In November 2011 I blogged about how, the aftermath of the London riots, cash was being given to multi-millionaire football club Tottenham Hotspur rather than the communities of Tottenham who experienced the turmoil.
Today the Tottenham MP David Lammy was on BBC London’s Dotun Adebayo show complaining about the lack of help for the area and the fact that the government response to the Darra Singh riot panel report had been buried.
Lammy complained than more than half of the recommendations of the report had not even been addressed and that ministers had quietly tucked the report into the Commons library without telling anyone.
The riots panel was set up by Nick Clegg, which was an extremely welcome initiative to investigate all the issues behind the public disorder than claimed five lives and causes millions of pounds worth of damage.
Clegg set this process up in good faith so that it could prevent further disturbances, however the government’s apparent desire to ignore its’ recommendations means the likelihood of future riots could increase.
Lib Dem communities minister Don Foster told the BBC that things were being done in Tottenham, including an ‘urban dance’ class for female gang members. But Lammy said that nothing over and above the normal was happening in Tottenham which remains neglected.
I cannot imagine that Clegg can be happy that his riots panel initiative has been so flagrantly disregarded by government and I hope he steps in to order a more appropriate response to Singh’s report.
By Lester Holloway @brolezholloway
