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Your 2026 council candidates

Beckton (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ABBASI	Shahzad Mumtaz	Newham Independents Party Candidate
ADEDAPO	Afusatu Olajumoke	Newham Independents Party Candidate
AHMED	Mohammed Mashud	Newham Independents Party Candidate
AHMED	Syed	Labour Party
ATANASOV	Deyan	The Green Party
AUSTIN	Lois	Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
CHALLINOR	Tony	The Green Party
ELVIN	Ramona-Lavinia	Liberal Democrats
GREEN	Heather	The Green Party
HILLIER	Angharad	Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
KADLE	Aditya Krishnanand	Local Conservatives
KARIM	Mohammed Abdul	Local Conservatives
KOUNTA	Sidy Ali	Local Conservatives
MONU	Lazar	Reform UK
TAYLOR	June	Christian Peoples Alliance
WILSON	Tonii	Labour Party
YOUNG	Blossom	Labour Party

Boleyn (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
AZIZ	Muhammad Tarek	Newham Independents Party Candidate
BEPARI	Md Halim	Labour Party
BROMLEY	Mark David John	Local Conservatives
FUSSELL	Kerena	The Green Party
GIBSON	Simon	Christian Peoples Alliance
HASSAIN	Rabbir	Labour Party
KHAN	Moniba	Newham Independents Party Candidate
LYNCH	Helen	The Green Party
MCWILTON	Karl	Reform UK
MEABY	Charles Richard Patrick Gaitskell	Local Conservatives
MILLER	Sheree	Liberal Democrats
MIRZA	Mehmood	Newham Independents Party Candidate
MOLLA	Md Ariful Haque	The Green Party
POLEON	Sheila Carol	Labour Party
TROANTA	Silvia	Local Conservatives
VABANAGIRI	Venkat	Christian Peoples Alliance
VITNAM	Leela	Christian Peoples Alliance

Canning Town North (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
AHMED	Zulfiqar	Newham Independents Party Candidate
ANDERSON	Imogen	The Green Party
CLAESON	Robert	Liberal Democrats
HOUSTON	Bryan	Local Conservatives
HUSSAIN	Aleya	Labour Party
HUSSAIN	Mohammed Delwar	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HUSSEIN	Ibrahim	Newham Independents Party Candidate
ISLAM	Aminul	Local Conservatives
MOHAMMED	Shaban	Labour Party
MOTTE	Nicolas	The Green Party
NKIRE	Goodness	Christian Peoples Alliance
NKIRE	Precious	Christian Peoples Alliance
PARANEEHARAN	Gowry	The Green Party
RAHEEM	Samir	Reform UK
RAHMAN	Redawanur	Local Conservatives
ZILICKAJA	Larisa	Labour Party

Canning Town South (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAM	Syed Uzaib	Liberal Democrats
ALI	Amir	Independent
BENSON	Aderonke Florence	Labour and Co-operative Party
BLACK	Luke Robert	Local Conservatives
CLINE	Alex	The Green Party
DASGUPTA	Rohit Kumar	Labour and Co-operative Party
DIANAT	Ahrash	Reform UK
FAQAI	Ahmed Omar Sheikh	Local Conservatives
GUANA	Belgica	Independent
HAYDER	Syed Rafiz	Newham Independents Party Candidate
JORDAN	Linda Ann	Independent
KHAN	Maria	Local Conservatives
LAING	Myrtle Verona	Christian Peoples Alliance
MORRIS	John James	Labour and Co-operative Party
NAMWANJE	Prossy	Christian Peoples Alliance
RAHIM	MD Abdur	Newham Independents Party Candidate
REILLY	James	The Green Party
SAUD	Abdul Aziz	The Green Party
YOHANNES	Feven	Newham Independents Party Candidate

Custom House (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALI	Wazed	Newham Independents Party Candidate
BUCK	Rustam Sikander	Local Conservatives
FELEK	Zafer	Newham Independents Party Candidate
GURMESEVA	Suze	Christian Peoples Alliance
ISLAM	Badrul	Independent
LAFFERTY	Heather	Labour and Co-operative Party
LAWAL	Idiat	Christian Peoples Alliance
MEHEGAN	Tony	The Green Party
MIAH	Rois	Local Conservatives
MOSS	Ben	The Green Party
MUDD	James Matthew	Independent
MUGHAL	Mushtaq Hussain	Independent
ODOI	Thelma	Labour and Co-operative Party
ROLL-PICKERING	Tim	Local Conservatives
RUSH	Simon	Labour and Co-operative Party
SMITH	Raphael	The Green Party
TILEY	Ben	Reform UK
TUPPEN	Alexander	Liberal Democrats
WIJESINGHE	Chandrika	Newham Independents Party Candidate

East Ham (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
AKTAR	Maria	Local Conservatives
DIVER	Andrew	The Green Party
HALIM	Abdul	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HUSSAIN	Wasim	Workers Party
KHAN	Nuruzzaman	The Green Party
NAKUM	Hiren	Reform UK
NAQVI	Syed Taqi Jawad	Newham Independents Party Candidate
PATEL	Mukesh	Labour Party
PATEL	Sofia	Labour Party
SAHERA	Begum	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SCHLAUTMANN	Nina	The Green Party
SHABBER	Ahamed	Local Conservatives
SIDDIQAH	Aisha	Labour Party
SIKDER	Jahangir Alam	Local Conservatives

East Ham South (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ABDULBARI	Abdul Faizal	Newham Independents Party Candidate
AHMED	Royal	Local Conservatives
BHUYAN	Mohammad Arifur Rahman	Newham Independents Party Candidate
COLLINGWOOD	Danny	Reform UK
HUSSAIN	Kamal	Independent
HUSSAIN	Sanawar	Labour Party
KHAN	Tasnim Humayra	The Green Party
MASTERS	Susan	Labour Party
MCMAHON	Noel Bernard	Reform UK
NAMAIA	Charan	The Green Party
REILY	Paula	The Green Party
ROB	Suhel	Independent
SHAH	Lakmini	Labour Party
SHAN	Asad Ali	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SHEARS	James David	Liberal Democrats
SINGH	Udeshwar Kumar	Local Conservatives
TALUKDER	Abdus Sabur	Local Conservatives
WILLIAMS	Nigel	Reform UK

Forest Gate North (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
CARLILE	Matthew	The Green Party
CHANG	Jenny	Liberal Democrats
CRESSWELL	Matthew Brendan	Local Conservatives
CRONIN	Liz	Labour and Co-operative Party
EVANS	Rachel	Reform UK
MACDONALD	Lesley Margaret	Reform UK
MADDEN	Malcolm Bernard	Local Conservatives
MIAH	Shofa	The Green Party
RAHMAN	Walid	Newham Independents Party Candidate
TRIPP	Rachel Elizabeth	Labour and Co-operative Party
WENBORNE	Roy Charles	Newham Independents Party Candidate

Forest Gate South (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAM	Aktharul	Labour Party
ASIM	Muhammad	Independent
AYANO	Ketema Worku	Local Conservatives
BAKARAN	Arshan	The Green Party
BHARIWALA	Zakaria Esoof	Newham Independents Party Candidate
CARTER-LENNOX	Robert Dale	Labour Party
HOQUE	Sabrin Ara	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HUDSON	Ellis Joseph Bartholomew	Local Conservatives
JAMAL	Sohail	Independent
KHAN	Mohammad Khalid	Independent
KHEYRE	Zahra	The Green Party
MAHRANE	Chabane Abdelmadjid	Local Conservatives
PAGE	Helen Valentina	Labour Party
PATEL	Mavin	Reform UK
PICKARD	Jack	The Green Party
RAJA	Kashif	Newham Independents Party Candidate
TERRAR	David Graham	Liberal Democrats
WHOMES	Jazmine	Liberal Democrats

Green Street East (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
BRAINES	Steven	The Green Party
CHOWDHURY	Sunny	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HOSSAIN	MD Zakir	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HUDSON	Hilary	The Green Party
ISLAM	Md Anowarul	Local Conservatives
KITA	Ankita	Reform UK
MOHAMMED KHATUN	Haroon	Local Conservatives
PATEL	Kirankumar Ramanbhai	Local Conservatives
PATEL	Miraj	Labour Party
RAHMAN	Rohima	Labour Party
RASOOL	Hafiz Abdul	Labour Party
SHEIKH	Parvez Akhter	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SIKANDAR	Awais	The Green Party

Green Street West (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ABDULMUHIT	Hanif	Labour Party
DONEV	Slav	Reform UK
GANI	Mohammed Osman	Labour Party
GOR	Nirali M	Reform UK
HUMPHREY	Rachel	The Green Party
HYSA	Joerd	Local Conservatives
IBRAHIM	Idris	Newham Independents Party Candidate
JONES	Dick	Reform UK
LIZA	Rumana Salim Bhuiyan	Newham Independents Party Candidate
NANDIVELUGU	Ravindra Reddy	Local Conservatives
PATEL	Huzayfa	The Green Party
SLAWSON	Sangeeta	Labour Party
STONE	Ada	The Green Party
UJIAGBE	Peter Williams	Local Conservatives
YASEEN	Qasim	Newham Independents Party Candidate

Little Ilford (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAM	Musawwar	Labour Party
BULLAH	Mahbu	Local Conservatives
CHAWDA	Sharon	Labour Party
COAKLEY	Freya	The Green Party
DUMITRIUC	Andy	Reform UK
HILL	Janet	Reform UK
HO	Francis	The Green Party
KAZIBWE	Samuel	Christian Peoples Alliance
MARIADAS	Saverimuthu Joseph	Local Conservatives
MCCLELLAND	Ian	The Green Party
MIRZA	Tahir	Newham Independents Party Candidate
MURENGERA	Peter	Christian Peoples Alliance
OSMAN	Showkat	Local Conservatives
OZDEMIR	Sinan	Liberal Democrats
RAHMAN	Oli	Newham Independents Party Candidate
ROSE	Pauline	Christian Peoples Alliance
SHAMIMA	Nasreen	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SYED	Abul Bashar	Labour Party

Manor Park (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
AHMED	Ashraf Uddin	Local Conservatives
BANGLAWALA	Sabir	Newham Independents Party Candidate
BURTON	Sarah	The Green Party
FENECH	Marie	Reform UK
HAQUE	Imam	Labour Party
HOPKINS	Lesley Ann	Reform UK
JACKSON	Derek	Liberal Democrats
KHATUN	Salema	Labour Party
KUMAR	Rajeev	The Green Party
MUNROE	Dean	Reform UK
MURUHATHAS	Vasuki	Local Conservatives
PATEL	Salim	Labour Party
RAHMAN	Badol	Newham Independents Party Candidate
REHMAN	Mujeebur	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SALOMON	George	The Green Party
SAYMON	Md Somrat	Local Conservatives

Maryland (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
DOCKING	Neil	Reform UK
DRAKE	Kelly	The Green Party
DUROJAIYE	Tai	Local Conservatives
ESSEL	Titus Kofi	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HOSSAIN	Mohammad Akbar	Newham Independents Party Candidate
JONES	James	Liberal Democrats
LEE	Betsie	Reform UK
LOVATT	John Michael	Local Conservatives
MCMAHON	Reece	Labour Party
ONOVO	Melanie	Labour Party
TILBURY	Ren	The Green Party

Plaistow North (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ACQUAAH	George	The Green Party
ADIL	Zeshan	The Green Party
ALAM	Faysel	Reform UK
ALI	Nizam	Newham Independents Party Candidate
ALI	Zulfiqar	Labour Party
BLOORE	Terri	Local Conservatives
CHOWDHURY	Murad	Local Conservatives
JOBSON	Paul Martin	Christian Peoples Alliance
LAGUDA	Joy	Labour Party
MONU	Ella	Reform UK
NAQVI	Sophia	Newham Independents Party Candidate
PATHAN	Mohmed Iqbal	Newham Independents Party Candidate
QURESHI	Pervez	Labour Party
SAEED	Ahmad	Communities United Party
SINGH	Amanjit	Local Conservatives
TAYLOR BURGE	Graham	The Green Party
ZEKAI	Gulsun	Liberal Democrats

Plaistow South (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAM BEGUM	Mohammed	Local Conservatives
ANJUM	Shazia	Independent
BEGUM	Rubi	Labour Party
CONSTANTIN	Gabriel	Reform UK
GRUNTA	Frederik Kai	Liberal Democrats
HUSSAIN	Akmol	Local Conservatives
ISLAM	MD Nazrul	Newham Independents Party Candidate
KANEV	Ivaylo	Reform UK
KHAN	Obaid	Newham Independents Party Candidate
KHAN	Tamzied Hossain	Newham Independents Party Candidate
KING	Pippa	The Green Party
LEONELLI	Herbert	The Green Party
LOFTHOUSE	Jane	Labour Party
PETCU	Alin	The Green Party
RAHMAN	Md. Atiqur	Local Conservatives
SINGH	Asheem	Labour Party
TCHESSE	Kocotchy	Christian Peoples Alliance

Plaistow West & Canning Town East (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
BEELER	Ben	The Green Party
CHAUDHARI	Abdul Hakeem	Newham Independents Party Candidate
FERDOUS	Shantu	Labour and Co-operative Party
FLANAGAN	Karen	The Green Party
GORDON	Robert	Labour and Co-operative Party
ISLAM	MD Saiful	Newham Independents Party Candidate
LADAN	Constantin	Reform UK
LITTERI	Benedetto	Local Conservatives
MIAH	Rajan	Local Conservatives
SARLEY PONTIN	Madeleine	Labour and Co-operative Party
SOORAL	Susha	The Green Party
TARIQ	Syeda Fozia	Newham Independents Party Candidate
TEFRA	Misrak	Local Conservatives
WISKIN	Shayne	Independent

Plashet (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
BAILEY	Jennifer Marie	Labour Party
BETTELL	Kate	Reform UK
CLARKE	Katy	The Green Party
GULAMUSSEN	Zuber	Newham Independents Party Candidate
KIELY	Tim	The Green Party
MEABY	Khatija Suleman Badat	Local Conservatives
MOON	Christian	Liberal Democrats
RAHIM	Zakir Hussain	Labour Party
SARAVANAN	Ram	Local Conservatives
SHARIF	Ilyas	Newham Independents Party Candidate

Royal Albert (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAN-RUMSBY	James	Liberal Democrats
EASTER	Ann Rosemarie	Labour and Co-operative Party
KONKATI	Poojitha	The Green Party
MCALMONT	Anthony	Labour and Co-operative Party
OXLEY	Daniel	Reform UK
PATHAN	Ziyan	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SIKDER	Faruque	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SUKANDER	Nadia	Local Conservatives
SUMMERS	Kia	The Green Party
TARAN	Palmira	Local Conservatives
WILKINSON	Jason	Liberal Democrats

Royal Victoria (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
BRAYSHAW	Steve	Labour Party
CALLENDER	Rob	The Green Party
EAST	Richard	Liberal Democrats
FAGE	Bradley James	Local Conservatives
MUGHAL	Ehsan	Newham Independents Party Candidate
OKPARAEKE	Kevin	Reform UK
OLADAPO	Caroline	Labour Party
PYARI	Shabd	The Green Party
WRIGHT	George Joseph Benjamin	Local Conservatives
ZYGAROWSKI	Tomek	Newham Independents Party Candidate

Stratford (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALAM	Shohel	Newham Independents Party Candidate
AMIN	Miral	Local Conservatives
BECKLES	James	Labour and Co-operative Party
BHUIYAN	Jahangir	Local Conservatives
DORGHAM	Samie	Liberal Democrats
FALOLA	Femi	Labour and Co-operative Party
HAQUE	MD Maksudul	Newham Independents Party Candidate
HWANG	Chae Ho	The Green Party
ISLAM	Naimul	Newham Independents Party Candidate
KAMALI	Sabia	Labour and Co-operative Party
KEELING	Danny	The Green Party
MOSELY	Alfie	Reform UK
QUINTERO	Sonia	The Green Party
SAINCLAIR	Lucrece	Independent
THOMAS	Nitin John	Local Conservatives

Stratford Olympic Park (2 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALI	Dilshad	Newham Independents Party Candidate
BAXTER	Jonathan	Reform UK
BRIGGS	Robert John	Liberal Democrats
DAVE	Vijaya	Local Conservatives
HIGGINS	Nate	The Green Party
HUDSON-SMALL	Joe	The Green Party
MASON	Darren	Labour Party
NABUDDE	Rachel	Local Conservatives
OSEI-TEMENG	Rachael	Labour Party
RAMDAY	Rabindranauth	Reform UK
SHAH	Vaishali	Newham Independents Party Candidate
WILLOUGHBY	Laura Claire	Liberal Democrats

Wall End (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
ALEXANDER	Jose	Labour Party
ANAND	Kumar	Newham Independents Party Candidate
BAPU	Victoria	Christian Peoples Alliance
DADI	Jayanthi	Christian Peoples Alliance
FLETCHER	Rowan	The Green Party
HOWELL	Paul	The Green Party
HUDSON	Lester Thompson	Labour Party
KANNAN	Durai	Local Conservatives
MAJEED	Muhammad	Newham Independents Party Candidate
MD ABU	Noman	Newham Independents Party Candidate
MOHAMADU	Faheem	Reform UK
MOLE	Amanda	The Green Party
NATHAN	Ki	Local Conservatives
PARTHIBAN	Vijay	Local Conservatives
PIRAPAHARAN	Arunasalam	Liberal Democrats
SHAW	Carole Angela	Labour Party
SWAMY	Bharath	Christian Peoples Alliance

West Ham (3 seats)

Surname	First Name(s)	Party / Description
AHMED	Fokoruddin	Local Conservatives
ALOM	Ibrahim	The Green Party
BANO	Attia	Newham Independents Party Candidate
CELIS RANGEL	Karina	Liberal Democrats
CONSTANTIN	Robert	Reform UK
CREAN	Mayra	Newham Independents Party Candidate
GRAY	John	Labour and Co-operative Party
GREEN	Andy	Reform UK
HENNESSY	Armyn	Local Conservatives
KHAN	Manir Uzzaman	Local Conservatives
KWARTENG	Adjoa	Labour and Co-operative Party
MANNION	Sam Michael	Labour and Co-operative Party
MOSTAFA	Karib	Newham Independents Party Candidate
SCOTT	Deb	The Green Party
SHIRAZUL	Kawsar Mohammed	The Green Party

Tags: local elections

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

Candidates assemble!

7 Jan

The three biggest parties in Newham politics have announced their candidates to replace Rokhsana Fiaz as mayor in May’s local elections.

Forhad Hussain and fellow Labour candidates

Labour’s candidate will be Forhad Hussain. He, like all of the party’s candidates, he was selected by a special panel of the National Executive Committee. Hussain previously served as councillor for Plaistow North from 2010 to 2018 after standing unsuccessfully on the Respect ticket in 2006. He held a couple of positions in Robin Wales’ cabinet and chaired the audit committee. I’m not sure what he’s been doing politically for the past eight years, though as the local Labour parties have been suspended for five of them it’s perhaps not surprising his profile has been a bit low.

Newham Independents announce Mirza for Mayor

To absolutely no-one’s surprise the Newham Independents will be nominating Cllr Mehmood Mirza as their candidate. I’m afraid I couldn’t get a better picture as both Mirza and his party have blocked me from all their socials. Mirza has been councillor for Boleyn ward since winning a by-election a couple of years ago. He now leads a group of five councillors with, shall we say, diverse political histories (from Corbynites to Conservatives) but united by a sense of grievance with the Labour party and a penchant for owning multiple properties. Mirza was once a candidate for a seat on the party’s NEC and was vice-chair for membership of the West Ham constituency party before being suspended.

Areeq Chowdhury, Green candidate for Mayor

Newham’s Green party was the official opposition on the council before Mirza’s party turned up. Their two councillors elected in Olympic Park ward were later joined by Areeq Chowdhury after he defected from Labour. Cllr Chowdhury has represented Canning Town North since 2022, where he was a late addition to the slate after a previously selected candidate was dropped.

UPDATE 4 February 2026

According to Who Can I Vote For?, the Conservatives have nominated Terri Bloore as their candidate for mayor. A quick Google search tells me that Ms Bloore grew up in a rural Leicestershire before studying Public Relations at Bournemouth University and International Affairs at Kings College London. She now works in Corporate & Financial Services and has a particular interest in global sustainability and social impact. There is no announcement on either the East Ham or West Ham & Beckton Conservative Association websites, but a campaign Twitter account has been set up; it has not posted yet.

UPDATE 7 April 2026

Laura Willoughby will be the Liberal Democrat candidate, according to Who Can I Vote for?

So that makes six, including Reform UK’s candidate, about whom I have already reported.

There is talk of another returning candidate from past elections, and maybe the Christian Peoples Alliance will have another go too. I will post a final list after nominations close on Thursday.

Tags: Conservatives, Green Party, Labour, local elections, Mayor of Newham, newham, Newham Independents

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Categories Uncategorized

Election 2024 – your candidates

11 Jun

Nominations for the parliamentary election have closed and the full list of candidates has been published. Newham’s two previously oversized seats have been abolished and replaced with three – one of which crosses the border to include three wards from Tower Hamlets.

East Ham

Hillary Briffa, Liberal Democrats
Maria Higson, Conservatives
Tahir Mirza, Independent
Daniel Oxley, Reform UK
Rosie Pearce, Green Party
Satish Ramadoss, Independent
Anand Sundar, Independent
Stephen Timms, Labour

Stratford and Bow

Nizam Ali, Independent
Kane Blackwell, Conservatives
Jeff Evans, Reform UK
Omar Faruk, Independent
Steve Hedley, Independent
Joe Hudson-Small, Green Party
Halima Khan, Workers Party
Uma Kumaran, Labour Party
Fiona Lali, Independent
Janey Little, Liberal Democrat

West Ham and Beckton

James Asser, Labour Party
Lois Austin, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Emily Bigland, Liberal Democrats
Rob Callender, Green Party
Georgie David, Reform UK
Sophia Naqvi, Newham Independents
Holly Ramsey, Conservatives
Kayode Shedowo, Chrstian Peoples Alliance

Disclosure: I am a Labour Party member and signed the nomination papers for our candidate in Stratford and Bow.

Tags: East Ham, elections, General Election 2024, labour-party, local elections, newham, news, politics, Stratford and Bow, West Ham

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Categories Uncategorized

Ten things about the election

11 May

1. Turnout was abysmal

Perhaps to spare the blushes of the various parties and candidates that fought the election the council has not published any turnout figures, although reports on social media from the count said it was just over 28% for the mayoral election. Looking at the number of votes cast in some wards, it will have been lower than that in a number of places. This is shocking and everyone involved in Newham politics needs to take a long look at themselves and ask why the local electorate has become so disengaged.

2. Labour still dominates

The party won 64 council seats and retained the mayoralty. It took 56.2% of the votes for mayor and 61.5% for council. Although this was not the 100% sweep of recent elections, Labour is still by far the biggest force in Newham politics. Across the 26 wards in the council election the party took 100,535 votes.

3. The Greens are number two

For the first time since 2006 an opposition party won seats on the council, as the Greens took both in the newly created Stratford Olympic Park ward. They were the only other party to field a full slate of 66 candidates (the Tories had 65). Although they narrowly missed out on second place in the mayoral election they finished as runners-up on total votes across the council election with 27,268 – 4,000 ahead of Tories.

4. Your surname is worth votes!

In 21 of the 26 wards the candidate with the most votes had a surname closer to the front of the alphabet than their party colleagues. So in Beckton James Asser finished ahead of Rohima Rahman and Tonii Wilson. In Green Street West Lewis Godfrey topped the poll, followed by Mumtaz Khan and Ama Virdee. The candidates that bucked this trend were Rachel Tripp, Neil Wilson, Mariam Dawood, Steve Brayshaw and Imam Haque.

5. Is Manor Park Labour’s safest seat?

Measured by the gap between the lowest ranked elected councillor and the highest ranked loser, Manor Park is the safest ward in Newham. The opposition will have to close a gap of 1,647 votes to take even one of the three seats.

6. Or is it Maryland?

The new Maryland ward saw Labour score its highest individual vote share, with Carolyn Corben getting 33.8%. Her running mate Ken Penton scored 30.3%, more than 20 points clear of the next best candidate. Given the entire ward is covered by low traffic neighbourhoods and the candidates were unashamedly in favour of them on the doorstep, this should be seen as a vindication of the policy.

7. Plashet is the most marginal ward

On the same basis, the newly created two councillor ward of Plashet is the Borough’s most marginal. Independent Mehmood Mriza finished just 196 votes behind Labour’s Pushpa Makwana. Beckton is also tight, with a margin of 230 and the Greens only have a 267 vote cushion between themselves and Labour taking back a seat in the Olympic Park.

8. The Independents got nowhere

The group made a huge fuss about leaving ‘right wing’ Labour and standing on a ‘socialist’ platform of free parking permits, more traffic and setting illegal budgets. They won no seats and five of their seven candidates scored fewer than 200 votes.

9. The Christian Peoples Alliance is surely over

This has been true for several election cycles now, but they keep up coming back. This time their 26 candidates averaged just 131 votes and two of them recorded the joint lowest score across the entire borough with 25 votes each in Stratford Olympic Park. Maybe that’s God’s way of telling them to stop.

10. First Past the Post leaves many voters unrepresented

Labour took 61.5% of the votes and 97% of the seats. The Greens got 16% of the vote and 3% of the seats. The Conservatives got 14% of the vote and no seats at all. Is that fair? I don’t think so.

UPDATES (13 May)

First of all, a bonus thing about the election: more people voted to abolish the Mayor in last year’s referendum (36,424) than voted for the mayor last Thursday (35,696). I know it changes nothing, that turnout was lower and it’s a binary choice versus a multi-candidate election, but it amuses me.

Secondly, Cllr Nate Higgins has been in touch to point out – quite reasonably – that looking at closeness by number of votes instead of by percentages makes it seems like the smaller wards are closer than they actually are. The Greens are almost 20 points clear of Labour in Stratford Olympic Park; it’s just a low population ward (because of expected growth).

Tags: local elections

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

No surprises

11 May

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To absolutely no-one’s surprise Rokhsana Fiaz was re-elected for a second term as mayor of Newham.

The Labour and Co-op candidate took comfortably more than 50% of the first preference votes. Conservative Attic Rahman finished second, narrowly ahead of the Green Party’s Rob Callender.

Candidate	Party	Votes	Percent
Attic Rahman	Conservative Party	7,390	11.64%
Lois Austin	Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition	2,096	3.30%
Simeon Adewole Ademolake	Christian Peoples Alliance	2,405	3.79%
Saleyha Ahsan	Liberal Democrat	3,528	5.56%
Robert Alexander Callender	The Green Party	7,003	11.03%
Rokhsana Fiaz	Labour and Co-operative Party	35,696	56.23%
Mehmood Mirza	Independent	5,369	8.46%
	Total	63,487

Tags: local elections, Mayor of Newham

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

Spot the difference – 2022 edition

18 Apr

Mirza and Rahman

Below are a dozen policy statements, six from Conservative mayoral candidate Attic Rahman and six from his independent rival Mehmood Mirza. But can you tell which is which?

employ new community patrol officer teams to pursue those who drop litter and issue on the spot fines
effective enforcement to deal with flytipping and rubbish on our streets
a thorough review of parking across the borough to ensure residents and businesses are not punished
meaningful consultation on parking issues
abolish the first car MiPermit tax to help meet the cost of living
free first car permit for every household
more resources for the police to tackle crime and support those who want to live in a peaceful and safe borough
bring back our own enforcement team to deal with crime, drugs and prostitution
primary school children will receive a free breakfast
invest in youth centres and services
raise housing standards to support private renters
no more council tax increases – freeze council tax for four years

Harder than you would imagine, given Mr Rahman’s professed admiration for Boris Johnson and Mirza’s previous Corbynite affectations.

By coincidence, both are also standing for council in Plashet ward. Neither has a running mate, so their almost identical policy platform means it would make sense for them to campaign together.

UPDATE: I am grateful to Tim Roll-Pickering on Twitter for pointing out that the lack of second Conservative candidate in Plashet last year was down to the Returning Officer rejecting a nomination paper and not informing the party agent when there was time to replace it. A revised Statement of Persons Nominated showed this after a complaint was raised.

Tags: elections, local elections, newham, politics

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Choices, choices

15 Oct

The much-anticipated referendum on the future governance of the borough is going to happen next May.

Rokhsana Fiaz confirmed her commitment to this in an interview with the OnLondon blog, saying it would enable her to honour her manifesto pledge that a referendum would be held “before the end of my third year as Mayor.”

Local authority governance referendums must offer voters a choice between the area’s existing model – in Newham’s case, the directly elected mayor – and one government-approved alternative. After the Democracy and Civic Participation Commission failed to recommend what that should be, a working party of Newham Council Labour group members convened to consider the options. Their findings were due to be voted on by Labour group last night. Whatever was agreed will go forward for formal determination at the next full council meeting on 23 October.

So what are the options?

The so-called ‘People’s Petition’ campaign, which was run by a company based out of the house of Labour councillor Suga Thekkeppurayil and promoted by East Ham Labour chair Tahir Mirza, wanted the Leader and Cabinet model. This is sometimes also called the ‘Strong Leader’ model. Under this arrangement the council leader has powers similar to those of a directly elected mayor, but instead of being elected by the voters he or she is appointed by councillors from among their own number. The leader serves for four years, unless removed by a vote of no confidence by full council.

Executive power is held by the leader and the cabinet they appoint, with other councillors having little or no influence (does that sound familiar?)

This is arguably less democratic than the current situation. Now, party members – Labour, Conservatives, Greens and Lib Dems – across the borough select their candidates and the voters make their choice. Under the ‘strong leader’ model, only councillors get a say and the winner is whoever is backed by the largest faction within their political group. Assuming Labour retains 100% of the seats in 2022, just 34 councillors out of 66 will decide who’s in charge.

In Croydon, campaigners want a referendum to switch from this kind of ‘strong leader’ to a directly elected mayor. They argue that a mayor elected by the people will be more attentive to the needs of voters across the whole borough and more accountable. Perhaps in a borough that has a clear Labour/Tory split that will prove to be the case; in one-party Newham, it certainly wasn’t.

The other option is the committee system. Councils run on this model make most decisions in committees, which must be balanced according to the size of each party in the Council (not a huge issue in Newham right now). The Council Leader is appointed by full Council, but has no executive powers and the chairs of the committees are elected by the councillors.

Campaigners in Sheffield are organising a petition to move away from the ‘strong leader’ model to a ‘modern committee system’. They say the current model excludes the majority of councillors from decision-making, asking “What is the point of voting if your councillor has no power?” They argue that a committee-based system will empower all councillors to do the job voters elect them to do. Councillors will have to work together to make decisions and cooperate to do the best for the city.

This option removes the idea of a ‘strong leader’ – be that a directly elected mayor or a council leader – and requires councillors to do the work collaboratively. Perhaps most importantly in Newham, it requires all councillors to do some work.

We will know in a week or so which alternative to the current model we can choose.

Tags: local elections, Mayor of Newham

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Counting cock-up

11 Oct

Newham council has been forced to correct the results from the May elections in three wards after mistakes were made in tabulating the counted votes.

The error was spotted by a Green Party election agent, who filed a complaint. The subsequent investigation involved the Electoral Commission.

Hundreds of votes were incorrectly attributed to the wrong candidates, but the mistake did not affect the overall outcome of the elections – the right people were declared the winners.

The issue arose where candidates who had used a ‘commonly used’ surname on the ballot paper. By law, the ballot paper must put candidates in alphabetical order of commonly used surnames. Then once the votes were counted, they are transferred onto the declaration of results. However, the declaration of results (and supporting declaration sheet) must place the candidates in order by legal surname. This can change the order of the candidates between the ballot paper and declaration where the surnames are different. In Stratford and NewTown, the Green candidate appeared on the ballot paper as Rachel Collinson and on the declaration sheet as Rachel Nunson. As a result her name was lower on the declaration sheet than the ballot paper.

When officials transferred the number of ‘split votes’ (where voters hadn’t cast all of their votes for the same party) on to the declaration sheet they failed to account for the changed positions and attributed votes to the wrong candidates.

As a result the Green candidates in two wards had their results significantly under-reported. In Stratford and New Town, Labour’s Josh Garfield was deprived of over 800 votes. Conservative, Christian and Liberal Democrat candidates were each reported as receiving hundreds more votes than were actually cast for them.

Nate Higgins, who was a Green Party candidate in Forest Gate North, said

“The truth is that though the council’s incompetence, there is now doubt in the entire foundation our democracy is based on. This only came out through the hard work of a local Green activist. Greens are holding the Labour one party state in Newham to account even before we’ve been elected to the council. It’s time for Greens to do it from within the council chamber. If they’ve bungled something as important and serious as our elections, what else have they screwed up?”

The correct results, and the variance from the originally published totals, are shown below:

Stratford and New Town

Candidate	Party	Original	Revised	Change
Gareth Benjamin Evans	Liberal Democrat	1478	1195	-283
John Falana	Christian Peoples Alliance	734	172	-562
Joshua Isaac Daniel Garfield	Labour	2481	3288	807
Andrius Kavaliauskas	Conservative	1341	642	-699
Sheree Venessa Miller	Liberal Democrat	741	848	107
Rachel Anne Collinson	Green	387	1017	630
Nareser Osei	Labour	2970	2970	0
John Milton Oxley	Conservative	639	635	-4
Terence Matthew Paul	Labour	2821	2825	4
James Alan Rumsby	Liberal Democrat	790	790	0
Shardi Claire Shameli	Conservative	529	529	0
Esther Smith	Christian Peoples Alliance	136	136	0

Beckton

Candidate	Party	Original	Revised	Change
Syed Hussain Ahmed	Independent	598	598	0
James Edward Asser	Labour	1722	1722	0
Ayesha Chowdhury	Labour	1717	1717	0
Chike Dunkwu	Christian Peoples Alliance	142	142	0
Emmanuel Finndoro-Obasi	Conservative	454	296	-158
Joshua Darren Lindl	Conservative	635	454	-181
Jane Alison Lithgow	Green	152	428	276
Constance Nasmyth	Conservative	296	359	63
Alice Olaiya	Christian Peoples Alliance	144	144	0
June Taylor	Christian Peoples Alliance	193	193	0
Tonii Wilson	Labour	1445	1445	0

Green Street West

Candidate	Party	Original	Revised	Change
Hanif Abdulmuhit	Labour	2991	2991	0
Muhammad N. Chishti	Conservative	696	696	0
Mushtaq Hussain	Labour	2715	2715	0
Mumtaz Khan	Labour	2591	2591	0
Abdul Karim Sheikh	Conservative	611	709	98
Kamran Yousaf [Qureshi]	Conservative	709	611	-98

Tags: local elections, newham

Comments 4 Comments
Categories Elections, Newham

Outgunned

16 Apr

Yesterday in Canning Town South…

Labour & Co-op Party canvassers Tory party canvassers

The Co-op Party’s first ever canvass in Newham drew a rather larger group of campaigners than the Conservatives managed.

Tags: Co-operative Party, Conservatives, Labour, local elections, newham

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Green candidate announced

4 Apr

Green mayoral candidate Chidi

The Green Party has announced its candidate for Mayor of Newham, Chidi Oti-Obihara.

According to the local party website, he

… lives in Beckton and became a member of the Green Party while working with us on our investigations into Newham Council’s mis-sold Lender Option, Borrower Option (‘LOBO’) loans.

Previously an Investment Banker, Chidi turned whistle-blower in 2007 and testified to Parliament about the practices he’d witnessed and been bullied for not colluding with. He now works as an independent financial consultant.

Chidi Oti-Obihara was the party’s candidate for East Ham at last year’s general election.

He joins Labour’s Rokhsana Fiaz, Conservative Rahima Khan and Liberal Democrat Gareth Evans on the ballot.

UPDATE (9 April 2018):

Newham Green Party has announced that it will not be proceeding with a mayoral nomination:

“A number of factors led to our decision, including the fact that Chidi’s caring responsibilities meant that he couldn’t dedicate the time to it that he wanted, as well as our not wanting to stand in the way of a Labour candidate who has consistently opposed the current mayor and his financial scandals and dictatorial style.”

Tags: Green Party, local elections

Comments 2 Comments
Categories Elections, Newham

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