A Green ripple in a sea of Red
When the Green Party broke a council monopoly in the Borough of Newham
On 6th May 2022, local political action was coming to a head in the Newham Borough Council elections.
Newham has been a Labour stronghold since its inception in 1964.
Moreover, entering the 2022 local elections, the council had been entirely Labour since 2010.
That was when three Respect Party councillors and three Christian Peoples Alliance councillors finished their terms after being elected in 2006.
All 60 seats were filled by Labour Party councillors heading into the 2022 London borough elections.
The same year the wards were redrawn and renamed, six seats had been added to the council to bring the seat total to 66.
The dominance of Labour was emphasised in the mayoral vote.
Incumbent Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz, OBE won with a 56.2% majority to serve a second term as mayor after her first from 2018 to 2022.
(Image 1: Rokhsana Fiaz gives a statement after winning a second term as mayor of Newham. Image 2: Mayoral votes are counted and sorted. Picture credit for both: Andrew Baker, official photographer for the Newham Council elections 2022)
However, that 56.2% majority was well below the 73.4% share of the vote secured by Fiaz in 2018, foreshadowing a shift in the Newham electorate for the council election.
Deep into the council election result announcements, it looked as though Labour would completely sweep the count again.
But two young Green Party candidates were quietly confident that they had secured the two highest vote totals in their ward.
That ward was Stratford Olympic Park, formerly Stratford New Town.
When the declaration of the counts came from Chief Executive Althea Loderick, the pair were correct.
Labour had claimed 64 of 66 council seats and 23 of 24 wards, leaving those two Green councillors to stand out in a sea of Labour red.
(Image 1: Newham Council chief executive Althea Loderick makes an announcements before the count. Image 2: Ballots are verified for the Newham Council elections 2022. Picture credit for both: Andrew Baker, official photographer for the Newham Council elections 2022)
Nate Higgins (left) and Danny Keeling (right) react to becoming the new councillors for Stratford Olympic Park ward, formerly Stratford New Town. Note: Higgins and Keeling won the first non-Labour council seats since the candidates from the 2006 elections stepped down in 2010. Hence why I said they won the first non-Labour seats since 2006. Video credit: Joseph Rigal.
Nate Higgins (left) and Danny Keeling (right) react to becoming the new councillors for Stratford Olympic Park ward, formerly Stratford New Town. Note: Higgins and Keeling won the first non-Labour council seats since the candidates from the 2006 elections stepped down in 2010. Hence why I said they won the first non-Labour seats since 2006. Video credit: Joseph Rigal.
Danny Keeling (they/them), 31, was elected to Newham Borough Council on 6th May 2022.
They won 1,186 votes in the Stratford Olympic Park ward to become the first openly non-binary councillor in the history of Newham council.
Nate Higgins, 25, was elected alongside Keeling to Newham Borough Council.
He won 1,394 votes, also in the Stratford Olympic Park ward.
Robert Callender, 43, was one of six mayoral candidates running against incumbent Newham Mayor Rokhsana Fiaz of Labour.
Fiaz expectedly won with 35,696 votes (a 56.2% majority).
However, Callender came third for the Greens with 11.0% of the vote (7,003 votes), just 387 votes behind Conservative candidate Attic Rahman, who garnered 11.6% of the vote.
Writing their own playbook
Since Newham Labour has not had mainstream opposition since 2010, Higgins and Keeling have their work cut out to really settle as councillors and get to making change.
Higgins said: “From every angle, it’s a new experience and a learning experience in every way."
But he is more than ready for the challenge of that experience.
He explained: “I’m one of those people that won’t do anything unless they do it right.
“I don’t see the point of putting half the effort in."
Part of a wider Green movement
The story of Higgins' and Keeling's election in Newham is just one example of the gains being made by the Greens in UK local government.
From 2016 to present, the Green Party has grown from having 175 councillors to 560.
That sees them as the most represented party behind the Conservatives, Labour and the Liberal Democrats, since independent candidates do not form a singular party.
Higgins and Keeling also made clear that so much of their campaign was built on actually going to meet people from their ward face-to-face.
Getting involved in your local community and conversing with local councillors can be so important to living in harmony with your area.
So, for a moment of self-reflection, please take this short quiz to see how engaged you are in local politics.
I was certainly inspired to pay more attention to the happenings in my council, hopefully many who read this will too.
Take the first step here or at the link below to find your way to your local council website.
https://www.gov.uk/find-local-council
Credits
Images
Cover image/Bios image (same photo): Taken by myself, Joseph Rigal
All images in sub-section Local Elections 2022: Andrew Baker, official photographer for the Newham Council elections 2022
Videos
Reaction video: Taken by myself, Joseph Rigal
Zoom interviews: Recorded by myself, Joseph Rigal
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