What’s The Delay?

Who will be Labours Candidate?

Having announced to the Labour Group that the decision about the mayoral candidate would be shared on July 5th , we discover that Labour are behind schedule again.

No decision, indeed, no interviews held over the weekend of 5th /6th July. As yet, no published timetable for a decision, but observers have noted that the closing date for council candidates is 21 st July, so we would expect an announcement before that.

The successful candidate will be odds on favourite to take the mayoralty in 2026, although the Fiaz inheritance will be something of a poisoned chalice.

The new candidate, and we assume that it will be a new candidate, will have to get to grips with the Fiaz budget and the Fiaz deficit but will have no official means to influence her spending in the current year nor the shape of the budget she presents in February 2026.

Looking at the shape of Newham’s finances we are inclined to wonder why commissioners have not been sent in from Whitehall. The answer, we suspect, lies in the optics. It would be embarrassing for Labour to remove control of the council from a female Muslim mayor, in the run up to an election. It would suggest that not only did they have no confidence in the incumbent, but that they had no confidence in her successor.

This does not preclude the government from dispatching commissioners immediately after the election.

Meanwhile, we await the fluttering of white smoke from the chimneys above Great Suffolk St.