Politics of Hackney - Controversies

Controversies

In 1990, the United Kingdom Conservative government, headed by Prime Minister Margret Thatcher introduced a Poll Tax, even though it carried only 12% popularity. The Hackney Labour Council introduced the new tax, the Community Charge at a rate of £499 per adult resident, which was £200 higher than mandated by the Prime Minister. This contributed to the Poll Tax Riots of 1990 which subsequently broke out in Hackney, greater London and other areas of the United Kingdom.

There was a period of changing coalitions during the 1990s due to a political cover up involving the government and councilors of Hackney regarding a serial pedophile. The council split following the upheaval after the Mark Trotter affair, Tottergate involving allegations of a cover up over a child abuse scandal when the Labour Party split between Councillors following the former mayor Nick Tallentire (which called themselves "The Hackney New Labour Group") and councillors following the former council leader John McCafferty, who eventually got the backing of the national Labour party. Mark Trotter was a children's social service employee of the Hackney and Liverpool Councils who had been reported four times for child abuse, multiple times for suspicion of abuse and was reported for beating his boyfriend then illegally evicting him from their shared Council provided house.

After an independent inquiry was carried out by John Barrat, he stated the reason why Mark Totter was not properly investigated by the council or terminated was "the fact that he had quite an influential position in the trade union in a council where trade unions have a lot of power," Mr Barratt said. Mark Trotter died of an AIDS-related illness in 1995, shortly before the police informed the Hackney council they were about to prosecute him for sexually abusing five boys in 1980-81 when he lived in Merseyside, UK. None of the victims, 12 in all contracted HIV/AIDS related to the abuse.

In 1996, Kingsmead primary head Jane Brown refused to issue tickets for pupils to attend a Romeo and Juliet ballet on grounds that it was "entirely about heterosexual love".

There was a brief period when John McCafferty led a minority administration followed by a loose coalition of Hackney New Labour, the Liberal Democrats and the Conservatives. By the 1998 election all but two of the Hackney New Labour councillors defected to either the Liberal Democrats or the Conservatives and a coalition was launched after the council between the Liberal Democrats, the Conservatives and two Green Party councillors. After this there was a coalition between Labour led by Jules Pipe and the Conservatives led by Eric Ollerenshaw. After the 2002 borough elections the Labour returned as the majority party.