Cllr Steve Reed will not resign as leader of Lambeth council while he campaigns to be elected as Labour MP for Croydon North.
Cllr Steve Reed, 48, has handed day-to-day control of the borough to his deputy, cllr Jackie Meldrum, but says he will only resign as leader “if and when” he wins the by-election.
Reed, ward councillor for Brixton Hill, was selected as Labour candidate during a close poll of local members on Saturday. The by-election was triggered by the death of veteran Labour MP Malcolm Wicks in September.
He said: “What I have done is to strike a balance that respects both the electors of Croydon North – I am not taking their votes for granted – and the electors of Lambeth so that, if all goes well, there will be a smooth transition.
“There is absolutely no question of me doing two jobs.”
Croydon North is seen as a safe seat for Labour, which won 56% of the vote at the 2010 general election, a majority of 16,483.
Some thought Reed would stand down at a Labour group meeting in Lambeth on Monday, to allow the party to appoint a new council leader. Strong contenders to replace him as leader are thought to include cabinet member for regeneration Lib Peck and cabinet member for neighbourhood services Pete Robbins.
A date for the by-election has not yet been set.
Cllr Reed has failed to return the Brixton Blog’s calls.
Croydon North candidates in full:
- Monster Raving Loony John Cartwright
- National Front Richard Edmonds
- Respect Lee Jasper
- Green Shasha Khan
- UKIP Winston McKenzie
- Liberal Democrat Marisha Ray
- Labour Steve Reed
- Young People’s Party Robin Smith
- Communist Ben Stevenson
- Conservative Andrew Stranack
If he wasn’t man enough to stand down, then he should be sacked.
He’s already moved on, Lambeth should too.
He certainly doesn’t seem to be doing much in his third ward job either having
failed to even manage to keep the streets clean for the last five years…He has been paid
£10,000 per annum for the last twelve years and there is very little indeed to show for this
expenditure. There is also very little regret in Brixton Hill Ward to the news of his imminent
departure.
Second that.
[…] Labour”. The Blairite reference is a suggestion from Respect that Labour’s candidate Steve Reed’s work as leader of Lambeth’s “co-operative council” has been a cover for evicting council tenants and sacking council […]
He’s a man in a suit, they always hedge their bets.
If there is no question of him doing 2 jobs which job will he be doing for the next couple of weeks. If he is campaigning to represent a different constiuency that he has very little chance of losing. Surely he should just go and get on with it and leave Lambeth at once. Or does he need to keep taking from Lambeth Council Tax payers while he is busy elsewhere?