LABOUR leader Arooj Shah has spoken out after losing her seat in Chadderton South at Oldham’s local elections tonight.

It is the second year in a row that a Labour leader has lost their seat in Oldham.

Speaking to The Oldham Times following the loss she said: “Part of an election is there is always a possibility that you are going to lose that is part of the territory and if you never prepare yourself for the loss then you’re a bit naïve.

“I don’t think there’s anything more I could have done I spoke to more than 2,000 people. I did my absolute best. 

“I’ve fought a really positive campaign I believe in positivity and that’s what I wanted to bring to politics in Oldham.

“The general public was disengaged in politics and democracy and for me engaging the public is more important than anything else and I think that politicians should conduct themselves in a professional way, so people engage more in democracy.

“The campaign ran against me was a personal campaign. There was definitely racism and misogyny. It was a smear campaign against me."

She added: “It was a personal campaign they dehumanised me completely. My mum was horrified and scared for my wellbeing.

“This is the first election I’ve ever been to where I haven’t been able to bring a member of my family and that’s because I didn’t want them to experience anything negative."

It comes after Arooj Shah's car was set on fire last year. 

“I think the one thing I can do tonight is go home and go to sleep knowing that I wanted to do my best for the people of Oldham. I treat people with respect including the opposition and they retaliated in a negative way.”

She added that she was ‘really disappointed’ by leaflets allegedly posted in Chadderton South by the Conservatives which she said anyone would have been ‘horrified by’.

Last month Cllr Shah accused the Oldham Conservatives of collaborating with a third party to hand out leaflets which she described as "defamatory and malicious".

It is an accusation the Conservatives have strongly denied.

In an open letter, she claimed that two Conservative candidates were delivering the leaflets in March.

On Tuesday, March 22, the Oldham Conservative Party revealed on its Facebook page that Cllr Shah had emailed the group asking for them to distance themselves from the leaflet.

In the Facebook post, it said the leaflets were "clearly not" produced by the party as there were no "imprint, logo or contact details of any candidate(s)".

Cllr Dave Arnott of the Conservatives said: "The Oldham and Saddleworth Conservative Federation has been contacted by Cllr Shah regarding this issue.

"The Chairman has replied, clearly stating that the leaflet has nothing to do with the Conservatives, and suggesting that she should raise her concerns with the author."

The author of the leaflets declined to comment on the leaflets.

Speaking further on the election result Cllr Shah added: “I’ve been raised really well, and my parents have taught me to respect people and every single member of my team has behaved with integrity and worked really hard but the people of South Chadderton have spoken and I respect that."

She said that it was not a poisoned chalice to be the leader of the Labour party, adding: “The principles and values of the Labour party is something we should be so incredibly proud of."

She added: “I was born here and here and raised here I care about Oldham deeply. I’m made of tough stuff I’m not going anywhere so if that’s what they were hoping to achieve they’re not.

"We have got fantastic Labour groups in Oldham and they will do their best to continue serving the people of this borough.

“Asian women told me how important me being there (in the council) was for them. I try to encourage more diversity in democracy, and I think it was really good for people to be able to look and point at the leader of the council and say that’s a brown women.

“I think there will be lots of people out there that may be disappointed for me, but I don’t want them to be because this is politics and this is what happens.”