Who’s behind dropping Lambeth’s No Casino clause? Council delays second FOI deadline until after election

Lambeth has delayed answering Brixton Buzz’s Freedom of Information request on the dropped no-casino clause until after the 7 May election, leaving voters without answers on who recommended removal and whether gambling lobbyists were involved.

Brixton Buzz has been reporting since December 2025 on Lambeth’s quiet removal of the long-standing ‘No Casino’ resolution from its 2025–2028 Statement of Gambling Principles – despite public support for retention and only one gambling industry respondent supporting removal.

Audit trail documents show the removal was first discussed in April 2025 between Cabinet Member for Safer Communities Cllr Mahamed Hashi and Corporate Director Nabeel Khan.

Cllr Hashi’s portfolio commits him to a ‘public health approach to tackling the root causes’ of harm, with licensing enforcement among the tools at his disposal.

After repeated emails went ignored, Brixton Buzz submitted a Freedom of Information request on 18 February, asking:

Who recommended removal,

What legal or policy advice was relied on,

Whether the gambling industry made representations beyond the consultation,

Whether economic modelling was carried out, and

Whether any hospitality or gifts had been received from gambling industry sources since 2022.

The statutory window to release information is 20 days, but on 18 March, Lambeth extended the deadline by a further 20 working days, citing Section 42 (legal professional privilege) and Section 36 (prejudice to the effective conduct of public affairs), and flagged a possible Section 12 cost-limit refusal.

The extended deadline of 17 April has now passed by nineteen working days.

Phone follow-ups have produced no further response, although one insider told Brixton Buzz that “most of the information is assembled, but we can’t release it while someone is holding up the last responses.”

A second council source told us in plain terms:

“Removing the clause removes the safety barrier.

If Westminster announces new casino licences for the UK, an operator can submit an application here.

As a No Casino borough, they couldn’t have submitted one at all.”

The question remains: why would a councillor [Hashi] whose primary brief is harm reduction, lead discussions with the borough’s Corporate Director to remove the principal safeguard against gambling harm?

Our FOI was designed to answer that question – which senior cabinet members were behind the move, what motivated them, and are they the same ones now delaying the release of the information?

Cllr Hashi has not responded to questions from Brixton Buzz.

We spoke with two opposition candidates in the south of the borough, where street alcohol and drug use are visible around the gambling clusters identified in Lambeth’s own policy documentation.

What the oppostition say

Cllr Matthew Bryant, Deputy Leader of the Lambeth Liberal Democrat Group that tabled a motion calling for the ‘bedrock’ clause to be retained, told Brixton Buzz:

“It’s really not clear why Labour have pushed to remove a layer of protection against real harm from gambling.

I just haven’t heard a convincing argument.”

– Cllr Matthew Bryant, candidate Streatham Hill West & Thornton

Amelia Shoebridge, Green Party candidate in the ward next to Bryant’s, shares his concerns about the gambling clusters. An experienced refugee caseworker, she promised to campaign to return the no-casino clause.

The Lambeth-born candidate said she misses the Streatham’s famous bingo hall, and isn’t anti-gambling, but concentration in poorer areas is the problem:

“What frustrates people is when consultations occur and the council just ignore it.

There’s no coincidence that posher areas of London don’t have four [betting shops] within five minutes’ walk.”

– Amelia Shoebridge, Green candidate, Streatham Hill East

What the polls say

The race is tight.

More in Common’s MRP for London, published Tuesday, puts Labour and the Greens within two points of each other across Lambeth – “an effective coin toss”.

PollCheck’s projection has the Greens on course to be the largest party on Lambeth Council, with 31 of 63 seats and an 82% probability that Labour will lose control.

In Cllr Hashi’s Stockwell East ward, PollCheck has the Greens leading Labour by more than ten points, and Electoral Calculus gives the Greens a 66% probability of winning the ward outright.

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Lambeth Borough Council Elections – Thursday 7 May 2026