Starting Pistol Fires as Election Candidates Officially Announced

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.