Croydon council leader to step down after eight years
By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter
Croydon council leader Hamida Ali will not stand in May’s local elections, she has revealed.
She has been a councillor for eight years and took on the top job in October 2020, weeks before the council issued a Section 114 notice, declaring effective bankruptcy.
Councillor Ali, a Woodside councillor, announced she would be standing down on Friday morning.
In a statement she said: “It has been the greatest honour to lead the council over the last 18 months.
“It is a role that I took on in the most difficult circumstances imaginable, which has been the most professionally and personally challenging of my life where I have had one driving purpose – to keep Croydon in Croydon’s hands.
“I am immensely proud of the work I have led with cabinet to face up to our situation and fix the council’s finances – and that’s what we’ve done.”
“I stood to be leader because I couldn’t bear the very real prospect that unelected, Tory government commissioners with no stake in, or passion for Croydon could be brought in to run the borough.
“Now the council’s position is secure and local democracy in Croydon remains firmly local, the job I set for myself is complete.”
She added she will continue to campaign for Labour’s candidate for Croydon’s first directly elected mayor, Val Shawcross.
Pictured top: Croydon Town Hall
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