Unmesh Desai elected as the London Assembly Member for the City and East
The votes are in from the local elections and Unmesh Desai has won a second term as the London Assembly member for City and East.
Unmesh Desai won the election as the London Assembly Member for the City and East Constituency. This includes the London Borough of Barking and Dagenham, the City of London, the London Borough of Newham, and the London Borough of Tower Hamlets.
This is following the local elections that took place on May 2nd. The local elections include voting for councillors, mayors, and police commissioners.
The London assembly works as a separate body to the mayor. Their role is to hold the mayor to account, ensure that the mayor sticks to their promises, and examine the mayor’s decisions.
Desai’s role is to support local businesses, boost local services and deliver local jobs. Improving transport links and tackling the housing crisis will also be a priority for Desai.
Some of his past involvements include starting 758 affordable homes in Tower Hamlets and preventing cuts to local bus routes such as the D7 and the D3. Desai also played a significant part in getting signs at Whitechapel station translated and printed into Bengali.
Desai also raised awareness to the fact that in 2022, almost 8000 Tower Hamlets children did not have enough to eat, and was part of Tower Hamlet’s successful demand for universal free school meals for pupils in primary and secondary state education.
He served as Councillor on the London Borough of Newham from 1998 until 2018. Desai has also represented City and East as a member of the Labour Party since 2016.
He was reselected as the Labour candidate for the constituency of City and East in the 2020 London Assembly elections, making this his third term.
The election results
Desai received 99,570 votes on May 2nd. Second in line came Freddie Downing from the Conservative Party, who received a total of 29,083 votes.
Joe Hudson-Small, from the Green Party, received 29,073 votes. David Kenton Sandground, Reform UK, received 14,535 votes. Patrick Thomas Stillman, Liberal Democrats, received 11,416 votes. Ak Goodman, Independent, received 5,310 votes. Lois Austin, Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, received 4,710 votes.
There were 2,153 spoiled ballots. The turnout for the constituency was 31.14 per cent.
Many people were also turned away from voting because they did not bring an acceptable form of photo ID. This is in correspondence with the new voter ID regulations.
Unmesh Dasai said on X, ‘I’m honoured to have been re-elected by the people of City and East London, and have signed my acceptance of office forms. I look forward to getting back to serving you on the issues that matter’.
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