New council leader Una O’Halloran hits centre stage with her team of Labour councillors in support

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A NEW era for Islington was ushered in on Monday night as former mayor Una O’Halloran was chosen to be the next leader of the council.

She will be confirmed next month as the 18th person to hold the top role since the local authority was formed in the 1960s.

After weeks of backstage courting support, a contest between four councillors came to a rapid conclusion when Cllr O’Halloran sealed victory with only one round of voting.

She did not respond to the Tribune’s requests for comment on her success.

The Labour group was meeting to decide who should succeed Kaya Comer-Schwartz, who quit the council this month to take a job with Mayor of London Sadiq Khan.

The new leader-elect had been serving as the housing chief in Ms Comer-Schwartz’s cabinet team.

The others to throw their hats into the ring were John Woolf, Diarmaid Ward and Sheila Chapman, who came second, third and fourth in the vote respectively.

The plan to have rounds of voting until somebody secured more than 50 per cent of the vote was not needed as her competitors struggled to get the numbers.

The decisiveness of the result for Cllr O’Halloran – who has been a Caledonian ward councillor since 2014 – came as a surprise to some Labour colleagues, who had expected Cllr Ward to win more support.

He had been the acting leader of the council during the process.

One Labour councillor told the Tribune that Cllr Ward in the end was viewed by colleagues as “more of the same”, and was too aligned with “what the group didn’t like”.

They said: “Diarmaid was seen as the continuity of her [Kaya] and that’s what really undid it for him. He lost before he ran, because he’s too closely associated with the past.”

Ms Comer-Schwartz had not endorsed any candidate as her replacement.

Supporters pointed to Cllr O’Halloran’s experi­ence on the executive and the fact that she is a “proven campaigner” as evidence that she can be a successful leader in the Town Hall.

She will be tasked with winning the next council elections for Labour in 2026 when independent, Green and Liberal Democrats have vowed to come back stronger and not allow the leadership to blame any unpopular decisions on the Tories.

“I think she’ll be really good,” said backbench Labour councillor Gary Heather.

“She’s so passionate about it, she’s so committed to it. She’s been an executive member for a while, she just knows what to do, she’s a fighter and a good communicator.”

Cllr O’Halloran’s Caledonian ward colleagues, Paul Convery and Sara Hyde, added that they were “absolutely delighted” with her “unprecedented” first-ballot win.

They said: “She won it from 10 years of consistent hard work, relationship building and sturdy pragmatic common sense. This was a decisive result which shows Una has authority, deep support and enormous good will from her colleagues”.

Her ward colleagues added: “She’s been elected to achieve a shift of gear in the council.”

Cllr O’Halloran will now wait to form her cabinet team, with a possible reshuffle on the horizon and the obvious question of who will take over the housing department amid criticism over the handling of repairs and the state of the stock.

Benali Hamdache, leader of the Green group of three councillors, said they “congratulate and welcome Una to her new role”.

He said: “We have a Labour-run council, a Labour Mayor and a Labour government now. Islington residents are waiting for Labour to deliver on the huge issues ahead of us, from the housing crisis to the climate crisis.”

He added: “Rachel Reeves’ budget is still a portent of difficult times for the borough, and an unwillingness to tax the well-off and invest in the country are missed opportunities.”

Councillor Phil Graham similarly said that the Islington Independents “welcome the election of Cllr O’Halloran as leader of the Labour group”.

He added: “We hope the change of leadership will bring a change in attitude of the group and a more caring attitude towards our residents and workers in Islington.”

The next full council meeting is December 12.