A year since I was re-elected by residents of West Ham for a third term as a Newham Councillor and then appointed by directly elected Mayor, Rokhsana Fiaz, as Cabinet lead for Housing Services. The most demanding but also the most fulfilling year of my…Read more…
If a Police Officer can have his pension scammed then is anyone safe under Tory “Pension freedoms” ?
Check out this BBC report about a serving Police Officer who was cheated out of his pension but managed to win £135,000 compensation from the Ombudsman for his fund’s failure to properly warn him about risks. The Police Officer had been “persuade…Read more…
“Newham declines FOI request for LOBO replacement loan rate”
This is really disappointing news. We are being ripped off by the Banks over our LOBO loans left, right and centre. This is a national issue not only a Newham issue.
Last night the BBC televised allegations that the Bank of England had been invo…Read more…
Newham ditches LOBOs pledging £94m in savings
This has been one of the most popular stories on the Local Government finance website Room 151 recently. By Colin Marrs. LOBOS is the Spanish name for wolf. “Newham Council has agreed a deal with Barclays to switch almost half of its Lender Option…Read more…
Councillor report to West Ham Labour Party branch meeting
Report for Ward Meeting 6 October 2016
Apologises for the lateness of this report and not attending all of this meeting but after presenting my report and answering any questions, I will go to the Forest Gate North ward meeting where I am the Vice C…Read more…
Showing LOBO salesmen the door
Another council insider, David Green, adds more on the website Room 151 to the sorry tale of the LOBO debacle after watching the recent Parliamentary Select Committee investigation.
He recalls as a former local authority treasury management officer, …Read more…
“LOBOs and the confessions of an ex-auditor”
Check out this article in the local government finance online site “Room 151”. Former auditor, Stephen Sheen, looks critically at the decision making process that resulted in Councils taking out LOBOs (Lender Option; Borrower Option) in the first place…Read more…
“Alternative Financing Proposals for the Newham Pension Fund”
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Select Committee Hear Damning Evidence on LOBO Loan Scandal And Conflicts
I was at the Parliamentary select committee hearing yesterday with Newham Councillors, Cllr Fiaz and Cllr Whitworth. Bearing in mind the savage cuts in our budget, I was incensed to hear futher details how Councils were duped into buying LOBOs when p…Read more…
How banks are ripping off Councils and what to do about it
This post was published on LabourList today. Tomorrow (20 July 2015) at 4pm the Select Community on Communities Local Government will hear evidence from the Channel 4 Despatches programme and their expert witnesses.
“This article is written by Cl…Read more…