Sharing values and integrity
Royal Borough: Independent group rejects party politics
An umbrella group for independent candidates will once again be taking on the established political parties at this year’s local elections.
The Borough First Independents (tBfI), which uses the hashtag #peoplebeforepolitics, believes party politics do not have a place at a local level and instead encourages independent candidates to stand under a set of shared values – integrity, collaboration and respect.
It won three seats at the 2019 local elections and will be fielding 10 candidates this time around, plus two from the affiliated Old Windsor Residents’ Association.
David Buckley, tBfI leader, said: “To stand under the tBfI brand you need to agree to the values of the party only.
“Each independent candidate then sets out their own local manifesto targeted to their residents’
needs within the ward they are standing for election and are motivated to deliver on those needs with no party involvement.”
He added: “We do not feel party politics should exist at a local level.”
Under its core values, the party’s commitments include ‘complete, honest and transparent communication in every respect’; ‘working in collaboration with councillors and residents across the full political spectrum in order to get what is truly best for the Royal Borough's residents’; and treating everyone in the Royal Borough with the ‘utmost respect and dignity, their views heard, acknowledged and considered’.
While the party is focused on independent candidates and shared values, Mr Buckley said it ‘would review all current decisions, the borough’s financial position and all active contracts with a view to making pragmatic decisions, that are evidenced based and for the benefit of the residents throughout the borough’ if it became part of a council majority next month.
In a letter published in the Advertiser earlier this month, he said the tBfI would commit to review the Borough Local Plan, deliver social rented homes, support the vulnerable and ‘restore the finances and quality of service’ in the borough.
Investment in schools, the environment and infrastructure, as well as evidencebased funding to tackle crime and antisocial behaviour, are also on the agenda, along with a push for ‘suitable flood defences’ to the east of Windsor.