Tahmina Saleem, the Labour leader of Luton Borough Council since May 2026, lost a no-confidence vote, and Liberal Democrat Amjid Ali now leads a coalition running the authority, the BBC reported, according to a summary by Mark Pack on 16 September1. A no-confidence vote lets a council's members remove their leader between elections without a poll of voters. The Liberal Democrats took two seats from Reform UK in council by-elections in August, in Kirklees and Huntingdonshire; in Luton they gained a leadership through a vote in the chamber instead.
7OCT
Lib Dem Amjid Ali takes over Luton
2 min read
13:09UTC
Luton Borough Council's Labour leader Tahmina Saleem lost a no-confidence vote, and Liberal Democrat Amjid Ali now leads a coalition.
PoliticsDeveloping
Key takeaway
Luton's council is now led by Liberal Democrat Amjid Ali after Labour's leader was ousted.
Deep Analysis
In plain English
Luton Borough Council runs local services in Luton, Bedfordshire, from schools to bin collections. Its councillors choose a leader, who runs the council with a small team called the cabinet. In September, councillors voted that they no longer had confidence in the Labour leader, Tahmina Saleem. Councillors then chose Amjid Ali, a Liberal Democrat councillor, as leader. Because no single party has enough councillors to run Luton alone, Ali leads a coalition of more than one party. Voters did not go to the polls for this change.
Root Causes
Under the Local Government Act 2000, most English councils use a leader and cabinet. The full council elects the leader and can remove one by a vote, so control can change hands without an election.
When no party holds a majority, the largest group needs partners to keep its leader in post. A vote of no confidence turns on whether those partners, or its own members, still support the leader.
What could happen next?
- Risk
A coalition formed mid-term may struggle to pass the February budget if any partner group withdraws support.
- Meaning
Labour losing the Luton leadership without an election shows its local hold can slip between polls as well as at them.
First Reported In
Update #18 · Legal advice halts England's council mergers
Mark Pack (relaying BBC)· 7 Oct 2026
Read original →Different Perspectives
Rhun ap Iorwerth / Welsh Government (Plaid Cymru)
Ap Iorwerth presented six priorities to the Senedd on 22 September without numeric targets or a named partner party, promising to work across the chamber where there is common ground. He says his government will be judged on results.
Michael Marra / Scottish Labour
Marra won the leadership on 19 September, and three days later his 17 MSPs backed Swinney's right-to-decide motion once their child-poverty amendment was written in. He says Scottish Labour's task is to tell voters what it stands for.
Andy Burnham / Labour Party
Burnham told conference in Liverpool on 29 September that Labour's next manifesto will commit to changing the electoral system, and invited every party into a National Commission on Electoral Reform. He has not named a replacement system, and no chair or remit has been published.
Conservative Party (frontbench peers and Kemi Badenoch)
Conservative frontbench peers argued against retrospective rules at the Lords Second Reading on 14 September, a position that protects gifts made before any cap. Kemi Badenoch rejected Burnham's electoral reform commission on 2 October, accusing him of using it to entrench the left.
Reform UK
Reform denied wrongdoing after the Channel 4 News programme, called the sting a hoax by climate activists and said it would cooperate with the Metropolitan Police. In the same month it announced £36m gifts from Ben Delo and Christopher Harborne.
Steff Aquarone / Liberal Democrats (North Norfolk)
Aquarone told Rayner in the Commons on 7 September that North Norfolk District Council had spent money preparing for a reorganisation the Government has now withdrawn. He puts the cost of the cancelled merger on districts in the four areas.