A LABOUR candidate faces an investigation over whether she wrongly secured a council flat.
Questions have been raised against Apsana Begum, 29, on how she climbed to the top of a 18,000-strong housing list.
Begum, who is childless, was allocated the £330,000 riverside property soon after she left her husband’s residence. The manner in which she was given the residential space is surprising, sources said. Sources told The Sun: “She needs to show that she properly declared her change in circumstances at all points and answer whether she continued to bid for council housing after marrying?
“These are the issues investigators will look into.”
Begum is a favourite to become an MP from Poplar and Limehouse, which had a 27,700 Labour majority in 2017.
The latest allegations have come as Begum faces claims over an alleged leak of a list of Labour party members, which she denies. She attracted controversy over her alleged relations with ex-mayor of Tower Hamlets Lutfur Rahman, who was banned for vote-rigging.
The top executive of Tower Hamlets has had two official complaints over Begum’s housing arrangements.
Begum is believed to have applied for a council flat while living with her family in 2011. Later in 2014, she left her family with her husband. However, the duo split a year later.
Within a year, she was offered the one-bed Isle of Dogs flat run by a housing association but to which the council nominates tenants. Begum’s housing situation was in flux after her relationship breakdown, according to a Labour source.
The source added: “It’s a disgrace these malicious attacks are being published, and she is being forced to relive these traumatic experiences.”
A Tower Hamlets council spokesman said it took allegations of housing fraud very seriously.
FILE PHOTO: A general view shows British Steel's Scunthorpe plant, in Scunthorpe, northern England, Britain, March 31, 2025. REUTERS/Dominic Lipinski
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. (Representational image: iStock)
FBU chief raises concern over rise in racist online posts by union members
THE FIRE Brigades Union (FBU) and other trade unions are increasingly concerned about a rise in racist and bigoted online comments by their own members and officials, according to Steve Wright, the FBU’s new general secretary, speaking to the Guardian.
Wright said internal inquiries have revealed dozens of cases involving members using racist slurs or stereotypes, often aimed at asylum seekers.
He said similar issues were reported in other unions, prompting a joint campaign to counter false narratives around immigration and race promoted by far-right groups online.
“People with far-right views are becoming more brazen in what they do on social media, and I’ve witnessed it with my own union around disciplinary cases and the rhetoric of some of our own members,” Wright said to the newspaper.
He added, “Some of our members and sometimes our reps have openly made comments which are racist and bigoted. In my time in the fire service, that has gone up.”
The FBU is planning to introduce new internal policies and wants the TUC to take action as well. A formal statement addressing far-right narratives will be launched at the union’s annual conference in Blackpool next month.
Wright cited the influence of social media and figures like Donald Trump and Nigel Farage as factors contributing to these incidents. “It feels like an itch that we’ve got to scratch,” he said.
The FBU barred a former official last year for allegedly endorsing racist content on X, including posts from Britain First and Tommy Robinson.
Wright also warned that the union could strike if the government moves to cut frontline fire services.