Havering has a long tradition of electing non-party independent councillors to the Town Hall, with the most well-known example being the Residents Association. For many decades now the RA in each ward has published a regular newsletter, known as the Bulletin. However, many Havering residents have been left perplexed recently by a different version of the Bulletin which has been posted through their letterboxes. This Bulletin claims that it represents a brand-new group in the borough, the Hornchurch and Upminster Independents (HUI). But who are HUI? Havering Special has done a bit of digging around and found that there is something quite fishy about this group of ‘independents’.
HUI’s entry on the Electoral Commission’s online register lists two officers – Brian Eagling and Darren Wise. Regular Havering Special readers may recognise these names, as both Eagling and Wise are councillors in the Harold Wood ward. Although they stood in the 2018 elections as Residents Association candidates, they now represent the North Havering Residents Group. The NHRG are entirely separate from the Havering Residents Associations, and have stood in opposition to the HRA ever since they broke away from them shortly after they were elected. Following the stalemate of the 2018 local elections, Brian Eagling and Darren Wise were amongst a small but significant number of (supposedly) non-Conservative councillors who switched sides and enabled the Tories to snatch control of the Town Hall.
So, are the Hornchurch and Upminster Independents a genuine attempt to build upon Havering’s proud history of non-party politics? Or are they a Putinesque ‘controlled opposition’ sham, cynically created to split the non-Tory vote in this year’s elections? Havering Special will leave it for you to decide!
HAVERING SPECIAL 