Residents Meet MP to Discuss Prostitution. Cllr Beckles Sunning Himself on the Mediterranean Coast.
According to various tabloid reports, the Romford Road between Forest Gate and Ilford are a centre for street-prostitution, which is said to involve women, largely trafficked from eastern Europe.
If so, there are three problems:
Moving prostitutes off the streets; unless street prostitution is now an acceptable form of on-street commerce.
Prosecuting those who have committed offences, especially the pimps and traffickers,
These seem to be the responsibility of the police. Supporting women who have been trafficked and exploited however, seems to be the responsibility of LBN.
Supporting women who have been trafficked, assuming that all of our assumptions about this are true and that they actually did not know what they were coming to when they chose to come.
If Cllr Beckles would like to get in touch, we will print in full his response to the problems outlined above.
You might think that meeting with residents to discuss the very local problem of street-prostitution was something that residents might do with local councillors.
Not in Newham apparently.
In Newham this seems to be within the purview of the MP. Admittedly, MP Stephen Timms is well known for his willingness to engage with constituents. This is not a reputation that seems to be shared by Newham councillors. OK, there was one councillor present. Well done Cllr Patel.
Absent was one Cllr James Beckles, who was too tied up with his Mediterranean holiday to be there. He was following events on Twitter however.
For some reason, he didn’t express any concern or support for the residents whose lives were blighted by street-prostitution. But when one of the Newham ‘wimmin’ tweeted
He was swift to offer a ‘Like’.
More virtue signalling? Just what measures are proportionate? Move on the prostitutes only on Mondays and Thursdays? Move them on every night, but only after they have turned sufficient tricks to sustain their necessary income levels? Move them on in taxis, not police cars? Keep the repressive, fascist police away from working girls?
It appears Ms Chadha sees the primary aim of the police to support “women in the best way they define”. And presumably, Cllr Beckles, the over-paid cabinet member for Crime, agrees.
Just what does this virtuous sounding twaddle mean? If Rita Chadha would like to tell us (or Cllr Beckles) we’ll happily add it to the bottom of the article.
An article in the Recorder lists a number of organisations providing support to ‘sex workers’ and the story was also covered in My London. The information provided seems remarkably thin in respect of what the council are doing and how effective they are. Does anybody know? Has the council ever asked?
Meanwhile, if anyone has a better idea about how to remove prostitutes from plying their trade along the Romford Road, please let the police or the Mr Timms know. There is clearly little point in contacting the council.