'Vote for Your Neighbour - Don't Vote Labour' Independents launch Brent Council election campaign

 

Independents did  comparatively well in the 2024 General Election, often as a result of publlic revulsion againt Labour's support for Israel's actions in Gaza.  Could that be followed through in the May 2026 Council election in Brent?

 Azif Zamir and James Rossi last week launched their campaign as Independents for Stonebridge with a challenge to Labour: 'Vote for Your Neighbour, Don't Vote Labour'. The campaign is based in the St Raph's Estate where Asif Zamir is a community activist. However, another estate, Stonebridge,  on the other side of the North Circulart, is also part of the ward and has seen the controversy around the future of the Bridge Park Complex. Can the pair build support there, too?

There have been Independent candidates in Brent in the past, some with a particular campaign theme such as support for motorists, others with a more personal following. None have succeeded in breaking through the three party monopoly.

But the times are different, the Labour Party has never been so unpopular nationally and its local candidates were chosen by outsiders,  depressing the rank and file. Brent Tories are engaged in open internal warfare and the Green Party with burgeoning numbers is preparing for its most serious campaign yet in Brent. Reform has been lurking in the shadows of our tube stations and Your Party is trying to get organised. Lib Dems have adopted a 'steady as it goes' approach concentrating on failing local services.

There have been Independents sitting on the Council previously, but these have always been as a result of suspension or expulsion from their party. John Duffy, acted as an Independent, even when a Labour councillor! However,  recently, in several parts of the country, councillors have resigned from Labour to form their own Independent Group while others have crossed the floor to the Greens.

Elsewhere Residents' Associations have stood candidates but this is unusual in London, although with matters so fluid it is a possibility - the council is not popular with many such bodies.

In Brent it is likely that parties to the left of Labour (everyone but Conservatives and Reform) will be speaking to each other so as not to split the vote against Labour and unwittingly allow Reform in. 

There is much to play for and interesting times ahead.