I have known Damien since before he became Mayor and he is an great exemplar of British civic office. He is in my experience, a genuine, consensual politician who is also thoughtful, courteous and promotes the role of Councillors above himself.
I still don't believe in an executive mayor model in UK local authorities but he would make a natural leader in any Committee model council.
An excellent letter in the Newham Recorder by former Councillor John Saunders who served under the Committee and Executive Mayor Council and now supports Newham Voting for Change:
Under the committee system, the council leader would have to reflect the views of the whole council and be governed by the decisions of the committees – and every councillor would be a member of a committee.
This means that residents would have two or three local ward councillors who have real influence in the council and would therefore be able to represent their views and interests more effectively.
Directly elected mayors do not give their residents a greater voice, the committee system does.
HTTPS://WWW.NEWHAMRECORDER.CO.UK/NEWS/THANKS-MAYORAL-REFERENDUM-CANCER-CHAMPIONS-AND-MATHS-FUN-7911256
During which we were reminded that today was the 8th anniversary of when the Rana Plaza factory building in Dhaka, Bangladesh collapsed. This tragedy took the lives of 1,138 people, mostly young women, and injured around 2,500, making it the fourth largest industrial disaster in history. #WhoMadeMyClothes
Then Labour telephone canvassing for my UNISON colleague, Lola Oyewusi, who is standing to be the next Crime and Police commissioner for Kent. More people answered the phone than in similar East London session and I had a number of very interesting conversations with voters.
Next was a physical stall in Forest Gate on the Newham Mayoral Referendum, which is also taking place on May 6. I am supporting the change from an Executive Mayor system to the more democratic and accountable Committee model. Again, I had more interest and interaction with local residents with this stall than I have ever had in the past with Labour Party stalls (in the same spot next to the Co-op). No one I spoke to was fully in favour of continuing with the Mayoral model and many passionately against it.
We then went to support a community event in Central Park, East Ham for the "Walk with Dabirul Chachav". Dabirul Islam Choudhury MBE, aged 101, was inspired by Captain Sir Tom Moore, has raised more than £420,000 for charity by walking laps in his garden in Bow.
At home I did some local telephone canvassing for Labour in my West Ham ward then went off and delivered leaflets to postal voters in Forest Gate North.
Finished the day with outdoors fish n chips & mushy peas, in the local pub, The Holly Tree.
"May 6th is the date, not only for the election of the London
Mayor and Greater London Assembly Member, but also for the important Newham Governance
Referendum. This comes 20 years after this borough voted to have one of the country’s
first Directly-Elected Mayors in a referendum which was perhaps not widely nor
fully understood. Newham was one of only 11 authorities which voted to adopt
the Mayor model and there are currently just 15, with many more referendums proposing
a Mayor being lost than won. Since 2002, the voters of Stoke-on-Trent,
Hartlepool and Torbay have opted to abandon the Mayor model they had previously
adopted, two for the Leader and Cabinet and one for the Committee model.
Sir Robin Wales, elected Mayor of Newham in 2002, remained in office until he was defeated by Cllr Rokhsana Fiaz in the selection for the Labour Party’s Mayoral candidate in 2018. Of those who believed this model would work better with Cllr Fiaz in the post, many also felt that the DEM model was in any case flawed. She expressed the view that this model had not worked well for Newham and pledged, if elected, to hold a referendum on its future by May 2021.
How the full powers of the Mayor are used depends greatly on the incumbent’s character but, according to the Local Government Act 2000, the Mayor – elected separately from the councillors and therefore of higher status - appoints and dismisses Cabinet members. Stemming from this authority, the Mayor is able to ensure the Cabinet’s assent and exercise considerable influence over the councillors belonging to the dominant party.
In contrast, under the Committee model the Council delegates decision-making powers to committees corresponding to Council directorates, such as Adults & Health and Inclusive Economy & Housing. Full Council elects the chairs of these committees and the Council Leader, and has direct responsibility for the overall policy framework and the budget.
The campaign group, Newham Voting for Change, believes that the Committee system is more democratic, equal and inclusive than the DEM system because all councillors participate in making policy. Working in committees encourages co-operation rather than division, talent is nurtured and expertise developed more productively, and all councillors are more accessible and accountable for the Council’s actions.
Check out
https://newhamforchange.org/
Please join us for a public online meeting on Zoom about the campaign on Tuesday 9 March from 7-8pm. All welcome – we will be discussing the campaign and the advantages of the committee structure. Register here!
On 6 May 2021 Newham Council will hold a referendum on how the Council should be run. Every Newham voter will get a vote on whether the Council should be run by a Directly Elected Mayor (the system we have now) or by a system of committees made up of elected councillors.
See full details of the referendum published on Newham Council’s website.
We are campaigning for a change to a Committee structure in the council.
This means the council will be run by committees made up of elected councillors – usually a committee for each of the different areas, like Housing, Education, Social services, Health, Planning and Crime.
The committee system is:
OPEN – there is more opportunity for citizens, experts and communities to have their say and influence decisions
REPRESENTATIVE – all council members have input into decisions, not just the Mayor and Cabinet
CO-OPERATIVE – councillors have to work together to make decisions
ACCOUNTABLE – every councillor takes a role in making policy and seeing decisions enacted
Only one delegate spoke against the motion (even though she said she was in favour but did not like the call for branches to encourage their members to campaign in favour).
Check out:-
wording of motions : https://www.johnslabourblog.org/2021/02/branches-vote-unanimously-to-get-rid-of.html
https://www.facebook.com/newhamvotingforchange/
"This Branch notes that: The Newham Governance Referendum on 6th May 2021 will offer the electorate a choice between confirming the current Directly-Elected Mayor & Cabinet Model and adopting the Committee Model of local governance.
This is a very different and updated approach from previous old-
style Council Committee Models, which a number of Councils have introduced
successfully.
Full Council – not the mayor or a ‘strong leader’ – holds all the decision-making powers. It is full Council’s decision whether to exercise those powers directly or to delegate them to committees or to officers.
·
Full council retains a number of key functions, including responsibility
for the overall policy framework, the corporate plan, the budget and the
setting of council tax;
·
Committees will be politically balanced, so the majority party maintains
a dominant position in decision-making;
This Branch believes that:
· the Committee Model ensures that there is greater equality between council members, with less of a hierarchy, as the council leader and committee chairs are elected by full council and all councillors belong to a decision-making committee;
·
because all the councillors take part in the decision-making process, there
are more points of contact through which their party members and the public can
influence decisions
·
as all councillors have a role in decision making, there is less reason
for in-groups and out-groups to form - with the latter feeling excluded or like
second-class councillors;
·
with members of committees being obliged to co-operate, there is less
likelihood of antagonistic factions developing;
·
as every councillor has a role in decision making and seeing decisions
enacted, they have collective responsibility for the council’s actions and
cannot escape accountability to their party members and the public.
The court case against Newham Council has concluded, with the judge upholding Newham’s decision to hold a referendum giving voters a choice between the committee structure and the current Directly Elected Mayoral system.
The full judgement can be found here.
Newham Voting for Change are delighted that the referendum on the 6 May 2021 will offer a real choice and a chance for change in Newham.
Councillor John Whitworth, who has been a long term champion of the committee model, said:
“The committee structure is a genuine alternative to the Mayoral system, and we think Newham voters will be enthusiastic about having a real say in how their council is run. We look forward to making the arguments for the committee system and we encourage everyone with an interest in local government to get involved in our campaign.”
Full press release here.
Finalists
Essex Pension Fund
London Borough of Newham
West Midlands Pension Fund
I was really pleased to see that Newham won this award on Tuesday. Great work by the Pension Committee Chair, Cllr Nareser Osei, other members of the Committee and the Pension Board, Officers and advisors. A team effort.
However, this shows how effective Councils committees can be and also show how trade union representation on both the Pension Committee and the Board improves good governance.
In May 2021 Newham will hold a referendum on how the local council is run. We are campaigning for the committee system, which is more
We’ll be joined by:
➢ Ruth Hubbard, Sheffield It’s Our City – Sheffield Council will also be holding a referendum on changing to a committee structure and Ruth will talk about the successes of the Sheffield campaign.
➢ Cllr Ruth Dombey, Leader of Sutton Council (Lib Dems) – Ruth will talk about how Sutton Council works with the committee structure.
➢ Cllr Andrew Ansell, Basildon Councillor (Labour) – Andrew will talk about how Basildon Council operates day to day with a committee system in place.
➢ Speaker from the Tower Hamlets referendum campaign – TBC.
Chair: Josephine Grahl, Newham Voting for Change All welcome | Tuesday 8th December | 7-8pm register for the meeting on Zoom"
check out https://twitter.com/ForNewham, Website https://newhamforchange.org/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/newhamvotingforchange
(there is an official flyer with a very nice but rather boring logo. I much prefer mine)
Picture is from the virtual Newham Council meeting on Monday, where I
was pleased that it was agreed that the future governance referendum of our borough, due to be
held next year on 6 May 2021 will give residents the real choice between carrying on
with the present Executive Mayor system (all legal power in the hands of one
person) or instead the Committee system (where power is shared amongst locally elected
Councillors).
In the debate, I spoke strongly in favour of the Committee system. While I respect the views of those who wanted the question on the ballot paper to be different eg a choice between Executive Mayor and what is called the “Leader and Cabinet” model. I argued that this is not a real choice, since at best, the “Leader and cabinet” model is in reality "Executive Mayor Lite".
The Committee model option is a real progressive alternative to the Executive Mayor. We need to change the political culture in Newham and I think the Committee model is the only one that will deliver on our manifesto commitment to deliver real participatory democracy to the people of Newham.
Check out the debate here on YouTube (and the excellent motion on Making Misogyny a Hate Crime by Cllr Mumtaz Khan) and also the twitter account https://twitter.com/ForNewham, website https://newhamforchange.org/ and Facebook page https://www.facebook.com/newhamvotingforchange set up by local residents to support the Committee model next May.
Dear Mayor and Councillors colleagues
I will be stepping down from my position as Statutory Deputy Mayor and Cabinet Lead for Housing Services. I wish to play an active role in the 2021 Newham Mayoral referendum campaign in support of a committee model.
After working as a Councillor for over 10 years under two Mayors I have come to the conclusion that this is the right model for Newham. I therefore do not think it is appropriate for me to remain in the Cabinet.
I will, of course, fully support whoever is appointed as Cabinet Lead for Housing Services.
Regards
John Gray
Councillor I West Ham
Ward
Deputy Mayor I Cabinet
Member for Housing Services I
London
Borough of Newham
