{"id":957651,"date":"2026-05-13T19:06:26","date_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:06:26","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957651\/"},"modified":"2026-05-13T19:06:26","modified_gmt":"2026-05-13T19:06:26","slug":"im-terrified-about-what-might-come-for-oldham-i-love-this-town-with-a-passion-arooj-shah-on-stepping-down","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/957651\/","title":{"rendered":"‘I’m terrified about what might come for Oldham, I love this town with a passion’: Arooj Shah on stepping down"},"content":{"rendered":"

Oldham council leader Arooj Shah has spoken for the first time since announcing she is quitting as town hall boss. Coun Shah said the borough has been \u2018taken over by division\u2019 and that \u2018people aren\u2019t seeing their lives change fast enough\u2019.<\/p>\n

Oldham<\/a>\u2019s Labour<\/a> leader will step down on May 20. It follows a crushing result for the party at the local elections last week.<\/p>\n

Left with just 18 councillors in the chamber \u2013 with Reform now boasting 16 seats \u2013 Labour has decided not to seek a coalition with other groups to secure its continued control of the local authority.<\/p>\n

In her first interview since announcing the \u2018difficult\u2019 decision, Coun Shah said voters had made their feelings clear and that her group \u2018had to step back\u2019.<\/p>\n

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\u201cThere\u2019s no denying that the [election] results were devastating,\u201d she added.<\/p>\n

\"Coun<\/p>\n

Coun Shah on the night of the May 7 elections count. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019d 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 \u2018my town has been taken over by division\u2019. That hit me really deeply.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe\u2019re still the largest group on the council, but we now have to respect what the electorate have said. We have to step back.<\/p>\n

\u201cResidents have been led to believe by Reform that Oldham is broken. If that\u2019s the case, it\u2019s up to them now to step up and provide that alternative that they promised people on the doorsteps.\u201d<\/p>\n

The decision didn\u2019s come easily for the St Mary\u2019s councillor, who became the first Muslim woman to take charge of a northern town hall in 2021.<\/p>\n

After losing her seat at the 2022 elections, Coun Shah returned as leader in 2023.<\/p>\n

In the intervening three years, she has led the town hall through several major milestones \u2013 including the opening of the borough\u2019s new market; the decision to rescue Oldham Coliseum; and the signing of multi-million pound partnership with urban developer Muse.<\/p>\n

\"Coun<\/p>\n

Coun Shah was part of several regeneration milestones for the area. (Image: Manchester Evening News)<\/p>\n

Ther have also been difficult periods \u2013 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 in the borough.<\/p>\n

Coun Shah said: \u201cI love this town with a passion. I\u2019m an Oldham girl, born and bred. So of course [stepping down] feels like a personal loss.<\/p>\n

\u201cWe had a five to 10 year plan to improve Oldham and we\u2019ve already achieved so much.<\/p>\n

\u201cI know from speaking to people on the doorstep that people believed in that vision.<\/p>\n

\u201cThere\u2019s so much at stake. I pondered on this decision for hours and hours. I\u2019m terrified about what might come for Oldham, but at the same time I have to respect democracy.\u201d<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

The Oldham Group also gained two councillors, but lost one to Reform. Labour, the Lib Dems<\/a> and the Tories all suffered substantial losses.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The Labour group awaiting results at the 2026 election count. (Image: LDRS)<\/p>\n

The vote saw a turnout of almost 47 per cent. Coun Shah said she believed the shift was a result of \u2018false narratives\u2019 about the town.<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI was hoping everyone would understand the vision we had for Oldham. But the reality is we couldn\u2019t beat the narratives of division.<\/p>\n

\u201cWhen people\u2019s lives haven\u2019t changed quickly enough, people hold resentment towards the people who are in power at that point.<\/p>\n

\u201cPopulism is really attractive to people whose lives aren\u2019t changing as quickly as they want it to.\u201d<\/p>\n

Coun Shah\u2019s departure has left a question over the town hall\u2019s leadership, with Reform UK also excluding the possibility of a coalition with other groups.<\/p>\n

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 \u2013 when one smaller group leads the council in the absence of an overall majority.<\/p>\n

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. Coun Shah is adamant the Labour group will go into opposition.<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The question remains unanswered: who will take over leadership from Labour? (Image: Copyright Unknown)<\/p>\n

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.<\/p>\n

Coun Shah said she would be \u2018absolutely devastated if anyone tried to unravel the plans for Eton Star of the Muse development\u2019 and warned future leaders against taking action \u2018for political point scoring over creating opportunities for the people of Oldham\u2019.<\/p>\n

A vote will be held on the new leadership at the first full council meeting on Wednesday, May 20.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Oldham council leader Arooj Shah has spoken for the first time since announcing she is quitting as town…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":957652,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8813],"tags":[748,393,4884,528,10751,2465,1286,14984,285,386,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-957651","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-manchester","8":"tag-britain","9":"tag-england","10":"tag-great-britain","11":"tag-labour-party","12":"tag-local-elections","13":"tag-manchester","14":"tag-oldham","15":"tag-oldham-council","16":"tag-politics","17":"tag-reform-uk","18":"tag-uk","19":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/116568836878178155","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957651","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=957651"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/957651\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/957652"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=957651"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=957651"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=957651"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}