Copyright standard
Councillors have been criticised for campaigning to become members of parliament in another country while holding office in east London. Several Tower Hamlets councillors have confirmed they intend to seek nominations to run in Bangladesh’s national election, scheduled for February 2026. Sabina Khan is running to become a candidate for the Bangladesh National Party (BNP). Ms Khan was elected for Labour in Mile End in 2022 but defected to the borough’s ruling Aspire party last year. She holds important roles on Tower Hamlets town hall’s Overview and Scrutiny Committee and Licensing Committees, but since February she has attended fewer than half of the meetings she was expected at, according to council records. Social media posts suggest she has been campaigning in Bangladesh. Mile End resident Mohammed Hussein told the Standard: "I don't believe it is fair. Most of the time she is in Bangladesh. She should resign. We elected her to represent us, not Bangladesh.” Another resident, Zakir Hussain, added: "I am not happy with my councillor. There are a lot of not happy people. Five or six months we have not seen her. Any problems [we have] she cannot answer." Independent councillor Ohid Ahmed, who represents Lansbury ward in Poplar, is also understood to have been campaigning to become a BNP candidate. On his social media, he has posted about Bangladesh’s economy, education for women and even problems with potholes blighting roads in the country’s northeastern regions. At least one other Tower Hamlets councillor has indicated their ambition to run in the upcoming Bangladesh elections, which will be the first polls in the country since student-led protests toppled its former Prime Minister, Sheikh Hasina, in August 2024. A spokesperson for the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government said: “This behaviour is unacceptable. “We are clear that councillors must be able to effectively serve the constituents who elected them. “All councillors must uphold the Nolan principles including integrity, objectivity, accountability.” The Government earlier this year sent ministerial envoys into Tower Hamlets Council to monitor what it described as failing governance. An inspection report in 2024 found that a lack of trust and respect between political parties meant the executive at the town hall remained unchallenged. It concluded the local authority’s decision making was "dominated by an inner circle" around the borough’s controversial executive mayor, Lutfur Rahman, who leads the Aspire party. A spokesperson for the Aspire party said Ms Khan would step down as a councillor if she was elected in Bangladesh. Local elections are taking place in the borough in May next year. A Tower Hamlets Council spokesperson said: “UK law does not automatically disqualify a person from being a councillor in Tower Hamlets solely because they are running for or hold an elected office in another country. “The other country however may have laws that restrict dual mandates or foreign office-holding.”
