Council boss says ‘town has been taken over division’

Oldham council leader Arooj Shah has spoken for the first time since announcing she is quitting as town hall boss. 

Cllr Shah said the borough has been ‘taken over by division’ and that ‘people aren’t seeing their lives change fast enough’. 

Oldham’s Labour leader will step down on May 20. It follows a crushing result for the party at the local elections last week. 

Left with just 18 councillors in the chamber – with Reform now boasting 16 seats – Labour has decided not to seek a coalition with other groups to secure its continued control of the local authority. 

In her first interview since announcing the ‘difficult’ decision, Cllr Shah said voters had made their feelings clear and that her group ‘had to step back’. 

“There’s no denying that the [election] results were devastating,” she added.  

“We’d been campaigning for a year-and-a-half because we knew how difficult it was going to be. As soon as I walked into the count and saw the far right on one side, the independents on the other I just thought ‘my town has been taken over by division’. That hit me really deeply. 

“We’re still the largest group on the council, but we now have to respect what the electorate have said. We have to step back. 

“Residents have been led to believe by Reform that Oldham is broken. If that’s the case, it’s up to them now to step up and provide that alternative that they promised people on the doorsteps.”

The decision didn't come easily for the St Mary’s councillor, who became the first Muslim woman to take charge of a northern town hall in 2021. 
After losing her seat at the 2022 elections, Cllr Shah returned as leader in 2023. 

In the intervening three years, she has led the town hall through several major milestones – including the opening of the borough’s new market; the decision to rescue Oldham Coliseum; and the signing of multi-million pound partnership with urban developer Muse. 

There have also been difficult periods – including following the discovery of a mass grave at Royton Cemetery; an attempt to remove Oldham from the Greater Manchester-wide housing scheme Places for People; and calls for a national inquiry into historic child sexual exploitation. 

Cllr Shah said: “I love this town with a passion. I’m an Oldham girl, born and bred. So of course [stepping down] feels like a personal loss. 
“We had a five to 10 year plan to improve Oldham and we’ve already achieved so much. 

“I know from speaking to people on the doorstep that people believed in that vision. 

“There’s so much at stake. I pondered on this decision for hours and hours. I’m terrified about what might come for Oldham, but at the same time I have to respect democracy.”

The local elections in Oldham saw Reform UK gain a total of 13 seats, catapulting it from one of the smallest to the second largest group at the council with 16 members. 

The Oldham Group also gained two councillors, but lost one to Reform. Labour, the Lib Dems and the Tories all suffered substantial losses. 

The vote saw a turnout of almost 47 per cent. Cllr Shah said she believed the shift was a result of ‘false narratives’ about the town. 
She added: “I was hoping everyone would understand the vision we had for Oldham. But the reality is we couldn’t beat the narratives of division. 

“When people’s lives haven’t changed quickly enough, people hold resentment towards the people who are in power at that point. 
“Populism is really attractive to people whose lives aren’t changing as quickly as they want it to.”

Cllr Shah’s departure has left a question over the town hall’s leadership, with Reform UK also excluding the possibility of a coalition with other groups. 

With no single group possessing even a third of seats in the chamber, it will be difficult for local politicians to come to an agreement that will secure a majority vote for a minority administration – when one smaller group leads the council in the absence of an overall majority. 

The stalemate has sparked concerns groups with the smallest political mandate could end up leading the council. It is possible government intervention may be required to form an administration. Cllr Shah is adamant the Labour group will go into opposition. 

A new leader also throws uncertainty over some of the massive projects planned for the borough, such as the new Eton Star Academy on the Tommyfield Market site; and the regeneration program agreed with Muse, which aims to bring 2,000 new homes to the town centre.

Cllr Shah said she would be ‘absolutely devastated if anyone tried to unravel the plans for Eton Star of the Muse development’ and warned future leaders against taking action ‘for political point scoring over creating opportunities for the people of Oldham’.