Hustings, Hounslow Council's Record and the Renters' Rights Act

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Report back from Andy Slaughter, MP for Hammersmith and Chiswick

Andy Slaughter with Labour's Chiswick Riverside candidates Amy Croft, Trevor MacFarlane and Gurminder Randhawa

May 1, 2026

With less than a week to go before local elections on 7th May, hustings events have been happening across the constituency allowing residents to hear from candidates. Thursday evening was the Grove Park hustings at St Paul’s Church with Labour ably represented by Cllr Amy Croft, candidate for Chiswick Riverside. The turnout was fantastic and the questions were varied with a good local focus.

In Chiswick we are very lucky to have Amy who is a wonderful Cllr for Chiswick Riverside and a hardworking Mayor of Hounslow. Amy and I have worked closely since Chiswick became part of my constituency, and I know how committed she is to the area she represents. Chiswick’s excellent Labour candidates have been working hard with residents in the run up to the local elections.  If elected, I know they will work closely with Amy and me to keep moving forward and achieve things for the area.

Hounslow Council have recently announced plans to increase street cleaning, discount passes for young people to access leisure centres, improve SEND provision, and move forward with innovative green initiatives. The council have also committed to £4m investment to build a brand-new leisure centre on the Brentford Fountain site, as well as £400,000 to repair the river wall at Strand on the Green. This is combined with the introduction of free bulky waste collection and community skip days.

The Labour councillors standing in the three Chiswick wards are:

Chiswick Riverside: Amy Croft, Trevor MacFarlane, and Gurminder Randhawa.

Chiswick Gunnersbury: Hanif Khan, Maria Saroya, and Naeem Ulfat

Chiswick Homefields: Aisha Farah, Fatima Tayyab, and Mohammed Umair

Andy Slaughter with Chiswick Gunnersbury candidates Hanif Khan, Maria Saroya, Naeem Ulfat

Friday 1st May saw the Renters’ Rights Act come into force. The Act will have a hugely positive impact on renters’, making renting more stable by banning ‘no fault’ evictions, clampdowns on unfair rent increases, stopping landlords from discriminating against those who receive benefits, and ending bidding wars by stopping landlords accepting offers above the advertised rent. But this is not the only important piece of legislation this government has passed since the 2024 general election. There has also been:

• The Employment Rights Act, the biggest upgrade in workers’ rights in a generation.
• The Passenger Railway Services (Public Ownership) Act, establishing Great British Rail – a publicly owned and accountable body to improve rail services and keep fares low.
• The Great British Energy Act, establishing a publicly owned organisation to bring clean energy and cheaper bills to British consumers and industry.
• The Removal of Two Child Limit Act, bringing 450,000 children out of poverty and providing security to working families by removing the arbitrary two-child benefit cap.
• The Water (Special Measures) Act, reversing the Tory decline in environmental standards and accountability in the water industry, empowering consumers and holding water bosses to account.
• The Crime and Policing Act, tackling violence against women and girls, anti-social behaviour, and retail crime, whilst rebuilding public confidence in policing and the wider criminal justice system.
• The English Devolution and Community Empowerment Act, making good on our promise to give back control to local communities and provide mayors with unprecedented powers to deliver growth.

There has been lots of talk about a proposed new site for Chiswick Post Office following a planning application that was submitted to Hounslow Council last week. During the temporary closure last year, Post Office Ltd were clear that they wanted to sell the building it is currently in at Heathfield Terrace, but that they did want a post office to serve Chiswick. Their solution, which is a widely used model, is for a post office to be located within an existing business like a local corner shop. The current planning permission submitted to Hounslow Council differs from that model and was submitted by the current postmaster at Heathfield Terrace. I understand that negotiations are still ongoing between the current Postmaster, Post Office Ltd and Autocheck. This will take some time to sort out, and in the meantime, Chiswick still has a functional post office, but I am still seeking Post Office Ltd.’s assurances that Heathfield Terrace will not be sold until a new site is up and running.

In justice news, I sit on the Joint Committee on the National Security Strategy and was able to question George Robertson this week on his controversial speech about the relative importance of defence and welfare budgets. You can read the transcript of the session on the JCNSS website. I met the new Chief Executive of NACRO, Enver Solomon, and spoke at a seminar on drugs in prisons, highlighting some of the issues the Committee found during our inquiry on this and the subsequent report we published last year.

The Justice Committee evidence session this week was with the Permanent Secretary of the Ministry of Justice and her management team on all areas of justice. Those who are interested can watch the evidence session back on Parliament Live.

Parliament was prorogued on Wednesday to bring a close to the current parliamentary session. Sitting is now suspended until after the King’s Speech on 13th May.

Best wishes

Andy

andy@andyslaughter.com

P.S. I send a regular email newsletter to residents about local and national issues. If you would like to receive it then please email me at andy@andyslaughter.com, click this link.

Chiswick Riverside Candidates
Name	Party
Frank Beddington	Liberal Democrats
Nicholas Bellerophon	Liberal Democrats
James Nicholas Charrington	Liberal Democrats
Amy Croft	Labour
Royen Prince Fernandes	Reform UK
Gabriella Giles	Conservative
James Kerr	Reform UK
Trevor MacFarlane	Labour
George Radulski	Reform UK
Gurminder Randhawa	Labour
Rick Rowe	Green Party
Muddassir Syed	Green Party
Peter Thompson	Conservative
Jessika Toto-Moukouo	Conservative

Chiswick Homefields Candidates
Name	Party
Mary Brown	Reform UK
Helen Cross	Liberal Democrats
Michael Denniss	Conservative
Leigh Gareth Edwards	Liberal Democrats
Jack Emsley	Conservative
Aisha Farah	Labour
Linden Grigg	Conservative
Maya Devi Hamlyn	Green Party
Arthur Brian Haynes	Liberal Democrats
Claire Yue Li	Green Party
David Manson	Reform UK
Nick Roach	Reform UK
Fatima Tayyab	Labour
Mohammed Umair	Labour

Chiswick Gunnersbury Candidates
Name	Party
Joanna Biddolph	Conservative
Aubrey Mark Charles Crawley	Green Party
Guy de Boursac	Liberal Democrats
Jon Elkon	Green Party
Vickram Grewal	Conservative
Paul Jonathan Halliwell	Liberal Democrats
Nik Hole	Liberal Democrats
Hanif Ahmad Khan	Labour
Ron Mushiso	Conservative
Sau Khuan Parkins	Reform UK
Maria Saroya	Labour
Joshua Stanton	Reform UK
Naeem Ulfat	Labour
Leanne Yu	Reform UK

 

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