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.

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WHY a referendum?

Rokhsana Fiaz, the mayor of Newham, made a commitment in her election manifesto in 2018 to hold a referendum on the borough’s governance arrangements by the end of her third year in office. She is keeping her promise by holding this vote on 6 May 2021. The council has passed several motions approving the decision.

WHAT are the choices?

Voters have the option to keep the current arrangements, with a directly elected mayor, or change to a committee model of governance.

See full details of the referendum published on Newham Council’s website.

WHY are you campaigning for the committee structure?

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