Councillor Rokhsana Fiaz OBE has announced that she will challenge Sir Robin for Labour’s mayoral nomination should the trigger ballot result in an open selection.
She broke the news in an interview with the Newham Recorder over the weekend, which they published this evening.
The Custom House councillor has thrown her hat into the ring ahead of the first wards casting their votes tonight in the re-run of the process.
She said: “I’m putting myself forward for this because I want to offer a fresh start for this council and a new ambitious alternative for Newham.”
Cllr Fiaz, who was born and brought up in the borough, was first elected as a councillor in May 2014 and currently sits as chair of scrutiny as well as a member of the council’s audit board and strategic development committee.
She explained that she was passionate about the issues facing a lot of people living in the borough, including affordable adult social care, the safety of young people and investment in early years education.
“I’m passionate about making sure there are genuinely affordable, quality homes for people,” she added.
“I’ve been working closely with an organisation called Peach, who are in my ward of Custom House, to allow residents to have their say during the regeneration.
“Uniquely, I’m also the only councilor who does regular youth surgeries for young people to come and meet me.”
The trigger ballot, also known as the affirmitive nomination process, is being held to decide whether to automatically select incumbent mayor Sir Robin Wales as Labour’s candidate for May’s election or whether to open it up to other prospective candidates.
Ward meetings in the re-run trigger ballot start tonight.
forestgatedotnet 
It’s great that someone is offering an alternative to wales but a good chunk of the labour councillors are tainted by taking the wales ‘shilling’. Councillor Fiaz sits on various committees that should have held wales to account., It will be interesting to hear what her plans for the Carenters road estate if she elected as the labour mayoral candidate.
I’ll be very surprised if that precise question doesn’t come up at hustings.
It would be fantastic to get an alternative to Robin (the sherif of Nottingham) Wales. He is out of touch with the residents of Newham. He is set on building a legacy for himself not Newham. People in Newham want their social housing refurbished not demolished. His vision of moving native Newham residents out and replacing our council homes with un- affordable high rises and homes is self serving and brutal. His surgeries are a fast and he runs the council like a dictatorship. Well done Councillor Fiaz, I applaud you. I will definitely vote for you if you manage to stand against this tyrant.
The Greater Carpenters Forum want a say in how our area will look after the regeneration. We want a seat at the table when decisions are made.