BRENT & HARROW GLA ELECTION VICTORY
May 2008


Councillor Navin Shah was elected as the London Assembly Member for Brent and Harrow at the Greater London Assembly (GLA) elections held on 1st May in London to elect the Mayor of London and 25 London Assembly Members.

The election result in Brent and Harrow has bucked the national trend against Labour with Navin gaining this seat with 9.44% increase in Labour votes.

Navin Shah has already reported to work on Saturday 3rd May and announced the following: 
 

  • Consistent with his election pledge Navin Shah has advised the Chair of Harrow Labour Group Cllr Jerry Miles that he would be stepping down as the Leader of Labour Group to provide effective service to the people of Brent and Harrow who have placed trust in him.
  • Navin's first priority is to lift the cloud of closure of the ticket office hanging over at the North Harrow underground station. He has written to the Mayor of London to lift any closure plans for this ticket office.
  • Navin will be announcing plans to hold Surgeries / Public Forums in Brent and Harrow to discuss local and londonwide issues to improve engagement of local residents, voluntary sector, stakeholders and businesses etc.

Speaking on his election success, Navin  said:

“I am elated with this success and would like to thank the resdients of Brent and Harrow for vesting their trust in me. I give my assurance that I will remain their active community worker.

As per my election promise I have advised Chair of Labour Group that I will be resigning as the Leader of Labour Group at the next AGM in June to enable me to serve effectively the people of Brent and Harrow who have placed their trust in me. I will not let them down.

I will also be announcing my plans for regular Surgeries / Public Forums to engage effectively with local residents, voluntary sector, stakeholders and businesses etc. to address London Assembly related local and Londonwide concerns and issues.

I am also pleased that we have a strong Labour Group in London Assembly which also reflects London’s diversity”


 

A message of thanks from Navin Shah (11 May 2008)

Dear Comrades,

 

Please accept my apology for not communicating with you since my election. As you will appreciate I'm overwhelmed and inundated with a lot of messages, priority GLA related work / responsibilities e.g. visits to the City Hall, Labour Group meetings and the AGM of the London Assembly etc. all crammed in in the last 8 days.

 

Whilst we've achieved a tremendous success in winning the Brent and Harrow seat the victory is marred by the loss of Ken's Mayoral election - this is a huge blow to otherwise a good result for Labour in London.

 

Our work in the London Assembly started as of Saturday 3rd May (10AM Labour Group meeting at the City Hall) and the week's work was concluded on Friday 9th May when Janette Arnold was elected as the Chair of the Assembly at our AGM and responsibilities allocated for various committees etc. With an agreement with 3 LibDem members and 2 Green Party members we've had majority over Tory members at the AGM which determined the committee places.

I will be leading the group on the London Fire Emergency Planning Authority. I'm deputy chair of the Health & Public Services committee and deputy chair of the Audit committee. I'm also a member of Spatial Planning and Housing committee.

 

I'm sincerely thankful to the members of the Labour Party in Brent & Harrow, CLP Chairs & Secretaries, Councillor colleagues in Brent and Harrow, our local MPs & their teams, Robert Evans & his team, Trade Union colleagues, an army of volunteers, well wishers, our London Region Organisers Alex and David and many others from outside our CLPs (such as Young Labour etc).  I hope I have covered everyone. If not please accept my apology for unintentional omission. Without the excellent teamwork, hard work and trust we eventually gained of our Brent and Harrow residents this victory would not have been possible.

I will be leading the group on the London Fire Emergency Planning Authority. I'm deputy chair of the Health & Public Services committee and deputy chair of the Audit committee. I'm also a member of Spatial Planning and Housing committee.

As per my election pledge I've now confirmed that I'd be stepping down as the Leader of Harrow's Labour Group in the Council at our June AGM. I'm currently working on a strategy of holding regular surgeries /public forums to engage with residents, voluntary groups, stakeholders, businesses etc.

With regards to regular contact with the members I'd make arrangements with CLPs to attend GCs and would be happy to attend as much as practically possible branch meetings. 
 
I am expecting to have my office accommodation and staff organised at the City Hall hopefully by the end of the coming week or so and will let you have my contact details.

Once again - A big thanks to everyone for a successful team effort.

Cllr Navin Shah. AM

 

New Website for Hillingdon

Labour Group

 

Hillingdon Labour Group have launched a new, highly informative website. Amongst an extensive range of content the new website contains copies of recent press releases, newsletters for download and comprehensive contact details for Labour's councillors in Hillingdon. The website can be found at Hillingdon Labour

 

Unions Together Pledge Their Full Support To London Election  Campaign


Unions Together is the website for members of the 16 trade unions who are members of the Labour Party. All of their support is behind Mayor Ken Livingstone and the Labour candidates of the London Assembly as they fight in the 2008 Elections.

Go to http://www.unionstogether.org.uk for information about Unions Together and how you can get involved.