2026 local elections – Why Chiswick Labour want your vote

The local elections are in a month’s time – Thursday 7 May. The main parties have been campaigning for some time and you have probably seen them in your street door-knocking.

Ted Wall is the Borough Organiser for the Hounslow Labour Party, covering the Feltham & Heston, Brentford & Isleworth, and Chiswick branches. He writes here about the party’s “Fairer Choices” manifesto and why he believes Labour’s plan for housing, climate action, and community safety is the right way forward for Chiswick.

Guest blog by Ted Wall

In 2022 Chiswick elected its first Labour councillor in decades when Amy Croft won in Chiswick Riverside Ward by just nine votes.

Since then, Amy has been one of the hardest working councillors in Chiswick (according to casework figures) and the hardest in her ward. She has emphasised the importance of positive politics by working together with Hounslow Council, Andy Slaughter MP, and local residents’ groups to get things done for Chiswick.

Highlights include: securing four hundred thousand pounds to progress repairs to the wall at Strand on the Green, the doubling of street cleaning provision in from this April, and organising river clear ups and leaf cleaning.

In recognition of her efforts, she was successfully nominated to be the first ever Chiswick Labour councillor to serve as Mayor of Hounslow. Amy’s work is a shining example of what could be achieved across Chiswick if residents elect more Labour councillors this May.

Over this Council term, two Conservative Councillors have crossed the floor to join the Labour Party – including Chiswick Gunnersbury Councillor Ranjit Gill. They both cited a desire for a different approach, one of positivity and collaboration, rather than the infighting and negativity that characterises the local Conservatives.

The election of a Labour Government in 2024 has changed the outlook for our borough. Rishi Sunak once bragged about diverting money away from councils like ours, The Labour Government have reversed this with Hounslow’s grant funding set to increase by over fifty percent in the next three years.

The funding uplift gives us a golden opportunity to take back our future. It means that many policies that were non-starters under Conservative austerity are now viable.

Our 2026 manifesto ‘Fairer Choices’ is about addressing the opportunities afforded to us by these changes and by over a decade of sound management of our local finances.

The backbone of our agenda is to make life a little bit easier for residents with free bulky waste collections and skip days, fighting anti-social behaviour, resurfacing pavements, and restoring all of our playgrounds.

We also recognise this as a chance to uplift the horizons and improve the life chances of residents across Hounslow: 2026 is year of reading – we want every child to have a library card from birth, we’ll expand the Holiday Activities and Food programme, create clubs and activities for young people, develop mentoring schemes for young women to access opportunities, support men’s mental health, support startups and entrepreneurs, and create grants for more businesses to pay the London Living Wage.

We’ll increase the number of activity programmes for older residents and protect renters by enforcing against exploitative Landlords.All of this is about supporting residents whatever their age, wherever they live, whoever they are.

It is about making it clear that this is a borough where we look out for each other, where community matters, where we support the most vulnerable, and where we create opportunities. It is about proving that it is possible to be realistic and compassionate.

This election is ultimately about making fairer choices and we’re asking residents in Chiswick to play their part. Because that’s what makes Chiswick such a wonderful place, its sense of community and fairness. Chiswick needs councillors who work hard and represent those values.

Chiswick’s Council seats are on a knife edge between Labour and the Conservatives. Twenty-three votes separate Labour and the Conservatives in Chiswick Gunnersbury, in Chiswick Riverside it’s just nine. Every vote matters, but a vote for the Greens or Liberal Democrats risks four more years of Tory domination in Chiswick.

We’re asking Chiswick voters to make a change, to put an end to the carping from the sidelines, the toxicity and the negative commentary that leads to nowhere. We ask for the opportunity to serve this wonderful community with the positivity and determination that it deserves.

Ted Wall is the Borough Organiser for the Hounslow Labour Party

See the candidates for all the parties who have announced they are standing in Chiswick for election to Hounslow Council.

READ ALSO: 2026 local elections – Who’s standing in Chiswick

Read more stories on The Chiswick Calendar