I live in Upminster – there was once a pearly king of Upminster, and the image on the front page of this weblog shows part of his costume, including the windmill at the left. Upminster, Hornchurch, Romford and Rainham have been the London Borough of Havering since 1965, although my address says Essex. A vociferous core of locals are convinced we actually are in Essex. Not so Andrew Rosindell, the Romford MP, who must know we are in London, as he wants and has always wanted (he was born after 1965) the borough to become part of Essex. Excellent article on Rosindell and Havering by diamond geezer. The occasion is Rosindell leaving the Conservative Party and joining Reform, where he hopes Nigel Farage will help him.

diamond geezer nicely sets out how London would change without Havering:

A huge lump would be chopped off London’s eastern edge, reducing the area of the capital by 7%. The easternmost point in London would become the Dartford Creek flood barrier rather than a muddy field far beyond the M25. London would be five miles narrower than before. One-sixth of London’s Green Belt would vanish overnight.

London would lose 260,000 residents, reducing its population by just 3%. It’d become a younger city, a more left wing city and a less white city. A greater proportion of its residents would rent. It might also become a happier city because the moaners had left.

Havering becoming an independent borough would remove a large hospital from London, also a windmill, 18 secondary schools, seven miles of motorway and three Parkruns.

Havering would no longer have to follow what Andrew calls the Mayor’s woke agenda. It’d remove the borough from ULEZ which would please its drivers no end. Residents would also no longer have to pay the Mayor of London’s precept, currently £490 for a Band D property, but might end up paying more to a devolved authority once the rest of London’s support was removed. …

There is a second MP in the borough, Julia Lopez, MP for Hornchurch and Upminster, also Conservative.

Rosindell speaking in the Commons in May 2025: Havering Borough and Essex Devolution.

I must admit one of the things I like about living in Havering is being part of London, and of course using the Freedom Pass, which allows me to travel all over London nearly all day on buses, trains and tube. (Rosindell has conceived arrangements for it to continue).