Grateful for the opportunity to lead the city again as Council Leader alongside this fabulous team.
But I want to send this message to everyone which I read out at the end of my speech:
“And to our residents, this Cabinet is your Cabinet.
We start again, afresh but with one last message:
Division of communities in our city is what prevents progression. We are stronger united and have so much more in common with each other. Let me make it clear to members here that our city is diverse and inclusive. We will not shy away from calling out some of the rhetoric that has dominated our political environment over the last few months, from extreme views towards faith groups and more recently, over the weekend, the Unite the Kingdom rally exemplified elements of hatred towards Muslims.
Prior to that we saw attacks on Jews.
Peterborough is home to many faith groups and none, my message to those who indulge in peddling hate is you will have to get past us to harm our communities and we will call time on this in our city. Everyone who lives, works and contributes here is, “Peterborough” and let no one ever tell them otherwise-
Not on my watch."