Title

Global majority council chiefs are leading their organisations at a time of heightened far right and anti-immigrant sentiment, magnified by debates over ‘small boats'.The level of exposure they face has ramped up locally, and the problems that brings are in the spotlight even more this week with the publication of the report by the Solace Commission on Professional Standards and Ethics.This report, the product of a year's worth of evidence-gathering by Solace, includes a stark assessment of the added pressures faced by women and people from minoritised groups. It says: ‘The experience of poor standards and inappropriate behaviour is not equally distributed across the workforce.' One contributor to the commission points out: ‘Black women in leadership are subjected to the worst treatment.'How difficult is it to operate as a leader at a time of particularly divisive local politics and an increasingly challenging operating environment?In the context of the tragic case of black academic Jason Arday, who was found dead in August after becoming the focus of intense public interest, does she feel society needs to be more aware of the risks of this type of behaviour being left unchecked?Speaking to The MJ, chief executive of Portsmouth City Council, Natalie Brahma-Pearl, who is ‘half Indian, half English', emphasises the pressure to represent global majority staff and dispel myths and assumptions, while navigating political tensions when some elected members are aligned with extremist views.Reform UK is the largest opposition group on the Liberal Democrat controlled city council. Reflecting on an intense time last year when weekly protests about asylum hotels broke out in the city across many months and she became the target of online abuse and hostility due to her racial background, Brahma-Pearl says: ‘This became a very personal thing because of the threats the police had picked up coming my way.'Setting out the reality of being at the helm of a council ‘when you've got a lot of far-right activity happening in your city', she says: ‘You've got to stand up, and be the voice of the organisation and dispel some of the myths and assumptions and everything else. That is a challenge, and particularly where you've got politics mixed in the middle of it, and you've got some of your own members that are aligned that way.'In the context of the tragic case of black academic Jason Arday, who was found dead in August after becoming the focus of intense public interest, does she feel society needs to be more aware of the risks of this type of behaviour being left unchecked?Brahma-Pearl says: ‘Yes, I absolutely agree. I can 100% say that all the stuff that happened in Portsmouth last year and with me, if I was a white woman, none of it would have come my way.‘Because I'm half Indian, half English, and because I classify myself as Asian, that became the target. Whereas if I'd been a Natalie Pearl without the Brahma there and was white I wouldn't have that stuff. It just became a hook that people could use.'For councils, protecting officers and staff needs to become a priority, she believes. ‘It was a really challenging time personally, and I don't think local authorities are equipped for it, because it's like "oh my God, where has this come from? We're supposed to be good employers, we see the best in everybody, and now we're having to fight this system, which we're just not ready for". And I think there's something about protecting those officers and your staff in that process.'Tamworth BC chief executive Stephen Gabriel says his area saw rioting based around asylum hotels in 2024, ‘on the back of [the disturbances in] Southport'He continues: ‘As a response to that the council worked with our partners, voluntary and community sector, police and other statutory partners, and we also did some positive work with the Belong [cohesion and integration] network.‘I can recall one [online] comment around that period from someone who explicitly mentioned me. But do you know what happened? One of my staff went in and shut it down.'Gabriel perceives a decline in visible global majority role models at the chief executive level over the last decade. ‘Ten years ago I think there were more chief executives from the global majority than we have today. So, something seems to be going backwards.'He adds: ‘I think there's a real feeling that you need to prove yourself repeatedly, even after being in senior management positions. And we talk about informal networking opportunities and sponsorship, and those are all things that are important to career progression, but not always equally accessible.'He points to leadership challenges including the representation gap and the burden this involves, with global majority senior leaders often feeling the weight of representing their entire community rather than being viewed as individual professionals. ‘There is something about our community groups looking to us for support. It sometimes feels that you've got the weight of that on your shoulders as well as having to do the role.'He adds: ‘The challenge isn't about a lack of talent. It's ensuring that talent is seen and supported, and people are given an equal opportunity to progress.'Brahma-Pearl concludes the standards regime in local government ‘needs to rapidly improve'. She adds: ‘All they get is a letter going "you either need to apologise or just please don't do that again". That's the maximum penalty they have. A lot of the focus seems to be going on the safety of elected politicians, but no-one's talking about the safety of officers.'

Title

GOVERNANCE

Local government: Leading through testing times

By Ann McGauran | 21 October 2026

Popular articles by Ann McGauran

SUBSCRIBE TO CONTINUE READING

Popular articles by Ann McGauran