UPDATE TUESDAY 3.45PM:

Greenwich Council has confirmed the by-election will be postponed. An alternative date is yet to be decided.   

EARLIER:

Four candidates will vie for the chance to replace disgraced Greenwich councillor Tonia Ashikodi, as the authority forges ahead with plans for an April 9 by-election despite concerns over coronavirus. 

The council confirmed on Tuesday morning that it would move ahead with original plans to hold the vote next month, despite the Electoral Commission urging that all elections in the country be delayed due to the virus.

“Unless the government instruct local councils to not process, then the by-election for the Glyndon ward will go ahead as planned,” a spokesperson for the Royal Borough of Greenwich said on Tuesday.

It comes after the four major parties confirmed they will all field candidates for the by-election, with no independents nominated by last week’s cut-off date.  

Labour have nominated PR professional and former Bexley councillor Sandra Bauer, while local businessman Naveed Mughal will campaign for the Conservatives.  

Stewart Christie, who ran for the hyper-local Plumstead Party at the 2018 local government election, will now have another crack for the Liberal Democrats.

The Greens have put forward Leonie Barron, who also ran in 2018 for the party.  

They will vie to fill Ms Ashikodi’s position in an area that in recent history has been a Labour stronghold, although the conviction of the former Labour councillor on two counts of fraud may test the party loyalties of voters.   

Ms Ashikodi resigned earlier this month after receiving a two–year suspended sentence for fraud, related to her applying for and accepting a council home while owning three homes herself – two in Thamesmead and one in Charlton.    

Ms Ashikodi herself was elected in a by-election in the ward in 2016 after Labour councillor Radha Rabadia resigned.

She succeeded in a landslide result which saw her receive 2,583 votes  – outpolling nearest competitor, the Conservative Party’s Matt Brown, by more than 2,000.

Greenwich Council’s statement that they would only postpone the by-election if ordered to by the Government comes after an appeal from the Electoral Commission for all elections and by-elections to be postponed due to the coronavirus outbreak.  

The elections of Mayor and the Greater London Assembly, which had been set for May, were subsequently postponed until next year.  

Greenwich council have also indicated that meetings will likely be postponed during the period, although Monday’s meeting of cabinet still went ahead.