The London elections are fast approaching and voters in Newham will soon be heading to the polls.
But who can you vote for, what’s at stake and what’s going on in the area ahead of 7 May?
Where is Newham?
Newham is an east London borough situated roughly five miles from the City of London, bordered by the River Thames to the south and the River Lea to the west.
It is one of the most recognisable boroughs in the capital, home to the Olympic Park, the London Stadium and London City Airport – yet it consistently ranks among the most deprived areas in the country.
What happened in the last election?
At the last local elections in 2022, Labour dominated, winning 64 of the council’s 66 seats with 61.2% of the vote, while the Green Party took the remaining two in the Stratford Olympic Park ward.
The contest also doubled as a mayoral election, as Newham is one of five London boroughs with a directly elected mayor, alongside Lewisham, Tower Hamlets, Croydon and Hackney.
Rokhsana Fiaz (Labour) returned to City Hall for a second term.
The picture has shifted considerably since then, however. Labour suspended Canning Town South councillor Belgica Guana over offensive social media posts, and she now sits as an independent.
Two by-elections in 2023, in Boleyn and Plaistow North, were both won by independent candidates, further denting the party’s stranglehold on the council.
A further blow came when Zuber Gulamussen defected from Labour in November 2023, giving the newly-formed Newham Independents group the role of principal opposition ahead of even the Greens.
Then in July 2024, Areeq Chowdhury of Canning Town North crossed the floor from Labour to the Green Party.
It all means that while Labour remain the dominant force in Newham, the council they return to after 7 May could look very different to the one they swept to in 2022.
What are the local issues?
Housing will be the issue on most doorsteps as Newham has the highest number of households in temporary accommodation of any London borough – a situation described as being at an all-time high, costing the council an estimated £106million.
Rising homelessness applications, evictions in the private rented sector and dwindling affordable housing stock have all contributed to a crisis that opposition groups have been vocal about.
The legacy of the 2012 Olympics remains a sore point too. While the transformation of Stratford has brought world-class facilities and investment, many residents feel they have been left behind.
Affordable housing delivery in the Olympic legacy zones has fallen well short of original targets, and house prices, averaging around £415,000 – having roughly tripled since the Games – have placed the area out of reach for many of those who were told they would benefit most.
Who are the ones to watch?
Labour’s mayoral candidate Forhad Hussain leads in early predictions, with analysts placing his implied probability of victory at around 63%.
But Newham Independents’ Mehmood Mirza is polling at around 22.5% on political prediction markets, buoyed by projections which show Labour could lose its overall council majority for the first time in decades.
The Greens, surging nationally under new leadership and with candidate Areeq Chowdhury now embedded locally, will also be aiming to build on their 2022 foothold.
Experts have flagged Newham as one of the boroughs most likely to see a fragmented result on the night.
A full list of candidates can be found on Newham council’s website.
Interesting facts about Newham
Newham has a population of 382,984, according to the 2021 census, and is one of the most ethnically diverse boroughs in the country.
No single ethnic group forms a majority, with Bangladeshi residents the largest group at 15.9% and White British residents at 14.8%.
It has the second-highest proportion of Muslim residents in the UK after neighbouring Tower Hamlets, at 32%, and the fastest-growing population of any London borough.
Famous faces from the area include Eastenders actors Danny Dyer and Perry Fenwick, and former West Ham United footballers Jermain Defoe and Mark Noble.
One thing Newham’s Stratford cannot claim is William Shakespeare. He was born in the other one, in Warwickshire.
Feature image: Free to use from Wikimedia Commons via Creative Commons BY-NC 2.0 licence
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