Ahead of this week’s City Council AGM on Thursday, City Council Leader Cllr Anna Smith has thanked residents for the overwhelming support and trust placed in Cambridge Labour in the recent local elections, we well as acknowledging the difficult challenges ahead.

Cllr Anna Smith said:

“We are so grateful for the trust that residents have placed in us which resulted in Labour’s highest ever majority in the city- securing 29 seats. I want to thank residents for their support for our continued work to create One Cambridge, Fair for All. As I’ve always said, I can’t promise easy answers, but I can promise that we will work tirelessly for, and with, residents.

I’m delighted that we are able to do that with an increasingly diverse team of Labour councillors.  The election of Cllrs Cameron Hollway, Iva Divkovic and Sam Carling means we now have four Labour councillors under 30, and we are so thrilled that the people of East Chesterton have returned Cllr Baiju Thitala Varkey. Baiju is one of just a handful of BAME councillors over the years, and I hope that his re-election will mark the start of making our group even more diverse in the coming year. I’m also really pleased to welcome long-term West Chesterton resident and local teacher, Richard Swift,to the team.

She continued:

“I will be announcing our new Executive Councillor team at the AGM, but I’m delighted by the energy and diversity it will bring, including as it does, three fantastic new team members.  Gerri Bird, who is, I believe, the first wheelchair user to join the exec, Alice Gilderdale who, at 24, is our youngest exec councillor and Mairéad Healy, who has lived experience of homelessness as a child.  They will be very valuable additions to our leadership team – a  team with a broad range of experiences, skills, empathy and expertise, all of whom are committed to doing the very best we can for our city.”

In terms of the priorities for the year ahead, Cllr Smith acknowledged that there would be difficult times ahead and Cambridge Labour were prepared to rise up to the challenges of the national cost of living crisis, which is already impacting on residents and which is set to escalate in the winter months.

Cllr Smith commented:

“We know how difficult the next 6 months will be for our residents, with so many rising costs, and we will do absolutely everything within our local powers to support residents with this national crisis. We will build on the community response to the pandemic to work cooperatively across the whole city, to ensure we can respond creatively and support those most vulnerable and ensure no one is left behind.”