UK

Shock by-election win for Ilford independents

APRIL 2, 2025

How did Labour come to lose one of its safest seats in the borough?

“Labour crashed to defeat in the latest London borough by-election, which took place in Redbridge Council’s Mayfield ward on Thursday,” reports On London. The election saw a convincing Ilford Independent win.

It was a huge swing against Labour in a previously very safe ward, where two-thirds of the population are of Asian ethnic origin. Turnout was 25%, which is not especially low for a local by-election.

The ward was previously held by Labour’s Jas Athwal, who was elected to Parliament in last year’s General Election, following a controversial selection process in which he unseated sitting MP Sam Tarry, who went so far as to claim the contest had been rigged. Tarry had earlier been sacked by Labour leader Keir Starmer from his position as Shadow Minister for Buses and Local Transport, for an unauthorised media appearance, and having appeared on picket lines. It was one of a series of controversial selection processes in Labour’s usually safe east London heartlands.

Labour’s vote share plummeted in this by-election. The winner, Noor Jahan Begum, was a strong candidate, who works as a commissioner of health and social care and serves as a local magistrate. She was the independent Ilford South candidate at last year’s General Election and got over 9,000 votes.

Independents: We will challenge Labour in every seat in Redbridge

Rita Mahli, of Chingford & Woodford Green Community Independents, told Labour Hub: “The success of the Redbridge and Ilford Independents candidate in the recent Mayfield ward by-election should serve as a warning for Labour councillors in the borough and beyond.

“Mayfield was the ward previously held by Jas Athwal, the former leader of Redbridge Council who became the MP for Ilford South at the general election last year. Exposed as the landlord of unlicensed mould- and ant-infested flats, he had ignored calls to stand down – and the result of the by-election gives us all a clue as to why he wanted to hang on for so long.

“Labour’s vote share plummeted by 45 per cent in Mayfield. Locally and nationally the Party seems to be haemorrhaging support with a raft of ill-judged and unpopular policies, with voters demonstrating in local by-elections and national opinion polls that they will no longer support a Party who, it is sometimes hard to believe, came to power only less than 12 months ago. Labour has thrown away its lead in the polls and its goodwill among voters in a quite spectacular fashion.

“In Mayfield, the Party’s failure to speak out about the genocide in Gaza and its continued arms sales to Israel no doubt played a massive part in the loss of one of the safest seats in the area.

“Local Muslim voters feel betrayed by Labour, a Party traditionally strongly supported by the community at the polls. The population of Mayfield ward is 51 per cent Muslim and the Party showed contempt for the electorate by choosing to hold the election during Ramadan.

“But, on the doorstep, other recurring themes were just as damning.  Locally, voters raised the lack of standards in public office – Athwal’s record as a landlord and a Labour councillor in neighbouring Hainault ward being convicted of sex offences.

“Nationally, withdrawing winter fuel payments from pensioners, cutting benefits for the  disabled, cuts to public services and failure to fund the NHS were all raised.

“Voters routinely stated that Labour lied to get elected. That the Party has let them down. That they are dishonest and not to be trusted. That the mainstream parties are all the same – it doesn’t matter who you vote for, your life doesn’t get any better. And that’s from voters across the spectrum, not just from the Muslim community.

“And Labour cannot say the result comes as a surprise. In the general election, independent candidates in all the parliamentary constituencies covering parts of the borough Redbridge cleaved huge chunks from the Labour vote.

“Shanell Johnson, an independent councillor in the borough, got 4,173 votes in Leyton and Wanstead. Noor Jahan Begum, the victorious independent candidate in the Mayfield by-election, took 9,643 votes in Ilford South, where the victor Jas Athwal polled 18,548 votes fewer than his Labour predecessor Sam Tarry.

Faiza Shaheen, who was deselected as the Labour candidate after the election had already begun, won 12,445 votes in just a four-week campaign in Chingford & Woodford Green.

“And, most astoundingly, 24-year-old British Palestinian activist Leanne Mohamad came within 500 votes of beating Health Secretary Wes Streeting in Ilford North.

“Does Labour really think that it can keep breaking its promises, pledge investment while delivering austerity, ignoring the wishes of its voters on deeply felt issues like Palestine, denying genocide and enabling war, and there will be no electoral consequence?

“Does it think that it can put up public representatives who break its own rules for landlords, leaving desperate tenants in ant-infested flats, and people will still come out and vote for them?

“Redbridge voters deserve better and the movement of progressive, independents, rooted in their communities, arguing and striving for improvements for local people is becoming stronger every day.

“At the 2026 council elections, it’s safe to say there will be more independent challenge and at the next general election too.

“Labour is a Party whose credibility as a progressive force in our society is slipping away, in Redbridge and elsewhere. Unless it alters course quite dramatically, the pounding the party took in Mayfield will be the first of many.”

Vaseem Ahmed, Chair of Redbridge & Ilford Independents, stated: “This evening, Labour suffered its worst local election defeat in Redbridge for over a decade. This momentous result shows that people desperately want change. Noor Jahan Begum, our fantastic local candidate, proved that ordinary people can make a difference with organisation, tenacity and solidarity…

“But we know the battle is far from won, not by any means! Labour still have over 50 Cllrs and two MPs, but we will challenge them for every one of these seats as Redbridge & Ilford Independents. We are now a serious and organised opposition in the borough. Only we can defeat Labour in Redbridge and that is what we intend to do.”

Labour members feeling bruised

Labour, meanwhile, are despondent. “This was one of the safest seats in Redbridge,” a local Labour activist told Labour Hub. “If this trend continues, the Party will struggle to hold onto the council at the next local elections.” There are other wards in the borough that resemble Mayfield demographically, so Labour could face a serious challenge from its left.

Local Party members are feeling bruised. The last-minute deselection of Faiza Shaheen as Labour’s Chingford parliamentary candidate in the middle of the 2024 General Election campaign still rankles with many. Members have felt shut out from local selection processes, with candidates effectively appointed by London Region, one Labour insider said. As a result, members have not been keen to canvass.

Last year, Councillor Rosa Gomez quit the Party and sat as an independent, complaining of the “ill treatment I have received from the leadership in Redbridge.” She too cited the apparatus’s shabby treatment of Faiza Shaheen in her resignation statement.

Last November, Labour hung on to Wanstead Park ward in a by-election, only after the Party mobilised canvassers from across the borough. It will be interesting to see how the Party fares in the next by-election in the borough on May 1st, which will take place following the resignation of Sam Gould from the council. Gould, a former senior aide of Health Secretary Wes Streeting, stood down after being convicted of two counts of indecent exposure last month, to which he pleaded guilty.

Image: Redbridge / tube station | Architect: Charles Holden, design… | Flickr https://www.flickr.com/photos/rogersg/14136870485. Licence: Attribution-ShareAlike 2.0 Generic C BY-SA 2.0 Deed