Labour narrowly retain control of Oldham Council

Arooj Shah said the "right decision" was made, but the council needed to "stop and listen"

Labour has narrowly retained control of a Greater Manchester council after a leadership bid by a "rainbow alliance" of Liberal Democrats, Conservative and other councillors fell short by one vote.

Oldham Council has been beset by protests since a 2022 report found local children were failed by protection agencies and the fall-out of that and other factors has cost Labour a number of seats in the town.

The recent local elections saw the party lose its ruling majority on the authority, but at a heated meeting earlier, the alliance lost a vote to oust council leader Arooj Shah by 28 votes to 29, with three abstentions.

Ms Shah said there needed to be a "change" in the way politics was done in Oldham.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service she was "absolutely delighted" that the "right decision was made" and people had "recognised that we’ve delivered in the past and we will continue to do so".

However, she said the council needed to "stop and listen".

“I see this as an exciting opportunity to create more consensus politics," she said.

"All our elected members will have to work a lot more co-operatively and collaboratively."

The result of the vote was greeted by loud remonstrations from a number of council members and the public gallery.

'Held accountable'

Oldham Group leader Kamran Ghafoor said it was "an absolute travesty".

"The people of Oldham didn’t want the Labour Party to be in administration," he said.

"It’s a shame that when the mandate was given to some independents, that they could not utilise it and get rid of this toxic administration – the most divisive in recent history."

Liberal Democrat leader Howard Sykes, who would have led the alliance administration if they had been voted in, said he was "disappointed" but added: "That’s democracy."

Decisive to sway the vote in favour of the Labour minority administration were Shaw and Crompton independents Marc Hince and Lisa Navesey.

A "rainbow alliance" of opposition councillors narrowly failed to unseat Labour

As part of negotiations, the Labour group has promised an independent review into historical child sexual abuse in the borough, as well as additional funding for Shaw and Crompton.

Mr Hince said he looked forward to a new Labour cabinet that would be "held accountable by true independents".

He added that he could not bring himself to "unleash" what he called a "patched-up coalition" on to the community.

The agreement with Labour will leave the independents free to vote how they feel with the exception of no confidence votes and the budget.

The vote secures Labour’s position going forward, but with only 27 seats on the 60-seat council, it still leaves them at risk of being outvoted at council meetings.