Councillors clash over election of new Speaker of Hackney
Newly elected: Speaker of Hackney Cllr Rosemary Sales
Labour councillor Rosemary Sales has been elected Speaker of Hackney despite opposition from the Conservatives and a lack of support from the Liberal Democrats.
At the council’s annual general meeting yesterday evening (Wednesday 25 May), Cllr Sales won with majority support whilst her party colleague Cllr Soraya Adejare, who represents Dalston ward, was elected Deputy Speaker.
Though both the Speaker and her Deputy were elected to their new roles on strong majorities, opposition councillors took the unusual step of proposing an alternative to Cllr Sales.
In recent years the Speaker’s post has gone uncontested, but this time Cllr Simche Steinberger nominated his fellow Conservative councillor Harvey Odze for the role, a move that was seconded by Liberal Democrat councillor Ian Sharer.
As Hackney has a directly-elected mayor, the Speaker fulfils many of the ceremonial and public duties traditionally associated with a mayor.
The Speaker of the Council is a serving councillor elected to the non-party political office for one year by fellow council members at their annual meeting.
They chair full council meetings, attend events, support charitable causes and preside over citizenship ceremonies.
.@hackneycouncil newly elected Speaker Cllr Rosemary Sales gives her inaugural speech. Her charity #HackneyMigrants pic.twitter.com/rx817jTqx5
— Jennette Arnold OBE (@JennetteArnold) May 25, 2016
Cllr Sales has represented Stamford Hill West ward since 2014, having retired from a career as Professor of Social Policy at Middlesex University.
On taking up her new post, Cllr Sales said “We face many challenges. This makes it important for us to work together to maintain the social cohesion and the tradition of peacefully living together that has made Hackney such a great place.
“I hope to be able to contribute to that during my year in office”.
.@hackneycouncil elects the fabulous Councillor Soraya Adejare as the Deputy Speaker for 2016/17 municipal year. pic.twitter.com/CX4PnuQfSY
— Jennette Arnold OBE (@JennetteArnold) May 25, 2016
Speaking about her new role, the new Deputy Speaker, Cllr Soraya Adejare, said: “I am proud to call Hackney my home. I love what it has become and its amazing diversity.
“In undertaking this role it is my sincerest hope that I can meet more of the people who have made Hackney what it is today”.
Explaining the Conservatives’ decision to oppose the election of Cllr Sales as Speaker, Cllr Steinberger said: “We were not comfortable for quite a few reasons with the current speaker.
“In [Labour –controlled] Waltham Forest, they elected a Conservative [Mayor Peter Herrington], and there is no reason why we couldn’t elect a Conservative Speaker here.
“Our party can also run council meetings – there is no reason why it always has to be the Labour party.”
Cllr Sharer, for his part, noted that the opposition had in the past frequently put forward alternative nominations for Speaker.
He also said that he objected to Cllr Sales’ position on the granting of home extensions: “she is generally against them and we are for them, and so is our ward”.
When asked by the Hackney Citizen how he would have approached the role of Speaker differently, Cllr Odze said his priorities would have been “to be totally impartial and to treat all sectors of the community equally, without favour or prejudice”.
Referring to the recent allegations among some Hackney Labour activists, Cllr Odze said he would have acted “without any suspicion of racism of any sort, as was evidenced in the recent meetings of the branches of the Labour party in Cazenove and Springfield.”