Lutfur Rahman, left, was elected mayor, defeating incumbent John Biggs, right, of Labour (Aaron Chown/PA)
(Picture: PA Wire)Lutfur Rahman must now “deliver on the promises he made” after his shock victory in Tower Hamlets, its outgoing mayor said.
Disgraced Mr Rahman was stripped of the position as the borough’s mayor in 2015 and banned from holding political office for five years after an elections court found him guilty of electoral fraud. However, standing for his Aspire party on his first return to politics he beat incumbent Labour mayor John Biggs in Thursday’s election.
His party also delivered a shock blow to Labour in London after winning control of the council by taking a total of 24 seats out of the 45 up for grabs.
Outgoing Labour mayor Mr Biggs said he was “disappointed” and that he was concerned about “divisive community politics” but accepted that it was “a decisive result” in the mayoral poll.
He was beaten after second preference votes were counted, taking 33,487 votes compared to the 40,804 won by the Aspire candidate.
The former mayor called on Mr Rahman to “seize the opportunity and deliver on the promises he made”.
Following his victory, Mr Rahman thanked voters who he said had “embraced my transformative programme, on housing, on education, and the cost of living crisis. Let’s get to work rebuilding our borough and our children’s future.” He suggested that one of his first acts would be to scrap low-traffic neighbourhoods, which limit traffic in residential areas and have proved controversial with some voters.
Labour lost 23 council seats to Aspire in the vote, leaving them with 19. The Conservatives lost their only seat on the council, with the Greens gaining one.
