Baggy Shanker built his political position through Derby Labour rather than Westminster faction-fighting. Local members selected him in October 2022 to succeed Margaret Beckett, who had represented Derby South for almost four decades. The following year, Labour won 23 of Derby City Council's 51 seats under his leadership. It was the largest group but three seats short of a majority, leaving Shanker dependent on support beyond Labour to run the council.

His programme was recognisably municipal Labour. He promised to protect services, intervene in the housing market, bring buses under public control, strengthen environmental enforcement and use council procurement to support local workers and co-operatives. The manifesto also attached one-year deadlines to several visible pledges: saving Ashgate Nursery, introducing free bulky-waste collection, creating a city-centre taskforce and delivering a climate and recycling hub.

The clearest completed promise was Ashgate Nursery. The previous administration had begun the process of closing it because of falling pupil numbers and sustained deficits. Shanker's cabinet stopped the closure in July 2023. The school remained open, although its financial problem was deferred rather than solved: council accounts later recorded Ashgate and Central nurseries carrying a combined deficit into recovery plans.

The waste pledge became a limited offer rather than the general free service advertised. From April 2024 the council introduced free bookable bulky-waste collection periods and removed Sunday booking requirements at the Raynesway recycling centre. The changes proved popular but cost more than expected, and the promised climate and recycling hub had not been delivered by the time he left office.

Shanker did keep Derby from joining the councils issuing effective bankruptcy notices. His 2024/25 budget balanced the books for that year, but it relied on the maximum 4.99 per cent council-tax increase and £8.1 million of savings, and it left substantial projected gaps in the following two years. This was competent short-term containment, not the financial rebuilding his manifesto promised.

His council leadership ended over the failed Sinfin waste plant. Shanker had promised to keep it closed within legal and financial limits, but inherited agreements were moving towards repairing and operating it. A £94 million invoice from Derbyshire County Council was disputed, relations between the two authorities broke down and opponents accused Shanker of withholding the issue during budget-setting. He said he followed officer advice and was constrained by commercial confidentiality. The no-confidence vote tied 25-25 and passed on the Conservative mayor's casting vote in June 2024.

The external auditor later found that the plant settlement had legal advice behind it and used none of its statutory enforcement powers. It did, however, call for more effective and transparent governance. Shanker was therefore not found to have acted unlawfully, but he failed the political test of maintaining confidence around Derby's largest financial risk.

In Westminster, his strongest material result was shared with other Derby leaders: a £10 million government award for Team Derby. The money had been secured, but projects and measurable benefits had not been identified by the cut-off date.

Shanker's record shows a practical, service-protecting Labour politician who can win support and deliver limited interventions. It also shows a gap between ambitious promises and completed reform. Saving Ashgate was real; the waste scheme was narrower than advertised; the climate hub was not delivered; and the Sinfin dispute exposed weaknesses in political control and transparency. His record supports a case for capable local advocacy, but not yet for sustained delivery on difficult, high-value projects.