declaration. Published 23rd June. No surgery details 

28) Councillor Larisa Zilickaja. No declaration. Surgery details provided. 

If we recall correctly, the Leader of the Labour Party offered to resign in the event that he was issued with a fixed penalty notice. Would any members of Newham Council who are found to have been in breach of the law be willing to do the same?