Green Party councillor resigns

A Green Party councillor has resigned his seat in West London just 10 days after he was elected.

Councillor Simon Anthony won his seat at the local elections on May 7, beating Labour candidate Guneet Singh Malik. After winning in the early hours of May 8, Mr Anthony approached Cllr Peter Mason, Leader of Ealing Council, sneering: "I'm so sorry to have spoiled your clean run [of winning seats]."

Ealing Labour said in response to the resignation, handed in to Ealing Council on Monday (May 18) that "The Green Party in Ealing have given up on Acton", however the party intends to field another candidate in the ward. It is expected that a by-election will now be held by the end of June.

Neil Reynolds, Chair of the Ealing Green Party, told the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS): "Unfortunately, one of our five recently-elected councillors, Simon Anthony in North Acton, is unable to continue and has had to step down from his role.

"We have therefore immediately requested a by-election in North Acton and we will be running a full campaign to try and keep the seat. The elections have proved the support we have across the borough, and in North Acton in particular. We will announce our candidate after a selection process in the coming days."

The Ealing Green Party has refused to reveal why, when asked by the LDRS, he is unable to continue.

Mr Anthony was one of five Green councillors elected to Ealing Council. Also elected in the North Acton ward were two Labour councillors, Hodan Haili and Blerina Hashani.

Cllr Hashani was recently announced as a member of Cllr Peter Mason's cabinet, as Cabinet Member for a Fairer Start, overseeing the closure of ten children's centres in the borough. Labour will hope to regain the remaining seat from the Greens.

Each poll costs the taxpayer around £20,000 to £25,000 to run. Simon Anthony is the fifth green councillor in London to resign days after election, following councillors in Camden, Haringey, Lambeth, and Hackney.

In Hackney, James Tilden was elected to represent Hackney Central ward, but had to resign after realising he was never eligible to stand, because he's a teacher in the borough. The same thing happened in Camden with the local Green Party admitting it wasn't aware of the rule before the candidates were put forward.

Jayon Henriques was also ineligible to stand but it was too late to remove him from the ballot paper in Haringey. Meanwhile Green Party candidate Saiqa Ali was suspended by the party before the election in Lambeth took place but it was too late to change her nomination.

She is understood to have not taken up her seat after being elected, and if she had taken it up she would have sat as an independent. Her suspension came after alleged antisemitic posts on social media.

It's not just the Green Party that has seen resignations within days of the local elections. In Essex the Reform councillor Stuart Prior resigned over allegations he shared racist material on social media. He became the 17th Reform councillor across the country to resign since May 2025, with several of the resignations coming as a result of vetting or conduct issues.

The full result in North Acton after voting on May 7

Elected: Blerina Hashani (Labour): 1,356 votes (34.2%)

Elected: Simon Anthony (Green Party): 1,298 votes (32.8%)

Elected: Hodan Mohamoud Haili (Labour): 1,296 votes (32.7%)

Guneet Singh Malik (Labour): 1,186 (29.9%)

Maciej Pawlik (Green Party): 1,051 (26.5%)

Nasim Nur (Green Party): 1,001 (25.3%)

Sarah Beament (Conservative): 592 (14.9%)

Sally Gorman (Conservative): 551 (13.9%)

Bob Baker (Reform UK): 530 (13.4%)

Simon Quince (Lib Dems): 511 (12.9%)

Ann Lazarow (Conservative): 502 (12.7%)