Jewish Community Safety Put to Mayor and Met Chief on 5 Nov

The protection of London’s Jewish communities is on the list of questions the London Assembly will put to the Mayor, Lord Khan of Tooting, and the Metropolitan Police Commissioner, Sir Mark Rowley, at City Hall on Thursday 5 November from 10am.

The all-Assembly plenary on policing in London will also cover robberies, shoplifting, gun crime, vehicle theft, modern slavery, the Met’s AI policies, Palantir, legal costs, Islamophobia and anti-racism training, the Assembly said in its notice of next week’s meetings.

For Barnet readers, the session comes weeks after the Assembly’s Fire Committee asked the Government for £10 million for the London Fire Brigade’s national security work, following arson attacks this spring that included the destruction of four Hatzola ambulances serving north-west London.

The antisemitism motion

After the questions, members will debate ten motions set out in the motions report for the meeting. One, proposed by Susan Hall AM and seconded by Neil Garratt AM, deals directly with London’s Jewish community. It reads:

“This Assembly strongly condemns the recent Green Party motion defining Zionism as a form of racism and expresses deep concern at the harm such rhetoric risks causing to London’s Jewish community. At a time of already heighted tension within the Jewish community, it risks fostering division, deepening insecurity and lending legitimacy to extreme antisemitic attitudes.”

The motion goes on to say that “Jewish Londoners have the same right as every Londoner to live openly, practise their faith and participate in public life free from fear, prejudice or intimidation”, and calls on the Mayor to “reaffirm his commitment to tackling antisemitism, engage directly with Jewish community organisations, and ensure that every Jewish person feels safe, valued and confident in calling London home.”

Other motions on the list include a call for the Mayor to back a third runway at Heathrow, a motion on the Bakerloo line’s ageing trains, one asking TfL to assess travel concessions for unpaid carers, and one urging the Mayor to recognise a shortage of crematorium facilities suited to Hindu, Sikh, Jain and Buddhist funerals in the London Plan. A motion is the Assembly’s view and a request to the Mayor; it does not bind him.

Underage vaping and the new licences, 4 November

The day before, at 2pm on Wednesday 4 November, the Assembly’s Health Committee continues its investigation into underage vaping. The Tobacco and Vapes Act, passed in May 2026, brings in a mandatory licensing scheme for every shop that sells vapes. The Assembly notes that the scheme is still subject to consultation and that “the timings of implementation are not clear”.

That matters locally because the scheme will be monitored and enforced by local authorities and their Trading Standards teams, which in this borough means Barnet Council. The same team took action this month when a Hendon shop paid £10,144 for selling a knife to 15-year-olds.

The committee will hear from Kirstie Soar of the National Centre for Smoking Cessation and Training, Kirsten Watters, Director of Health and Wellbeing at Camden Council, and Callum Delhoy of London Youth, then from Barnardo’s staff and members of the Tower Hamlets Anti-Vaping Youth Forum.

The rest of the week at City Hall

• Wednesday 4 November, 10am, Police and Crime Committee. Martin Jones CBE, HM Chief Inspector of Probation, answers questions on the government’s early prison release scheme from 10am to 11am. From 11am to 1pm the committee holds a Q&A with the Metropolitan Police Federation’s chair, Paula Dodds, and general secretary, Matt Cane, on how officers are dealing with the changes made to the force.
• Tuesday 3 November, 10am, Transport Committee. Five years after its 2021 report on London’s river crossings, written after Hammersmith Bridge closed in 2019, the committee returns to the condition of the Thames road bridges and the at-risk structures among them. It will also discuss the London TravelWatch budget.

All four meetings are in The Chamber at City Hall, Kamal Chunchie Way, E16 1ZE.

What it means for you

• You can watch or attend. Assembly meetings are public. The 5 November plenary starts at 10am; the questions come first, then the motions debate.
• If you run a shop that sells vapes, the licensing scheme is coming but has no start date yet. Watch for the consultation, and for Barnet Council’s Trading Standards guidance once the timetable is set.
• If you have a view on community safety in Barnet, the Assembly’s papers for each meeting are published on london.gov.uk, and your Assembly Member can raise points with the Mayor.

We will report what the Mayor and the Commissioner say about the protection of Jewish communities after the meeting.