'Being independent is so refreshing'
Only 33 of the several hundred candidates standing for election in Northants are independent. We spoke to a few about what it's like to go it alone.
By Sarah Ward
“I know exactly who you are. I follow you on Facebook and you have my vote.”
That’s Fallan, the first person independent candidate Jim Hakewill and I stopped when I accompanied him on a recent canvassing session on Rothwell’s high street.
A manager at the Coop store in a local village, she not only knew who he was before he introduced himself - the white jumper emblazoned with his name may have helped - but was aware of the various local campaigns he has been involved in as a unitary councillor.
“I really like what you stand for and you’ve been fighting for Broughton. I know you are what you say. Best of luck - you so deserve it.”
“You have to pinch yourself don’t you,” Jim says as Fallon walks away. “It almost makes me well up.”
The next person we stopped, a Labour voter, was not so familiar, but by the end of the chat, following a discussion about plans for a nearby warehouse, a campaign that Jim had been heavily involved in, not only did Eddie say he would go out to vote, but that he would vote for Jim.
A seasoned campaigner - asked by one person what he stood for he answered without hesitation ‘Rothwell’ - Jim knows the value of getting out to speak to people on the doorstep and meeting people who he can perhaps persuade to put a cross by his name when they’re at the polling station booth.
“I think people like to vote for people that are visible. That walk up their street, put a leaflet through the door and a few minutes on the doorstep very often results in someone saying ‘I will vote for you Jim’.
“Basically if local politics was a business I am a market researcher. I go out and listen to what the customers want and then I go and stand up at the council meetings and say ‘this is what we want’. OK I am not part of a big party, but people do listen and I get things changed.”
These elections will not be the first time at the political rodeo for Jim as an independent. He was elected as the only independent to the authority in 2021 and if he wins this time it will mark 40 years as an elected local councillor. He first won the backing of residents in 1985 and since then served on various councils including as the leader of the former Kettering Borough Council. Then he was a Conservative, but fell out with the party over a library issue in the late 2010s and has not looked back since.
He says:
“Being an independent is so refreshing. I don’t have to tow any party line and am not subject to the whip.”
He is also marketing savvy, his social media posts include footage of him cleaning the road sign to Rothwell, a clever metaphorical message about his intentions, and he is rarely seen without his white jumper, saying ‘Vote Jim Hakewill’, which even has an imprint on the back (to comply with election rules).
He also loves a ring doorbell, as they record and send footage back to the homeowner.
“I always press the doorbell, I am like a modern sandwich board. I have this feeling someone could be sitting in skyscraper in New York and think ‘Who’s ringing my doorbell’, and then think ‘Oh it’s Jim Hakewill.’”
Out of the 676 candidates standing for election across the two unitary authorities only 33 (about five per cent) are independent of a political party.
Therefore it helps to have a track record and name recognition, something that Julie Davenport has plenty of. Originally a Labour councillor, she left the party and was then elected as an independent in the 2021 unitary elections. Since then has run a number of successful campaigns including getting green spaces adopted and road safety improvements.
She says:
“I work really, really hard, as it does take a lot of work to be an independent. But the residents’ remember the work I have done and they stay loyal. I absolutely love what I do.”
Retired from paid work, she says she spends the majority of her daily hours helping residents from her ward on West Northamptonshire Council (WNC).
She put in a Freedom of Information request to WNC and discovered that almost a quarter of emails to the council’s members’ enquiry email address were sent from herself.
Last year alone she says she sent 750 emails. People get in touch with her mainly through Facebook messenger, phone and text and then she takes up the battle for them.
She says:
“I just get things done, and if it’s not getting done, you nag until it is. You have got to wear them [the council] down. Some things have taken years.”
She has paid for the printing of 8,000 letters herself and with a team of supporters has delivered them across the Far Cotton, Delapre and Briar Hill ward where she is standing. She hopes her track record and reputation will get her over the line for another four year stint, but with shifting political sands she is aware that nothing is guaranteed.
She says:
“I believe in fate. If they want me to retire then I will.”
Former Conservative’s, the previous leader of South Northamptonshire Council Ian McCord and WNC councillor Paul Clark are hoping for their first election wins without the aid of a blue rosette. Both were elected to the newly formed WNC in 2021 but fell out with the Tory party in the early days of the unitary council and since then have been part of an independent alliance.
Ian is standing in Deanshanger and Paulerspury, an area he has represented since 2007 and Paul is standing in Northampton’s Billing ward.
While acknowledging he is without the assistance of a party machine Ian thinks where he has the edge is the local issues he is campaigning on, such as planning.
He said:
“What I would say about the major parties is their offerings are very generic and very bland and West Northants wide. Certainly in this ward there are a lot of issues, there’s a lot of planning issues. I have warehouse development; potential housing development; potential quarry and landfill development. We have a lot of issues that nobody is talking about other than me.
“In some respects it is easier being an independent; in some respects it’s more difficult and in some respects it’s no different.
“Because although the parties will say they have a party machine and a super structure, they don’t actually. When it comes down to it they’ve still got three people in this ward and four people in that ward, who do all the heavy lifting. That is not different from what I have.
“I am as confident as I can be - I’m working my ward as hard as I can and we will find out the result on Friday morning.”
Paul had a hand in ensuring WNC’s former leader Jonathan Nunn stood down after historic domestic abuse allegations came to light and says if re-elected he will continue to ask difficult questions and shine a light on issues that are being ignored.
He said:
“I will continue to do what I have done in the past, which is scrutinising and holding people to account. I will also continue to support community projects.
“I think with trust in politics and politicians declining, people will give their support to independents. But Reform will definitely have an impact. Every vote is going to count and it is going to be an interesting election.”
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Other candidates standing in the Rothwell and Mawsley ward are:
Brian Benneyworth (Reform); Cedwien Brown (Cons); Ash Davies (Cons); Francis Hatfull (Lib); Alan Heath (Green); Chris Kellett (Reform); Stephen King (Lab); Diane Lowes (Reform); Liam McGeown (Lab); Olivia Miller (Green); Cliff Moreton (Cons); Emily Sharman (Lab); Clive Thorley (Green)
Other candidates standing in Far Cotton and Delapre ward are:
Sony Akie (Cons); Ray Connolly (Cons); Lamarn Darrington (Green); Becky Drman (Lab); David Garlick (Lib); Ray Kelly-Sargeant (Cons); Tony Owens (Reform); Robert Parkinson (Lab); James Petter (Reform); Steven Reid (Reform); Seamus Smyth (Trade Unionist); Sanjeev Tiwary (Lab)
Other candidates standing in Billing ward are:
Gary Campbell (Lab); Mark Deakes (Reform); Janice Duffy (Lab); Russell Ellis (Lib); Silas Hays (Reform); James Hill (Cons); Naz Islam (Cons); Faye Spencer (Green)
Other candidates standing in Deanshanger and Paulerspury are:
Luca Clifford (Cons); Ivan Dabbs (Reform); Mark Hughes (Cons); Michael Leggett (Lib); Ryan O’Shea (Reform); James Spencer (Lab); Anne Thompson (Lab); Beverley Vivian (Green)
Of course, all of the Cllrs you’ve mentioned above stood originally as members of a large Party - I suspect it’s probably a lot harder to get elected as an Independent from a standing start than it would be to be elected as a Conservative or Labour Cllr and then leave the party. As this was mentioned for the three former Conservative Cllrs, I’m surprised to see it not get a mention regarding Julie Davenport.
I believe numerous candidates initially would stand for a political party thinking that their political views was in line with that parties policies. However, they then found out that there is no honest debates on any particular subject. The party line has to be adhere to. This in my opinion can be a good reason for taking an opposit view and that surely is "Democracy". I shall vote for Paul Clark as he is the only candidate who turn up in our door steps. He work very hard in trying to improve the lives of people in his ward. Good luck to him!