Two joint leaders will take it in turns to run the council following the Green Party’s sensational election win last week, reports James Cracknell

Waltham Forest Green group co-leaders Paul Perkins (left) and Eva Tabbasam (right) (credit Cllr Anna Rose Kerr)

The newly-elected Green Party administration at Waltham Forest Town Hall has revealed there will be a “rotating” leadership at the council.

The 31-strong Green group of councillors yesterday (Thursday 14th) selected Paul Perkins and Eva Tabbasam as joint leaders via secret ballot.

However, because Waltham Forest Council’s constitution requires there to be a single leader, Cllr Perkins and Cllr Tabbasam will swap roles each year, with the former running the council until May 2027 and the latter taking charge for 2027/28.

The pair will each take on the role of deputy leader while their counterpart has their stint as council leader.

This arrangement – said by the Greens to be “uncommon in local government” – will still need to be voted on and approved by a majority of councillors at the upcoming full council meeting on Thursday (21st).

In a statement, Waltham Forest Greens said that “the decision reflects the Green Party’s commitment to shared, democratic leadership,” adding: “This approach, uncommon in local government, puts into practice the Green Party’s belief that leadership should be shared, accountable, and not concentrated in a single person.”

Cllr Tabbasam was elected to represent Cann Hall ward, receiving 1,970 votes. Her day job is leading a national network of 17 organisations, including ActionAid, Oxfam, and Amnesty International UK, co-ordinating policy advocacy and systems change work with national government.

She is described by the Greens as having “lived experience of the inequalities that shape life in Waltham Forest”.

Cllr Tabbasam said: “Leadership must be collaborative and rooted in the lived realities of communities. I want to build a confident, values-led Green group that is genuinely ambitious for Waltham Forest.”

Meanwhile, Cllr Perkins was elected to represent Forest ward, receiving 2,332 votes, and is said to bring “senior leadership experience across local government and the voluntary sector” through his role as a youth and community worker and charity CEO.

He served as co-chair of Waltham Forest Green Party ahead of the local election.

Cllr Perkins said: “Residents have chosen hope over complacency, and a fresh start. We now have a responsibility to rebuild trust, stabilise the council and show what a genuinely community-led Green administration can achieve.”

The Greens won 31 of 60 seats at the election last Thursday (7th), taking control of the council from Labour despite not previously having had a single elected councillor in the borough.

The Labour Party had been in sole power at Waltham Forest Town Hall since 2010, with Grace Williams having been the council leader since September 2021.

However, Labour lost 32 of the seats they’d previously won at the 2022 election and now have just 15 councillors, one ahead of the Conservatives on 14.

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