Last summer a row erupted over Havering council’s plan to split from the rest of London. The motion, tabled by a Ukip councillor and dubbed “Hexit”, was an attempt to solve the east London borough’s so-called “identity crisis”.
“It was laughed out of the chamber,” says Fay Hough, the 30-year-old Labour candidate for the Rainham & Wennington ward in the upcoming local elections, “because there were no positives. We would have lost funding, the London living wage, even the Freedom pass.”
The vote, Hough adds, was part of a trend in which Labour’s opposition has billed the London mayor, Sadiq Khan, as a figure of dislike from whom they want a divorce.
A recent Tory campaign to “Keep Havering Safe”, for example, was accused of “dog-whistle racism” after leaflets were distributed warning that the borough could soon resemble diverse “inner city” areas under Khan.
“I think there are local politicians who are playing on people’s fear of difference,” says Kim Arrowsmith, another Labour candidate.
“The demographic of the area is changing, and over time that will make that kind of politics very difficult to sell. The fear will dissipate.”
Havering was one of London’s most pro-Brexit areas, with 70% of the borough’s population voting leave in the EU referendum. As a pro-Europe party, Labour was almost wiped out in the last local elections and currently holds only two out of 54 council seats. But while the predominance of successful candidates from residents associations means the party is unlikely to win control from the Tories, it hopes to make gains and believes the decline of Ukip could prove to be helpful.
Immigration, the candidates say, is less of an issue now, with housing and crime coming up most often on the doorstep. “We’ve got a bidding system for council housing which is seen as not-fit-for-purpose,” says Arrowsmith. “And a lot of privately rented places aren’t accepting benefits any more. What I find comes up a lot is single mums who can’t work full-time but can’t rent a place.”
“And I’ve had a few people who say ‘my 28-year-old daughter’s still living with me at home, there’s no way she can afford to move in on her own’,” says Hough, who has been volunteering for local MP Jon Cruddas’s office for two years.
Havering is no stranger to regeneration, and estates are being knocked down to make way for new developments. But Labour say there are no assurances of right to return. The borough is also the site of Orchard Village, a housing development so plagued with issues related to building quality that it has faced calls for demolition.
On the streets of Rainham, which the candidates call “the forgotten part of Havering”, most of the people who open the door are friendly and responsive.
“Crime often comes up,” says Nicholas West, a 23-year-old prospective Labour councillor. “The anxiety last summer was so extreme because of moped robberies. Knife crime has been an issue too. When I was growing up I had youth centres to go to, now there’s nothing for the kids. Over the Easter holidays the kids are just on the street bored. And that’s when they’re most vulnerable to being taken in by gangs.”
A police station in the area had to recently shut because of cuts, West adds. All this plays into the Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn’s strategy of putting housing and crime at the heart of his party’s bid to take over Tory local authorities.
Such national politics can work for and against the local candidates on the doorstep, Arrowsmith says. “People sometimes say ‘you’re all the same’. National politics helped with that, because no one can say Labour and the Tories are the same any more. We’re seeing a much more positive picture because voters are ready for change. Jeremy represents a break from the past. The Tories really targeted Dagenham and Rainham in the general election but Jon Cruddas’ majority went up.”
As we’re walking through Rainham, one woman stops us in the street. “Just so you know I’ll be voting Labour,” she says. “I’m a new member. I’ve worked in the public sector for 15 years. I just thought I’d stop you and say good luck.”
“I swear we did not set that up,” Hough says cheerfully afterwards. “People are becoming more aware now. When I was door-knocking for Brexit, a few houses had massive Ukip posters saying ‘vote leave’.
“I’ve door-knocked them recently and they’re all Labour. Work that one out.”
