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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

Your mayoral candidates 2026

10 Apr

The official list of candidates for mayor of Newham has been published:

Candidate	Party
Terri Bloore	Conservative
Areeq Chowdhury	Green
Clive Furness	Reform UK
Forhad Hussain	Labour
Kamran Malik	Communities United
Mehmood Mirza	Newham Independents
Bharath Swamy	Christian Peoples Alliance
Laura Willoughby	Liberal Democrats

Tags: Local Elections 2026

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

Forhad stepped in

8 Apr

Forhad Stepped In.

A short campaign video posted last month on behalf of Forhad Hussain, the Labour mayoral candidate for Newham, has left many local residents and pedestrian safety advocates deeply concerned.

The clip, filmed in the Plaistow area, features Hussain standing alongside a local resident named Bernie, who cheerfully recalls how pavement parking enforcement was successfully hobbled — not once, but twice — with the help of obliging Labour councillors.

Let’s be clear about the legal context. Pavement parking is banned throughout all 32 London boroughs under the Greater London (General Purposes) Act 1974. The Highway Code is unambiguous: drivers must not park partially or wholly on the pavement in London. This is not a grey area. It is not a matter of “common sense.” It is the law.

And yet, in this campaign video, Hussain stands proudly smiling as Bernie recounts how, around 2011, when enforcement officers began doing their jobs and issuing tickets to drivers parking on the pavement, Hussain intervened. According to Bernie, an email was issued that caused enforcement officials to “step back” and allow residents to continue parking with wheels on the pavement. When the “problem” re-emerged in 2021 and tickets began to be issued again, fellow Labour councillor Simon Rush — currently representing Plaistow and standing as a candidate for Custom House in the upcoming elections — stepped in once more to make “common sense prevail.” The video presents all of this as a success story.

Bernie explains that for years, “everyone agreed” it was perfectly acceptable to park on the pavement, provided enough space was left for pedestrians to pass. Everyone? Everyone, apparently, except the elderly residents, disabled pedestrians, wheelchair users, and parents with pushchairs who were forced to step off the kerb and into the road to get past. Their agreement was not sought. And what Bernie dismisses as “officialdom jumping in” was simply council enforcement officers doing precisely what they are employed — and legally obliged — to do. It is shocking that a prospective Mayor of Newham appears to share that contempt for enforcement of the law.

This deserves serious scrutiny. A politician using his elected position to pressure enforcement officers into ignoring a clear and longstanding law is not “common sense.” It is an abuse of influence. It puts the convenience of a handful of car-owning residents above the safety and independence of everyone else who uses those pavements — including, it should be noted, the children and parents walking to the primary school at the end of the very road where this video was filmed.

Vehicles parked on the footway obstruct and inhibit the independence of many vulnerable people, especially older or disabled people with visual or mobility impairments. When pedestrians — including families with pushchairs — are forced into the road and into traffic, pavement parking is simply dangerous. These are not abstract concerns. 73% of people aged 65 and over polled by Living Streets said pavement parking was a problem for them in their local area, and 50% of older people said they would be more likely to walk outside if pavements were clear of vehicles parked on them.

But there is a detail that makes this video particularly extraordinary. Throughout the clip, Forhad Hussain is filmed standing in front of a garage. Bernie’s garage. Bernie — the resident lamenting the terrible inconvenience of not being allowed to park on the pavement — has a garage. Where he can park his car. He does not need to put two wheels on the pavement at all. And if Hussain had turned his head just a little to the right, he would have seen it.

It is hard to know what is more troubling: that a prospective Mayor of Newham appears to believe that pressuring enforcement officers to ignore the law is something worth boasting about in a campaign video, or that the entire premise rests on a parking ‘problem’ that never existed in the first place.

Newham has tens of thousands of residents who walk its streets daily. Many of them are elderly. Many use wheelchairs or pushchairs. Many carry heavy loads of shopping. Many are children walking to school. All of them deserve pavements that are free of obstruction — pavements that are, quite simply, for people. A mayoral candidate should be championing their right to safe, accessible streets, not producing campaign material that celebrates undermining enforcement of laws designed to protect them.

Voters in Newham deserve to know where their candidates stand on pedestrian safety. This video, unfortunately, makes Forhad Hussain’s position rather plain.

UPDATE 9 April 2026

It has helpfully been pointed out on Facebook that not all pavement parking in London is illegal. Some boroughs have exemptions in certain areas – Tower Hamlets Road in Forest Gate being an example – which must be clearly marked and signposted. There is no exemption on Bernie’s road.

Tags: Forhad Hussain, Living Streets, Local Elections 2026

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Categories Uncategorized

Desperate times

2 Apr

Reform UK may have bagged themselves a mayoral candidate for Newham, but it seems they are struggling to find enough people to stand for council seats.

The above was posted to Twitter by one of the Conservative Party’s candidates for Canning Town South in a thread about Reform’s desperate efforts across the country. It’s all a bit embarrassing for a party that the pollsters say is the most popular in the country right now.

I have no idea who the Labour candidate is, though it must be someone Reform had a number for and who was thought to be persuadable. While we know some councillors and candidates have a transactional relationship with party affiliation, surely Reform is a step too far, even for them.

Amusingly, the Reform mayoral candidate’s blog ran a piece a few weeks ago about ‘Labour’s candidate crunch’, noting the trouble the ruling party is having filling its slate. People in gals houses…

Tags: Local Elections 2026, Reform UK

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Categories Uncategorized

Election 2026

25 Mar

With the final meeting of the current council out of the way, it’s time to elect a new one.

The timetable for the election is:

Publication of Notice of Election	Wednesday 25 March 2026
Receipt of Nominations	4:00 pm Thursday 9 April 2026
Withdrawal of Candidate	4:00 pm Thursday 9 April 2026
Appointment of Election Agents	4:00 pm Thursday 9 April 2026
Publication of Notice of Election Agents	4:00 pm Thursday 9 April 2026
Publication of Statements of Persons Nominated	4:00 pm Friday 10 April 2026
Last Date for Registration	Monday 20 April 2026
Receipt of Postal Vote Applications	5:00 pm Tuesday 21 April 2026
Last day for Voter Authority Certificates	5:00 pm Tuesday 28 April 2026
Publication of Notice of Poll	Tuesday 28 April 2026
Receipt of Proxy Vote Applications	5:00 pm Tuesday 28 April 2026
Appointment of Poll and Count Agents	Wednesday 29 April 2026
First Day to Issue Replacement Lost Postal Ballot Papers	Thursday 30 April 2026
Last Day to Issue Replacement Spoilt or Lost Postal Ballot Papers	5:00 pm Thursday 7 May 2026
Receipt of Emergency Proxy Vote Applications	5:00 pm Thursday 7 May 2026
Day of Poll	7:00 am to 10:00 pm Thursday 7 May 2026
Return of Election Expenses	Friday 12 June 2026

Notice of council election (PDF)

Notice of mayoral election (PDF)

Candidates for mayor of Newham must pay a £500 deposit (returnable if you receive 5% or more the votes cast). There is no deposit for council candidates.

To vote in these elections you must:

be registered to vote at an address in Newham
be 18 or over on the day of the election
be a British, Irish, qualifying Commonwealth citizen, qualifying EU citizen
not be legally excluded from voting

Polling stations will be open between 7am and 10pm on Thursday 7 May. Due to the recent changes in election law, you must take photographic ID with you.

Voters who have registered to vote by post will be able to post their ballot paper to the Council. If you would like to register to vote by post, you can complete an online application at www.gov.uk/apply-postal-vote.

Tags: Local Elections 2026

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Categories Uncategorized

Dude, where’s my car?

23 Mar

With the main contenders in May’s elections desperately trying to outbid each other to win the votes of car drivers – free residential parking permits, an hour (or two!) of free parking every day, a new multi-storey car park on Green Street – it’s worth asking… why?

Car ownership is a minority pursuit in Newham. Across the borough, less than half of households own a car or van. And there isn’t a single ward where car ownership exceeds 60%. In every single ward at least 40% of households won’t see a single penny of benefit from free permits or high street parking. But they will suffer the consequences of more traffic, more pollution, more noise and less safe streets.

It makes no sense whatsoever.

Ward	Total HHs	HHs with no car	% no car
Stratford	6801	4776	70.22%
Stratford Olympic Park	4513	3105	68.80%
Royal Victoria	6745	4276	63.40%
Canning Town South	2795	1729	61.86%
Maryland	4521	2641	58.42%
Canning Town North	3830	2229	58.20%
Plaistow West & Canning Town East	5824	3170	54.43%
Forest Gate South	5864	3147	53.67%
Plaistow North	5752	3001	52.17%
West Ham	5338	2774	51.97%
Royal Albert	3660	1811	49.48%
East Ham	4299	2099	48.83%
Boleyn	4566	2189	47.94%
Manor Park	4688	2213	47.21%
Green Street West	4136	1938	46.86%
Plaistow South	4215	1974	46.83%
Custom House	6195	2866	46.26%
Green Street East	4440	2053	46.24%
Forest Gate North	3802	1738	45.71%
Little Ilford	5065	2292	45.25%
Plashet	2948	1292	43.83%
Wall End	4597	1971	42.88%
Beckton	5485	2249	41.00%
East Ham South	5435	2178	40.07%
TOTAL:	115514	59711	51.69%

Source: Office for National Statistics, 2021 UK Census

“Car is a necessity not a luxury,” says Cllr Mirza, Newham the Independent candidate, in his election materials. Given half of all residents in the borough don’t own a car, I wonder how he thinks they survive. Does he imagine they are all sat at home, unemployed and starving because they can’t get out to find a job or go to the shops?

Tags: Car ownership, Local Elections 2026

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

A Failure of Leadership

19 Mar

Ballot box
“We will consult properly and use community ballots to make sure decisions on important changes to your local street and environment are made by you.” So says Forhad Hussain on his current election leaflet, under the heading ‘Leadership you can rely on.’

Similarly, Newham Independents candidate Mehmood Mirza promises to “cancel all proposed LTNs and properly consult on the existing ones.”

When local politicians champion “community ballots” or “proper consultation” on schemes like low traffic neighbourhoods, they frame it as ‘democracy in action’—giving residents the final say on their streets. The reality, however, is that this is an abdication of leadership at precisely the moment when communities need it most.

The fundamental problem with these ballots is that they reduce complex policy decisions to binary choices. Traffic management isn’t about whether people like or dislike a scheme in isolation. It’s about balancing competing needs: child safety versus driver convenience; air quality versus journey times; long-term health outcomes versus short-term disruption. These are exactly the kinds of trade-offs we elect representatives to navigate on our behalf, using evidence and expertise alongside public input.

Moreover, the playing field for these ballots is far from level. Well-organised opposition groups, amplified by outside actors with their own agendas, flood communities with disinformation. Claims about emergency vehicle access, economic decline, or displacement of traffic are often exaggerated or outright false, yet they resonate emotionally because people are nervous about change. Meanwhile, the diffuse benefits—cleaner air, safer streets for children, reduced through-traffic, less noise pollution—are harder to mobilise around, even though the evidence supporting them is strong.

As a result communities become battlegrounds. Neighbours who previously coexisted peacefully find themselves on opposite sides of an artificially sharpened divide. Social media arguments replace constructive dialogue. The ballot doesn’t build consensus; it entrenches positions and creates winners and losers. Conflict instead of cohesion.

True leadership means making difficult decisions based on evidence, even when they’re initially unpopular. Of course it means consulting communities and listening to concerns: schemes can be adapted where legitimate issues arise—but ultimately it’s about taking responsibility for the outcome. Politicians who instead defer to referendums are passing the buck, hoping to avoid accountability by ‘listening to the people’.

If a scheme is genuinely worthwhile, the mayor and council should implement it, monitor its effects, and be prepared to modify or reverse it based on real-world outcomes. This is governance. Community ballots, by contrast, are a recipe for division. Elevating the loudest voices over the best evidence isn’t leadership, it’s the exact opposite.

Newham deserves better than politicians who mistake populism for democracy and ‘community ballots’ for governing.

Tags: Forhad Hussain, Local Elections 2026, Mehmood Mirza

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

Free Parking Isn’t Really Free

11 Mar

Parked cars

Two of the leading candidates for mayor of Newham in May’s election are promising voters “free parking.” Labour’s Forhad Hussain says he will give residents an hour a day, anywhere in the borough. Mehmood Mirza of the Newham Independents has trumped that, offering 2 hours a day.

While that parking might ‘free’ in the sense that drivers don’t have to pay for it, it comes at a very considerable cost to the wider community.

Free parking is presented as a simple way to support residents with the cost of living and help local shops. The logic seems intuitive: if parking is cheaper, more people will visit the high street. But that ignores a well-established concept in transport economics known as Induced Demand.

Induced demand is what happens when the cost or difficulty of a particular activity is reduced. When something becomes easier or cheaper, people do more of it. In transport, this principle is most often discussed in relation to road building—new road capacity tends to attract additional traffic which quickly wipes out the advantage of having built it. The same dynamic applies to parking.

If parking becomes free, especially for short stays, it changes how people make everyday travel decisions. When parking costs money or requires effort—finding a machine, worrying about time limits—people think twice before driving a short distance. They may walk, cycle, or combine several errands into one trip. Removing the cost component changes that calculation. Suddenly, a quick car journey for a single item or a short visit feels worthwhile – it’s ‘free’ so why not?

As a result, free parking generates extra trips that would not otherwise have occurred. People may drive for errands they previously would have walked; make several separate trips instead of combining them; or return multiple times during the day because each visit includes a free parking period (neither candidate has explained how they would prevent people abusing the system like this). Even if the number of parking spaces remains unchanged – road space is a finite resource – the number of vehicle movements increases.

Parking spaces are limited, particularly in busy town centres like Green Street, Stratford and Forest Gate. When there’s a free hour of parking these spaces are often occupied by very short visits—coffee pickups, takeaway collections, or quick errands. These trips generate more traffic but do not necessarily contribute much to the local economy.

At the same time, the increased turnover of parking spaces means more cars circulating through the area: drivers searching for spaces, pulling in and out of bays, and making short journeys between nearby destinations. Research has shown that a notable share of city traffic consists of vehicles simply looking for some where to park. And all of those cars are generating pollution – exhaust fumes, brake pad dust, and micro-particles of tyre rubber.

Free parking can also have unintended consequences for the broader transport system. When driving becomes artificially cheap, it weakens the relative attractiveness of other ways of getting around. Walking, cycling, and public transport all become slightly less competitive compared with the convenience of driving door-to-door. Over time, this can reinforce car dependency and increase traffic volumes on local streets. In dense urban environments like Newham, that brings knock-on effects such as congestion, noise, and poorer air quality. These impacts affect everyone, including the very large number of residents who do not drive.

Giving residents free parking for an hour (or more) daily sounds fair, but it isn’t. Only half of Newham households own or have access to a car, so the benefits are skewed to towards those well-off enough to own and run a car, while everyone faces more traffic, noise, and pollution.

Parking policy is not just a revenue issue – though it definitely is and giving up millions of pounds a year in income will have knock-on consequences elsewhere in the council budget – it’s a transport management tool. Pricing and regulation help balance access to public space with the need to manage traffic and support healthier, more sustainable travel choices.

In short, while free parking may appear attractive, it comes with consequences. By lowering the cost of driving, it t encourages more car journeys—particularly short ones—adding pressure to already busy streets and undermining wider transport and public health goals. And in a borough with an epidemic of inactivity and obesity, it is the worst possible policy.

Tags: Forhad Hussain, Mehmood Mirza, parking

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And there’s more…

8 Mar

Hanif Abdulmuhit on a Labour leaflet

It seems that I was guilty of a couple of bits of understatement in Friday’s post about former councillor Hanif Abdulmuhit.

First of all, he is not just campaigning for Labour, he is a candidate in Green Street West, the seat he previously held for both Respect and Labour.

And secondly, his support for the Conservatives went beyond now-deleted social media posts – he joined the party and campaigned for it.

Tory AGM Tweet

This tweet is from September 2023 and Abdulmuhit is there, at the West Ham Conservative’s AGM. He’s on the right, partly hidden by Tim Roll-Pickering’s head.

An arrow pointing at Hanif Abdulmuhit's head

And here he is campaigning for them.

Tory canvas.

Hanif Tory canvassing.

I guess the Labour selection panel’s due diligence on his social media history wasn’t as diligent as it should have been.

Tags: Green Street West, Hanif Abdulmuhit, Labour

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

A man for all seasons

6 Mar

Hanif Abdulmuhit campaigning in 2026

Hanif Abdulmuhit out on the Labour campaign trail

While we’re on the subject of people changing parties – not especially unusual in the small world of Newham politics – let’s talk about Hanif Abdulmuhit, who is currently out campaigning for Labour ahead of the upcoming local election.

Abdulmuhit began his political life as secretary of Newham Liberal Democrats. He then joined George Galloway’s Respect party, winning a council seat in 2006, defeating Labour incumbents in the process, and standing as the party’s London Assembly candidate for City & East in 2008. As Respect collapsed in on itself, he completed the remainder of his term as a Labour councillor, sat out the 2010 elections, and then returned — fully reconstructed — as a Labour member in 2014. He went on to serve as a mayoral advisor for Building Communities and community lead for Green Street in the administration of Sir Robin Wales.

That second Labour stint lasted until 2022, when he was deselected by the NEC panel charged with picking the party’s candidates. There were suggestions that he was the victim of dirty tricks in the run-up to the selection process, and he took it very badly. In social media posts, subsequently deleted, he announced his support for the Conservatives.

Abdulmuhit’s bitterness towards his former party was on open display in July 2023, when he posted gleefully about Labour’s defeat in the Boleyn ward by-election. “Some refreshing news out of Newham at last!” he wrote, celebrating the victory of independent candidate Mehmood Mirza and describing it as “proof people of Newham have had enough of broken promises and lies of Newham Labour.”

The irony — or the problem, depending on how you look at it — is that Mehmood Mirza is now Labour’s principal opponent in the Newham mayoral election. The same man whose victory Abdulmuhit publicly cheered, whom he held up as a symbol of Labour’s failure and the community’s rejection of the party, is today the candidate Labour most needs to defeat.

The contradictions do not end with his serial party-hopping. Abdulmuhit was also posting views that sit strikingly at odds with Labour’s national platform and Newham Council’s own stated priorities.

When Sadiq Khan shared a video explaining the health effects of toxic air, Abdulmuhit dismissed it as “Propaganda! Absolutely no definitive evidence for this whatsoever!” — a remarkable claim given that the scientific consensus on the harm caused by air pollution is overwhelming. Newham is one of London’s most polluted boroughs; the health consequences for its residents are not an abstraction.

He also amplified a Toby Young article from the Daily Sceptic — a well-known climate-sceptic outlet — approvingly characterising climate scientists as “fanatics” and “gloom merchants” driven by “wishy washy feelings” rather than science. These are not merely heterodox views within the Labour family. They are positions associated with the right flank of the Conservative Party and its outriders, not with a movement that has made clean energy and environmental action central to its offer to voters.

Newham Council has declared a climate emergency and committed to ambitious net-zero targets. Labour nationally has staked significant political capital on its green agenda. A Labour activist publicly aligning himself with Toby Young on climate science is not a minor quirk — it is a meaningful ideological statement.

Hanif Abdulmuhit spent eight years as a Labour councillor before being deselected. He then publicly celebrated Labour losing a council seat, specifically praising the independent candidate who is now Labour’s main opponent in the mayoral race. He has dismissed the scientific evidence on air pollution as propaganda and shared climate-denying content from a right-wing sceptic outlet. He has also, at various points in the more distant past, been a Liberal Democrat and a Respect councillor.

None of this is secret. It is all a matter of public record — or was, before it was deleted along with the rest of his Twitter/X account.

The question worth asking is not why Abdulmuhit wants back in. Political calculation is a constant in Newham, and the motivations of someone who has navigated this many different party loyalties are presumably pragmatic. The real question is why Labour would want him close to its campaign — and, more pointedly, why it would welcome back someone whose loudest recent contribution to Newham politics was cheering on the very candidate Labour is now trying to beat. And who retweeted this kind of thing:

Voters are entitled to know who is working on behalf of candidates they are asked to support. In a contest where Labour’s credibility and trustworthiness in Newham is itself at issue, the company a campaign keeps matters.

Forhad and Hanif

Having someone whose political journey spans the Lib Dems, Respect, Labour, the Conservatives (however briefly), and back again — and who was publicly delighted by Labour’s embarrassment less than two years ago — seems, at best, an unusual choice.

Tags: Hanif Abdulmuhit, Labour, Respect

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Categories Elections, Newham, Politics

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