In the fifth of a series of interviews with mayoral hopefuls, Laura Willoughby says the Liberal Democrats will “restore trust” to the council if they win, reports Nick Clark, Local Democracy Reporter

Liberal Democrat candidate for Newham mayor Laura Willoughby (credit Laura Willoughby)

“I’m not saying I have all the answers,” says Laura Willoughby, who’s standing as the Liberal Democrats’ candidate to be elected as Newham mayor this week.

In a sense, that’s part of her pitch.

Willoughby is a former leading member of Islington Council, and has been an adviser to London Councils, which brings together the city’s 32 local authorities.

Rather than promising solutions, she says this gives her the experience to know how to find them.

She told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) this gives her the ability to “restore trust” among residents to a council she says needs a change in political leadership.

“I got elected when I was 23 in Islington, and I was on the cabinet by the time I was 25, because we took control from Labour the last time the Labour vote crumbled, and we ran Islington for twelve years,” she says.

“So I do have experience of leading an authority that was a poor authority, and I’m pulling it up by its bootstraps and making it happen.”

She adds: “I think that the way the Labour Party ran here, the way they ran the council, is completely flawed.

“For many years it’s been mired in accusations around corruption or taking your own council to court or shady dealings or all of those things that I thought had gone away, actually, but are still present in places like Newham.

“Actually, this is not how local government runs elsewhere.”

The list of things Willoughby would like to achieve at the council is, she admits, very similar to those of her rival candidates.

They include improving the council house repairs service, strengthening youth services, better enforcement action against fly-tipping, tackling shoplifting and “reviving” high streets, and improved cycling networks and public transport.

There is, Willoughby admits, “a lot of, in some respects, motherhood and apple pie around these things”, meaning promises to do things almost everyone can agree on.

She says: “It’s not difficult to walk around the streets in Newham and see the fly-tipping.

“You don’t have to walk far to see the fact that there’s mould inside people’s homes, that there are gutters that are still full of weeds that should be dealt with as a proper maintenance programme, that there are issues with cycling and transport in the borough, that there are problems with shoplifting.

“They’re all very obvious to everybody and it’s no surprise that everybody’s put similar things on their manifesto.”

However, actually delivering them is another matter – and Willoughby is cautious not to make concrete promises.

Instead, she says, she would first need to “work out where there’s money in the system” and examine the way the council’s departments currently work.

“Dealing with housing repairs will take time,” Willoughby says by way of example. “The reason why we’ve got damp and mould in some of our properties is because regular maintenance has never been done.

“I’d want to have a look at what each of the estate management plans are and look at where the worst cases are.

“I need to have a look at where there are some options for changing the way that things are done. I need to understand where there’s friction in the system and where we can ease that friction.”

Taking this approach is part of how Willoughby hopes to “rebuild trust” in the council.

“Being a councillor, and being the mayor in particular, you represent the people to the council and the council to the people,” she says.

This means “taking the views of the people to shape the way the council does policy”.

But it also means taking the advice of council staff, evidence, and public consultations “and explain back to the people why certain things can’t happen, why they can’t happen now”.

“There will always be things that you can’t do in a council because we haven’t got the money, because of the way that the legal system works – for example things like planning.”

Nevertheless, Willoughby hopes that if she can tackle the three main challenges that all councils face – rising demand and costs for adult social care, special educational needs and temporary homelessness accommodation – she can “free up” money “so that we can then deal with fly-tipping”.

The Lib Dem candidate also wants to work with the council’s “partners” to help deliver services.

These include the voluntary sector, the NHS, Thames Water, the police – “all of the people who supply services to this borough” – but also care providers, businesses, churches and mosques.

“It’s all about bringing everyone together to work out how they do their bit,” she says.

First, however, Willoughby would need to win the trust of enough people to get elected.

Polling company YouGov predicts the three main contenders in Newham’s local elections are Labour, the Greens and Newham Independents.

“For the first time ever Labour might lose the mayorality,” Willoughby says. “But it depends how that vote splits.

“The Independents and Greens as well as the Lib Dems are working really hard and there’s a potential for the anti-Labour vote to split across those progressive parties.”

She also hopes that the Liberal Democrat councillors will be elected adding that her party has been targeting votes in the Olympic Village.

“I think it’s good for the council to have challenge. I want there to be Greens, I want there to be Lib Dems, I want there to be lots of progressive parties to push the council.

“The good thing is you can be both opposition and you can also be part of solving the problem.”

But, she adds: “I’m actually hopeful that if nothing else happens, Labour has a shot across its bow.”

Elections are set to take place tomorrow (Thursday 7th).

Previous interviews with the Reform UK, Green, Newham Independents and Conservative mayoral candidates can be read here. Labour’s candidate did not give the LDRS an interview.

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