Starting Pistol Fires as Election Candidates Officially Announced

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Polling indicates close contest in wards in Brentford and Isleworth

The election is taking place on 7 May

April 10, 2026

The official candidate list for the May local elections has been announced firing the starting pistol on what looks set to be a hard-fought contest. There is a consensus across the political spectrum that this year’s elections for Hounslow Council are more difficult to predict than ever before.

We’ve made an attempt below to come up with a guide to possible outcomes in local wards based on reliable and independent information but the continuing breakdown of the two-party system has made the situation much more complex and any projections should be seen as speculative.

Having held back the names of its candidates until the last moment, Reform UK has submitted a full slate for all the local wards. With the party riding high in the national polls, the vote split is probably not going to resemble previous elections.

Ward based polling predictions are available through Pollcheck which comprises historic voting and demographic data to project results at a local level. This methodology will not take account of specific local factors such as a councillor’s performance in office and particular issues which are important to local voters .

In Brentford West, the projection is for Craig Owen and Husna Hashmi to take the two available seats. Labour took over half the votes in this ward in 2022 with Lara Parizotto and Guy Lambert being elected. Ms Parizotto resigned and Labour defended the seat at a by-election in 2024 with independent candidate Theo Dennison running them close. Emma Yates, the successful candidate, is not contesting the seat this time, having been nominated elsewhere in the borough, and Cllr Lambert will be representing the Greens.

Reform UK did not contest the by-election in 2024 or the borough election in 2022 but are now projected to take a 17% share. Local publican, Scott Illman is standing as an independent with Cllr Dennison defending the seat he later won in Syon and Brentford Lock. Pollcheck project a 22.3% share for him, but this appears to be based on the earlier by-election and Mr Illman is the only candidate standing so his supporters would have a second vote to allocate to other parties. These factors cast a high degree of doubt on Pollcheck’s classification of Brentford West as a safe Labour seat.

Brentford West
Name	Party
Bob Ayres	Reform UK
Joe Bourke	Liberal Democrats
Radhesham Chauhan	Conservative
Husna Hashmi	Labour
Scott Anthony Warren Illman	Brentford Independent
Guy Lambert	Green Party
Jeremy Christian Larsson	Conservative
Craig Owen	Labour
Gary Sydney Padbury	Liberal Democrats
Gordon Turner	Reform UK
Rashid Wahab	Green Party

The current prediction for Syon and Brentford Lock is for the split between the parties to remain unchanged with Labour hanging on it two seats and an independent candidate taking the third. Theo Dennison personal vote is expected to make him the leading vote winner for the Brentford & Isleworth Independents. It remains to be seen whether Joshua Harwood and Dave Waller, who are joining him on the same ticket, can deliver a similar performance.

Syon & Brentford Lock
Name	Party
Namaa Al-Mahdi	Green Party
Max Booth	Conservative
Dan Bowring	Labour
Kevin David Cronin	Reform UK
Theo Dennison	Brentford & Isleworth Independent
Katherine Sarah Dunne	Labour
Lionel Girling	Liberal Democrats
Joshua Harwood	Brentford & Isleworth Independent
Sam Hearn	Conservative
Shashi Kumar	Reform UK
David Mayes	Conservative
Aarti Pawan Nayak	Independent
Jennifer Jane Prain	Labour
Nicola Thrower	Reform UK
Phyllis Ann Van Der Esch	Liberal Democrats
Dave Waller	Brentford & Isleworth Independent

On the face of it, the position in Brentford East seems more clear cut. There are no independents standing and Pollcheck are predicting a similar vote share to the by-election that took place in March 2025 in which Max Mosley retained the seat for Labour vacated by Rhys Williams. Reform UK is projected to finish second with around a fifth of the vote, but Cllr Mosley and Marcela Benedetti are anticipated to be returned as councillors with a majority much reduced from 2022.

Brentford East
Name	Party
Paul Baksh	Conservative
Marcela Benedetti	Labour
Tony Firkins	Green Party
Max Mosley	Labour
Martin Pennell	Reform UK
Bernice Elaine Roust	Liberal Democrats
Irena Tumilowicz	Reform UK
Zoe Ward	Conservative

Osterley and Spring Grove is currently projected to be held by Labour with the Conservatives posing the main challenge in a ward in which they have historically been competitive. Pollcheck’s current prediction is for their candidates to finish marginally ahead of Reform. However, the Green’s will feel that their lone candidate for the ward, Sara Novkovic, has a chance of taking one of the seats.

The Osterley & Wyke Green Residents' Association (OWGRA) is hosting a hustings meeting for this ward on Friday 17 April at 7pm at West Thames College with most of the candidates expected to attend.

Osterley & Spring Grove
Name	Party
Unsa Kausar Chaudri	Labour
Xavier Fernandes	Reform UK
Thomas Fidler	Liberal Democrats
Ranjit Gill	Labour
Jason Harcourt	Conservative
Christopher David Holman	Liberal Democrats
Tony Louki	Labour
Sara Novakovic	Green Party
Scott Parkins	Reform UK
Christopher Raynor	Conservative
Millicent Scott Brooks	Liberal Democrats
Sheetal Tiwari	Conservative
Jenson Zhu	Reform UK

Isleworth is projected to remain Labour in all three seats with three sitting councillors defending their position on the council. Although the party will see a substantial reduction in its vote share from 58.2% received in 2022, the remainder of the vote is anticipated to be quite evenly split between the parties contesting second place. The Lib Dems are expected to be relatively strong in this ward along with Reform UK and the Greens. The Conservatives, having been third last time out, look set to lose more votes to Reform UK who did not field a candidate here in 2022.

Isleworth
Name	Party
Anthony William John Agius	Green Party
Zinaida Boghiu	Reform UK
Roger Michael Crouch	Liberal Democrats
Wagdy Michael	Reform UK
Ashwini Parulekar	Reform UK
Suparna Rathi	Conservative
Sue Sampson	Labour
Salman Haroun Shaheen	Labour
John Robert Stroud-Turp	Labour
Robert Thorpe	Liberal Democrats
Judith Trounson	Liberal Democrats
John Nelson Viner	Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition
Sapphire Wagu	Conservative
Shane Wagu	Conservative

For the borough as a whole, Labour is currently projected to hang on with a reduced number of seats. Pollcheck gives them a range of 33 to 46 councillors which, even at the lower end would be enough for them to retain control. The Conservatives have been given a range of 7-17 seats with a central prediction of 10 and the Greens are anticipated to have three councillors and Reform UK have two.

With the candidates list only just announced revisions to these projections are highly likely.

Register to vote  

The elections will take place on Thursday 7 May. Residents who have not yet registered to vote have until  midnight on  Monday 20 April to do so at www.gov.uk/registertovote 

Can’t get to the polling station?  

Anyone who is registered to vote can apply to have their ballot paper sent to them in the post. The deadline to apply for a postal vote, or to send written notification of changes to an existing postal or proxy arrangement, is  5pm on Tuesday 21 April. 

Residents who wish to apply for someone to vote on their behalf, must submit a new proxy vote application. The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is  5pm on Tuesday 28 April.  

For more information about the election, registering to vote, postal or proxy votes, visit www.hounslow.gov.uk/elections 

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