Neil Wilby Media

I’m sat around 2,200 miles away from Oldham at the moment but the shockwaves from the famous old East Lancashire mill town can still be felt in a city well known for its earth tremors, writes Neil Wilby.

Agadir, facing the North Atlantic in Morocco, is very agreeable at this time of year and conducive to a health regime that may add a year or two to this author’s longevity. Even with its risk of earthquakes, the most catastrophic of which completely destroyed the city as recently as 1960.

An early Thursday night meant the 3.30am alarm call was not too burdensome and the timing was not too awry as the counting of the votes from yesterday’s local elections got underway not too long afterwards.

On 6th April, 2024 I had stuck out my neck with an almost ward by ward analysis in an article headlined ‘Labour face local election Armageddon in Oldham’ (read in full here). It followed last year’s correct prediction that the number of seats held be the red rose would fall from 35 to 32, albeit a little askew in the detail.

This year’s prediction was that the council would fall into no overall control with loss of key seats in decades long Labour strongholds in such wards as Alexandra, Coldhurst, Medlock Vale and Werneth. In the event, they lost three of those four seats.

St Mary’s, down as a ‘wild card’ was also lost by Labour and may well prove fatal to the chances of Cllr Arooj Shah clinging on as Leader of the Council as this is her home ward and her sitting councillor colleague, Ali Aqeel Salamat, was not just defeated he was absolutely thrashed at the poll.

The vulnerability of now former Cllrs Ros Birch and Steve Bashforth was also flagged up. Two hard-working, effective ward representatives lost to the Borough as part of the electorate’s decisive rejection of the local Labour Party’s leadership.

Also predicted was Labour regaining Hollinwood from independents, The Oldham Group, and a shock result that very nearly came true with Cllr Elaine Taylor hanging on to her ‘safe’ Chadderton Central seat by just 19 votes.

Oldham Labour Group’s Annual General Meeting promises to be a very lively affair next week as Cllr Shah faces calls to resign her leadership.

Hopeless and permanently gaffe-prone during the last year leading a Council in power, she cannot, in all reality, continue running a minority administration or even the local Labour Party.

Resignation would seem apposite and a dignified solution from both posts.

There will also be lots of meetings amongst the opposition groups and independents as to how  to make use of their collective majority. Prominent in those discussions will be the Leaders of the Liberal Democrats and The Oldham Group, Cllrs Howard Sykes MBE and Kamran Ghafoor respectively. The latter, in particular, being the architect of Labour’s downfall. 

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Page last updated: Friday 3rd May, 2024 at 0725 hours

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