Housing spokesperson for LGA withdraws Labour candidacy after allegations

Mr Rodwell said: “I have decided to take the incredibly difficult decision to withdraw my candidacy. 

“I completely refute the allegations that have been in the press. I don’t want this issue to become a distraction to the campaign.

“The Labour Party has made clear that there is no active investigation into complaints about me.

“But I believe it to be in the best interests of my family at this time to step aside from the candidacy, as I have to put family first.

“This place means the world to me, and I will continue to fight for this borough, the community I love and lead the council.”

Nesil Caliskan, leader of Enfield Council, replaced Mr Rodwell as Labour’s candidate for Barking. 

Last year, Mr Rodwell was criticised for comments he made about threatening to evict families whose children do not inform on knife crime.

In a Guardian piece, he said: “If your child is involved in an incident and knows who the perpetrators are and refuses to speak out, we will look at reviewing your housing agreement.”

However, he then told Inside Housing his comments were taken “completely out of context”.

He added: “I did the original interview, it got picked up and sensationalised to make me sound like I was some sort of [Benito] Mussolini.” 

In November, Mr Rodwell called on the government to provide more funding for councils, to increase affordable housebuilding.