Conservative MP Paul Scully said that – during a discussion on BBC London – in parts of Tower Hamlets and Birmingham, Sparkhill there are no-go areas.
He added that this is mainly because of doctrine, people using, abusing in many ways, their religion because it’s not the doctrine of this land, to espouse what some of these people are saying.”
Representatives of 14 organisations based in Tower Hamlets, have said that for a senior Conservative to say that some parts are “no-go areas” is untrue.
They stress that the problems faced in the area are economic mismanagement and prejudice. About 51% of children live in poverty – in the shadow of Canary Wharf where some of the highest earners in the country are to be found – “that’s the real issue faced here” (Guardian).
Eleanor Steafel during her investigation of Sparkhill, quoted the Conservative Mayor for the West Midlands, Andy Street, who wrote:
“It really is time for those in Westminster to stop the nonsense slurs and experience the real world”.
Walking around the area she saw a relaxed, harmonious, multicultural neighbourhood just as it was when the writer left Birmingham seven years ago.
She reported that the latest crime figures show that crime the area is no higher than in many others around Birmingham with 265 crimes reported in December, 116 of which were categorised as violent or sexual offences. For example, it was safer than Kingstanding, a predominantly white area to the north of the city, where 253 crimes were reported in the same month, 129 of them violent.
See Political Concern: MP says their religion is not the doctrine of this land; very true, the prevailing doctrine is the survival of the wealthiest.
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