Zoë Garbett and Dylan Law
Meet Hackney’s new Mayor and Deputy Mayor
Mayor Zoë Garbett and Deputy Mayor Dylan Law
Zoë Garbett is the new Mayor of Hackney after receiving 35,720 votes in the elections of 7 May. She is the borough’s fourth directly elected mayor and first Green mayor.
Zoë has served as a councillor and led the Green group at Hackney Council since 2022. She was also a member of the London Assembly.
Zoë has appointed Dylan Law as her Statutory Deputy Mayor. Dylan is Cabinet Member of Safer Homes and Housing Services and is also a councillor for Hackney Downs ward.
Why did you want to run as Mayor and councillor?
Zoë: “I’ve always been driven by the injustice that I’ve seen or experienced. All of my choices in my career, and in politics, have been to address those.
“Hearing from residents who feel let down and frustrated because services aren’t working, and after being an Assembly Member, a councillor and working in the NHS – this felt like the right moment for me to step up.
“I will strategically manage the Cabinet and the borough, but it’s all about supporting people working together.
“I want people to hold me to account. I think what we’re bringing is us working as a team, but we see that as working with residents and with organisations.”
Dylan: “It was my idea to be Zoë’s deputy [if I was elected as a councillor]. I was following the politics in the US with the President and Vice President race, and I was like ‘let’s do this – you be mayor and I’ll be your deputy’.
“Before this, politics for a 20-year-old Black individual wasn’t feasible. Now it is visible. If there’s someone who is 18, like I was, who wants to be a politician, they can look towards me and say, ‘he’s doing it. I’m gonna do it’.
“Before becoming the Deputy Mayor I was at university living in a two-bedroom Council house.
“I was part of Hackney Youth Parliament for a while, but I felt like I couldn’t talk about what I really wanted to, which is why I wanted to run as a councillor.
“To people who say I’m too young or too inexperienced – I say I’ve already got in! When I was campaigning and people asked me this, I’d ask them, ‘what is it that you can do that I can’t do?’”
Watch Mayor Zoë Garbett and Deputy Mayor Dylan Law meeting people in the borough
What are your priorities?
Zoë: “My top line is I want to address the injustices and protect the Hackney that people know and love.
“This isn’t about tinkering around the edges, we want to transform and be loud about the things that are failing.
“So whether that’s addressing poverty and deprivation, or pushing back against the system that causes that inequality.
“It’s also everything we want to do around housing and making it more affordable.
“We want to get those empty buildings back into community spaces. So that’s helping youth services, the night shelter and small businesses that want to use council-owned spaces.
“Those are the things that we can be doing with our powers
and with our assets.
“Residents are most concerned about housing, and it comes up in different ways – from housing repairs and high private rents, to service charges and children staying at home or children having to leave and live far away.
“The housing system is based on some people profiting – landlords and developers – and other people having to survive.”
Dylan: “Housing is my brief. There are a lot of issues in housing, but one of my main tasks is to increase the quality of council housing over a period of time and to better use green space around estates.
“I think those two things together will improve satisfaction and how residents feel about their housing as a whole.
“How we communicate with residents is also a big thing, and being a presence in the estates. The idea is to bring these strands together – quality, inspection time, wait lists and communication – so people are better off.”
At the election count on 7 May
What is it about Hackney that you love most?
Zoë: “I’ve been in Hackney since 2012 and I’ve lived in Homerton, Hackney Wick, Clissold and Dalston. What I love most is that you can be yourself here. I often say I found my politics and I found myself in Hackney.
“We’ve got some beautiful spaces here like Hackney Marshes and Abney Park. And I love the view down Kingsland Road at twilight, with its bustling high street, and the City in the background. It’s one of my favourite views.”
Dylan: “I was born here and I appreciate the community here. I feel very accepted in my own area – I feel calm. There are areas outside of Hackney I might go to where I feel I don’t belong, or I’m aware of my colour.
“One of the biggest things that people describe, when they’re talking about privilege, is that some people don’t have to think about their race. I don’t think about my race in Hackney.”