Lydia Simmons

1979 - 1994 • Councillor on Slough Borough Council (1979 - 1994) • Deputy Mayor of Slough (1983 - 1984) • Mayor of Slough (1984 - 1985) • Chair of the council committee responsible for housing (1985 - 1994) 1999 - 2007 • Councillor on Slough Borough Council (1999 - 2007) • Cabinet commissioner (1999 - 2004), Simmons became shadow commissioner for Housing, after Labour went into opposition in 2004. • Social Exclusion (1999 - 2002) • Neighbourhood Services (2002 - 2004) • Shadow Commissioner for Housing (2004), after Labour went into opposition. • Member of the Board of People 1st Slough (2006), which ran public housing in Slough as an arms length management organisation (ALMO). ==Disputed 2007 election==

At the 2007 Slough Council election, Simmons was the Labour candidate in Central Ward. She was unexpectedly defeated by the Conservative candidate, Eshaq Khan, in circumstances which led to an election petition being presented challenging the result. An election commissioner, on 18 March 2008, ruled the election void because of registration and postal vote fraud; Khan was expelled from the Conservative Party. Simmons did not contest the by-election caused by the court decision. It was only when Labour party activists, surprised by the Conservative victory in an election otherwise a success for Labour, pressed for an investigation that the fraud was discovered, the hearing was told. ==See also==