Croydon council leader will not stand in mayoral elections in May

By Tara O’Connor, Local Democracy Reporter

The leader of Croydon council will not run in next year’s mayoral election, meaning they will step down in May.

Earlier this month, a referendum to change the way the borough is run was held. It backed by 80 per cent of the 59,000 voters that turned out.

A directly elected mayor will will replace the current model where the leader of the council is voted in by their own party.

The mayoral election will take place next May at the same time as the local council elections.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service understands that Cllr Hamida Ali has made the decision not to put her name forward to become the Labour candidate for mayor.

She became leader in October 2020 after the resignation of Tony Newman and shortly before the council issued a Section 114 notice, declaring effective bankruptcy.

Val Shawcross has announced that she will be in the running to become the Labour candidate for the position.

She was the leader of Croydon Council from 1997 to 2000 and a councillor for six years.

From 2000 to 2016 Val was London Assembly for Lambeth and Southwark and was deputy mayor of London for Transport to Sadiq Khan.

She said: “I want to come back to this new updated role of Mayor because I know I can make a difference.

“There’s work to do on improving the way Croydon runs and building better relationships between the council and the community.

“A Labour council should listen to local people and create opportunities for community involvement in running local neighbourhoods and facilities like parks. We need, as a community, to start tackling the problems of the current era.

“People are worried about energy costs, issues like crime, fly-tipping and our local and global environment.”

Also throwing his hat into the ring is current Croydon councillor of eight years Jamie Audsley who campaigned for a move to a directly elected mayor.

He said: “As a local councillor for the past eight years, I have seen the efforts and good intentions to improve the council. Listening on the doorstep however, it’s clear that our communities still feel Croydon Council remains too insular and too inward looking.

“To revive Croydon, it’s vital we embrace democratic change by listening to our communities.”

Chair of Croydon Council’s Safer Neighbourhood Board, Donna Murray-Turner, announced on Twitter she will be putting her name forward to be a mayoral candidate.

She is not a councillor and describes herself on Twitter as a diversity and inclusion consultant.

From her video message it was not clear whether this will be for the Labour Party or as an Independent.

Applicants for the Labour selection need to put their names forward by Monday, November 1, and party members will vote on who will become the mayoral candidate.