I recently attended a resident protest outside a development at the old West Ham football ground in Upton Park, alongside Stephen Timms MP.

The national situation over unsafe cladding is one of the great scandals of our times.

ACM materials of the type used at Grenfell are present in many developments in the borough. Leaseholders are facing paying thousands to deal with this situation, on top of their mortgages and service charges.

Waking watch schemes have imposed further financial burdens.

Resident safety is of paramount importance and people must come before profits. This has to be our starting point – it’s an issue of fairness – and the developers, freeholders and the government should step in to fix this nightmare facing people who bought their homes in good faith.

Newham Recorder: Unmesh Desai says reports show east London will suffer the worst employment rate in London by the end of the yearUnmesh Desai says reports show east London will suffer the worst employment rate in London by the end of the year (Image: City Hall)

At a recent London Assembly plenary session, I questioned the Met about their preparedness for the Euros and the anticipated rise in serious violence as lockdown eases.

At the police and crime committee, I asked about the effectiveness of the mayor’s violence reduction programmes. Tackling serious violence must remain a priority, especially given the spate of murders we have seen recently.

I have also started attending community events in person again, something I very much missed during lockdown. I have visited McDonald’s in Forest Gate, which employs 1,000 people in 13 sites in the borough, to see how it is dealing with the economic impacts of the pandemic.

It’s clear that we all need to support our local economies if they are to recover and thrive again.

Finally, I was pleased to be able to watch the Euro's England vs Croatia game in the Abbey Arms. It was good to see people out, supporting local business and to see England win!