Councillor for Custom House in East London, Rokhsana Fiaz has created history by becoming the first directly elected mayor of a London borough. She secured 73.4 per cent votes, as around 35.84 per cent of Newham turned out to vote for the council elections on May 3. Rokhsana will replace Sir Robin Wales, who was deselected recently after holding the post for 16 years.
She will be in-charge of almost £250 million annual budget for Newham, one of the most diverse boroughs in western Europe, and also one of the most deprived. The new mayor said her victory highlighted the importance of hard work and ethics. She said that her win was the result of a long political struggle. “Wow. It's mind-blowing. It says to me two things about Newham- one, the amount of trust and hope they have in the Labour Party, and the fact that we have been accelerating over the last couple of years since Jeremy Corbyn's leadership. Eight years of devastation by Tory cuts is showing with wins like this. I think it reflects the confidence of the people in Labour's ability to lead a council in the face of these cuts,” Rokhsana said.
She added, “I reflect the hopes and aspirations of other ethnic minorities. I worked twice as hard as my counterparts to prove that I have talent and ability to occupy this role. The fact that I am the first directly elected ethnic minority mayor is significant. It's also significant that I am the first directly elected woman of colour in the whole of country. It shows to young people that if you work hard and play smart, play by the rules then you can go to the top.”
