{"id":39343,"date":"2026-05-18T01:23:02","date_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:02","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/39343\/"},"modified":"2026-05-18T01:23:02","modified_gmt":"2026-05-18T01:23:02","slug":"we-are-on-the-brink-life-in-the-east-london-borough-that-elected-reform-uk","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/39343\/","title":{"rendered":"‘We are on the brink’: Life in the East London borough that elected Reform UK"},"content":{"rendered":"

After Reform won its first London council, residents spoke of why they thought the result happened\"Rob<\/p>\n

Rob Deprose voted for Reform and hopes that they will help the disabled and elderly better (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

The local elections threw up a number of questions, with the traditional two-party system seemingly under threat. London was no exception, with both the Green Party and Nigel Farage’s Reform UK making significant gains. The latter even secured control of the council in the East London borough of Havering, making it the first of its kind.<\/p>\n

Reform, led by Nigel Farage, won a majority of the council seats, taking 39 of the 55. Speaking outside Havering Town Hall, Mr Farage said that the win signalled a \u201chistoric shift\u201d in British politics. MyLondon headed to Havering to speak to locals about the result.<\/p>\n

Mandy Bonfield, 38, and Gary Meall, 56, said a \u201cchange was needed\u201d when we spoke to them in Romford. They didn\u2019t vote last week, but they are glad Reform took control. Mandy said: \u201cI think Nigel Farage will make a difference.<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A general view of Romford in London, Britain 14 May 2026(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

“He talks like he wants to make a difference, and what we\u2019ve got now, they\u2019re not helping British citizens. We have our homeless on the streets, begging for food, and people struggling on the borderline, yet we are bringing more people in, and they are being housed. We are on the brink right now.”<\/p>\n

She added: \u201cI think it\u2019s a great thing having them win. I hope they can help the nightlife here – Romford used to be the place to be. There\u2019s a lot of crime here in Romford as well. I don\u2019t feel comfortable coming down here at night, and it\u2019s things like that I think Reform could help change. I\u2019d like to be part of Essex again, as well – I’ve always felt like we were anyway.”<\/p>\n

\"Mandy<\/p>\n

Mandy Bonfield and Gary Meall believe change was needed and are hopeful that Reform can do exactly that (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

Gary said: \u201cSomething has got to change. I don\u2019t see any difference between the two main parties. Whether you voted Labour or Conservative, they promise you the world and they just break every promise going. The two-party system hasn\u2019t worked for a long time.<\/p>\n

“Someone has to change that. We needed to give somebody else a chance.\u201d<\/p>\n

The main issues residents raised were the decline of the high street, support for the disabled, crime, and immigration. Romford MP Andrew Rosindell has also regularly suggested taking Havering out of London and making it an Essex council, as it once was.<\/p>\n

\"Pat<\/p>\n

Pat Smith and Darren Grayson in Romford(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

Jared Green, 23, lives in neighbouring Thurrock, which also went Reform, and was not surprised that they managed to win in Havering. He said: \u201cI think their policies are divisive. I don\u2019t think they\u2019ll be good for the economy.<\/p>\n

“I\u2019m not surprised [they won] because Labour have been pretty bad. I think Havering going Reform is a bad thing, and I don\u2019t think they will do anything.”<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

A general view of Romford in London(Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

Pat Smith, 51, said he was \u201csick of things not being delivered in Romford\u201d. He said: \u201cI voted Reform. I wanted change. They promised to revamp the town centre. It\u2019s clear the rest of the borough felt like me because they swept it. We can only wait and see and hope that they do [deliver what they promised].<\/p>\n

\u201cAs cabbies, we\u2019ve got no work because nobody wants to come to Romford anymore. We\u2019ve been forgotten. The market has declined. The parking is so expensive. There are no shops that attract people here. We have to wait and see what changes they can make here.”<\/p>\n

Darren Grayson, 53, said: \u201cI think the local people wanted change but want to know if they [Reform] can change their local council first before voting in the general election. If they notice an effect now, it\u2019s like a test run to see [how good they are]. People want change in their own towns, but if they don\u2019t deliver that, then they won\u2019t vote for them later on.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"A<\/p>\n

Locals are hopeful that the high street can be revived under new leadership (Image: Facundo Arrizabalaga\/MyLondon)<\/p>\n

Rob Deprose is disabled, and said: \u201cI think Reform will look after the disabled and the elderly more. A lot of false promises from Labour.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think Nigel Farage says the right things, and he feels more for the British people. We\u2019ve got homeless and veterans sleeping rough on the streets, yet we\u2019ve got hotels full of asylum seekers. Romford isn\u2019t the same place anymore.\u201d<\/p>\n

Walking through Romford on a Thursday, boarded-up shops were a common sight. Local restaurant owner Afrim Arizi, who runs Pizzeria Di Napoli, didn\u2019t vote but can understand why the borough switched.<\/p>\n

He said: \u201cI went to vote, but I decided against it. I didn\u2019t know how any party were going to really change things. I\u2019m not surprised Reform won, because I get a lot of customers who say they’re ready for a change.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe high street needs to be improved. However, you remember in 2016, with Brexit, they said that in 10 years things would be better, but that didn\u2019t happen. It doesn\u2019t matter what party.”<\/p>\n

Keep up with the latest East London news. Sign up to our MyEastLondon newsletter HERE<\/a> for daily updates and more.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After Reform won its first London council, residents spoke of why they thought the result happened Rob Deprose…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":39344,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[4],"tags":[13663,13664,95,408,20103,5,6],"class_list":["post-39343","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-uk","tag-havering","tag-havering-council","tag-nigel-farage","tag-reform-uk","tag-romford","tag-uk","tag-united-kingdom"],"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@UnitedKingdom\/116592967860116547","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39343","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=39343"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/39343\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/39344"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=39343"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=39343"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/britain\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=39343"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}