Neil Wilby Media

Troubled Oldham Labour Group held its Annual General Meeting last night and re-elected its Leader, unopposed.

Cllr Arooj Shah has faced repeated, and well justified, calls to resign amidst another catastrophic day at the local election polls which saw the Labour Party lose control of Oldham Metropolitan Borough Council (read more here).

They now hold just 27 of the 60 seats on the Council. In April 2021, they held 45. There is also a persistent vibe within the town that signals at least one more Labour councillor may be leaving the Party this month. More so, now that Cllr Shah has retained the Leadership of their Group.

Sub-standard, or non-existent, leadership; poor judgement and obsessive self-interest have also been cited as reasons for Labour’s and the gaffe-prone Cllr Shah’s fall from grace (read more here).

For her part, since the election results were announced last Friday morning, Cllr Shah has accused anything, or anyone, but herself. Including blaming “extremists” and “bad actors” for the “toxic political climate” in the Borough.

The irony of all that, is there would be a very lengthy search to find a worse “actor” or anyone more “toxic” in Oldham, currently, than Arooj Shah.

Cllr Howard Sykes MBE is being widely tipped to take over as Leader of the Council on 22nd May, 2024 when a newly formed administration will take shape at the first meeting of elected Members since the elections.

Cllr Sykes, who has served Oldham for over 30 years, was Leader between 2008 and 2011 under a Liberal Democrat and Conservative coalition.

In this coming municipal year, that same coalition will be expanded with an alliance that includes, at the very least, The Oldham Group. There are eight other independent councillors (four groups of two) whose election platforms have been strongly anti-Labour.

Cllr Zahid Chauhan OBE is expected to retain his position as Mayor for a second term (read more here) leaving Labour with just 26 councillors seated below, within the civic chamber. 

He is likely to have the unenviable view from his Mayoral perch of watching his Labour Leader humiliated time and again over the next year. 

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Page last updated: Wednesday 8th May, 2024 at 0815 hours

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