Six Green councillors quit after election, leaving councils facing by-election costs

[Twiglets1]

A sixth newly elected London Green Party councillor has quit, leaving taxpayers to foot a £120,000 bill.

Green representatives in Camden, Haringey, Ealing, Lambeth and Hackney councils have immediately stood down meaning by-elections will have to be held.

Each poll is expected to cost the cash-strapped town halls between £20,000 and £25,000 each to run.

Joanna Eaves, who was elected in Clapham Park at the local elections on May 7, has become the latest to resign. She cited health reasons.

It follows Saiqa Ali, who was also elected as one of 29 Green councillors in Lambeth, stepping down following her arrest in the lead up to the polls over allegations she had made a series of antisemitic social media posts.

Simon Anthony, who won in North Acton, Ealing, quit on Monday. He was the only Green candidate to win in the ward, with the other two seats being taken by Labour.

James Tilden was elected to represent Hackney Central ward, but failed to realise his job as a primary school teacher meant he was ineligible to be a councillor because he works for the local authority.

Muhammed Naser, who was elected in the Regent's Park ward of Camden council, has also had to stand down for the same reason.

Jayon Henriques was elected to represent Northumberland Park ward in Haringey but it has since been revealed he was also ineligible to be a councillor. The party has not revealed why he cannot serve in the town hall.

https://www.standard.co.uk/news/politics/green-party-councillors-quit-election-costs-b1282285.html

Thank you yes, as explained by @DuncinToffee

As I see others have already said, she hasn't resigned as Mayor. She resigned her seats in the London Assembly and Hackney Council because she can't do those alongside being Mayor. Not quite the same as the other cases mentioned here.

I would at least expect someone who is standing as a Councillor to know the rules as to whether or not they can even do so.
As should the Party they represent. Perhaps some sort of fine for the person and the Party should be in place to offset the costs to the local taxpayer.

It's the gift that keeps on giving, isn't it?
Not enough brains to check eligibility.

Meanwhile, the Greens are doing emergency vetting on their preferred candidate for the Makerfield by election. They might want to do a deep dive into her social media before appointment:

A frontrunner to be the Green Party candidate in Makerfield shared posts that claimed Israel is “ruining the world”.

Hayley Pierce, a portrait artist, is understood to be the Greens’ preferred choice to take on Andy Burnham and Reform UK in the upcoming by-election.

Party sources said the mother of two, understood to have been selected by local party members at a meeting this week, was undergoing “emergency vetting” by Green Party HQ in anticipation of the announcement.

archive.ph/6jOOB#selection-1547.0-1555.208

What does the data say ?

That is, what is the normal rate of failure for councilors ?

What was it ? 5K seats contested in England ? Always going to be a fair number that fall by the wayside I would have thought.

I think there should be a financial penalty for anyone who stands down within a certain period (unless for genuine unanticipated health reasons). By-elections are hugely expensive

If only Reform had vetted their candidate for Makerfield

https://bylinetimes.com/2026/05/20/reading-the-riot-act-reform-uks-makerfield-by-election-candidate-during-the-summer-of-trouble/

I guess Reform and the Green party are just making it easier for Andy Burnham to win. He doesn't need to be perfect, he just needs to be better than them which shouldn't be that hard!

If you field a candidate that is unsuitable and they have to step down then your party, whoever they are should be charged with the costs of a by election.

This sounded attractive when I read it.

But now I've had time to mull, I think the one thing worse than costing the constituency a by-election... would be the unsuitable person continuing in post to avoid having to pay for a by-election.

I can't see the answer to that one.

Isn't there a governing body that would check the validity of people running?

There's obviously a conflict with the teacher for example - isn't there any kind of oversight that would pick that up?

What price is democracy ?

We could have election insurance for candidates I suppose. But then the insurance companies would select the candidates.

Six Greens.

Not good, but compare it with Reform which is much worse over the last year.

The ineligible ones to stand should have had their nomination rejected. The nomination forms should list all the reasons someone cannot stand.

The ineligible ones to stand should have had their nomination rejected.

Rejected by whom? The Returning Officer? That would involve the RO having to research every nominated candidate.

The nomination form puts the onus on the candidate to ensure that they are qualified to stand.
"You must not sign the form if you are disqualified to stand. Make sure that you read the Electoral Commission guidance on standing for election as well as the legislation included on the consent to nomination form. If you are not sure if you are able to stand you should contact your employer (where relevant), consult the legislation or, if necessary, take your own independent legal advice."
https://www.electoralcommission.org.uk/guidance-candidates-and-agents-local-government-elections-england/nominations/completing-your-nomination-papers/nomination-form

The Greens are a ridiculous party, led by a strange man. Can’t imagine why anyone voted for them. 🤷‍♀️

Perhaps it would be sensible to require occupation to be stated on the nomination form so the returning officer could reject applicants in LA jobs.

How about people who want to be elected taking responsibility for finding out what would be involved and reading up on who is and isn't eligible before putting the rest of us to the time and trouble of a completely unnecessary bye-election? If a person hasn't got the time and the literacy levels to find out if they're eligible to stand I can't see how they will make a decent councillor. Frankly, I wonder what sort of teacher they must be.

The rapid rise of populist parties has created a demand for candidates that can't be met effectively. Neither Reform nor the Greens have the strong local infrastructure that other parties have built up over decades, so they don't have the pipelines of experienced volunteers who can then come forward as candidates. Loads of candidates therefore have no clue what local councils do or what the role of a counsellor entails etc. Plus the vetting infrastructure just isn't there.

It's a mess, frankly.

The rapid rise of populist parties has created a demand for candidates that can't be met effectively. Neither Reform nor the Greens have the strong local infrastructure that other parties have built up over decades, so they don't have the pipelines of experienced volunteers who can then come forward as candidates. Loads of candidates therefore have no clue what local councils do or what the role of a counsellor entails etc. Plus the vetting infrastructure just isn't there.

It's a mess, frankly.

Oops, sorry for the double post!

It was worth saying twice!

Astonishing that actual teachers hasn’t bothered to read the election guidance and work out they were n eligeable to stand. What a shocking waste of money for the local authority.

Can you imagine voting for a person who says this?

"English Women don't care about their bodies and just walk around with their fat bellies and odd shapes pushing a pram at 16 in their PJ’s."

Oh yes. Of course that’s the reason why Labour didn’t want local elections 🙄

Try and perform some critical thinking and imagine that these other parties have suddenly come into contention because Labour and Conservative have been so bloody terrible. If we had some actual decent politicians then we wouldn’t be in all this trouble.