At last night’s council meeting, Newham Councillors voted overwhelmingly to hold the referendum on local governance on the 6th May 2021.

The question on the ballot paper will be whether Newham should keep the current system of democratically elected Mayor, or change to a system run by committee.

42 councillors voted for the recommendation, with one councillor voting against and one abstention.

Newham Voting for Change is delighted that Newham residents will now have a clear choice between a council run by an Mayor and executive, and a more participatory, inclusive and open system in which every councillor plays a role. We’re looking forward to campaigning for the committee system in the referendum, and having the chance to make the arguments about how Newham council should make decisions and agree policy.

If you’re interested in joining the campaign, sign up for email updates on our contact page or follow our Twitter of Facebook feeds. In the next few weeks we’ll be launching the campaign with a public online meeting talking to other campaigners across the country who have campaigned for changes to their local governance arrangements, so watch this space for details!

Update: a link to the story in the Newham recorder is here.