Cllr Rania Khan, Tower Hamlets

Rania said that she wanted to explain why she, Oliur Rahman, Lutfa Begum and Ahmed Hussain had resigned the Respect whip on Tower Hamlets Council. This had been a very painful decision and not taken lightly. She denied that John Rees, National Secretary had urged them to do so, on the contrary, he had urged them to stay and fight from within.

She outlined some of the events that had made staying in the Respect group intolerable. These included threatening behaviour, intimidation of women at meetings and a failure to campaign for the core policies of Respect.