What happens next as Oldham chaos carries on and on and on

The council has been criticised by an MP for its ‘unnecessary and petty-minded politics’

Two weeks of meetings have been cancelled amid ongoing mayhem at Oldham council – all revolving around a row over who its next mayor will be.

The political stalemate at Oldham follows the local elections earlier this month where Labour lost eight seats leaving the party with 18 councillors. Reform UK is now the second largest group on the council behind Labour with 16. No group has more than a third of the seats in the chamber, with 31 needed to take control. After the local elections, Labour council leader Arooj Shah announced she would stand down and her party step back and Reform ruled out forming any coalition.

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This has plunged the council into political crisis and raised fears commissioners could step in. Ahead of a meeting on Wednesday (May 20), only Coun Kamran Ghafoor – the leader of the Oldham Group – was put forward to lead the town hall but looked unlikely to succeed.

However councillors never got around to voting on who should be their next leader. Minutes in, three nominations for the borough’s new mayor – a ceremonial role – failed to secure enough support.

Councillors have accused each other of breaking longstanding rules over who they put forward for the role but without a new mayor, there was no way for the meeting to legally go ahead. Hours of talks failed to find any solution that had support.

A majority decision was eventually made to postpone the meeting to a later date after nearly five hours. That has left the council with no mayor, leader, or cabinet. Another meeting has now been scheduled for June 15. Several key meetings before this date have now been cancelled and will be rescheduled after a new leader has been elected.

The Local Government Association, which supports councils, and the Ministry of Housing, Communities and Local Government have been updated on the situation. The LDRS understands day-to-day council services continue to operate as normal and officers will continue to make decisions in line with their delegated powers.

No changes to council policy or the budget are expected until a new leadership is in place.

A spokesperson for Oldham Labour said: “This is an unprecedented time for the borough, and whilst discussions are ongoing, we were unable to continue with the business of the council. We would urge all political parties to put the convention of our borough before political aspirations.”

Oldham West, Chadderton, and Royton MP Jim McMahon has also criticised ‘unnecessary and petty-minded politics’ as ‘the borough faces calls for government intervention’.

He said: “Labour did the right thing. It took account of the election result and didn’t attempt to hold on to control at all costs. It recognised the mood was for change and called on the two successful parties to come forward with a viable administration.”

However Reform has blamed the other parties for the situation claiming a ‘coalition of chaos’ is refusing to work with them. Reform said they made ‘repeated attempts to find common ground’ but ‘other political groups refused to engage constructively with us, despite our repeated attempts to find common ground’.

During the talks, Reform opposed a potential solution that would have seen a process of elimination until the candidate with the most support won. It had been suggested to the LDRS this because they were concerned the rules change would set a precedent.

However Coun Lewis Quigg told the LDRS: “We were prepared to listen but our offer on the table was you need to come forward with a number of candidates”, adding: “We were the ones who made the offer. No one else was prepared to budge. We were proactive but everyone else wasn’t prepared to move.”

For the Oldham Group, Coun Kamran Ghafoor said: “The Oldham Group, together with the alliance of councillors supporting us, argued for a return to the traditional points-based system — a fair, transparent, and honest approach that would have avoided much of the unnecessary political manoeuvring and confusion witnessed yesterday.

“Our priority remains the people of Oldham, and we will continue working constructively to reach a sensible consensus that protects both the council and the dignity of the mayoralty.

“Whilst Reform has stated that they have given others an opportunity, it must also be recognised that the individual they are proposing has only been a councillor for a matter of weeks. We do not believe it is responsible to place the reputation of the mayoralty, or the stability of the council, at risk under such circumstances.”

The political stalemate has prompted the Liberal Democrats to write to Prime Minister Keir Starmer over “great concern” it could see delays to the national inquiry into grooming gangs. Coun Sam Al-Hamdani said: “People in the borough know that there are more important things than who wears a set of robes at the front of a meeting.

“We have spent years fighting for this grooming gangs inquiry, and there can be no delay caused by political infighting. I have written to the government to confirm our commitment to full transparency and an open books policy at the council as part of the inquiry, and to confirm that we would not support any administration that had anything less than a complete commitment to this.”

The Liberal Democrats said the council has since confirmed the situation will not affect the local authority’s co-operation with the inquiry.