Rebuild Hounslow Council and Make it More Accountable to Residents
Chiswick Gunnersbury councillor Ron Mushiso reports back
Cllr Ron Mushiso
November 15, 2025
Have you heard about the latest revelations of financial mismanagement surrounding the Lampton Group? The Council’s wholly owned company is haemorrhaging our ever-diminishing public finances, and we should all be worried about what it means for our borough’s future.
At a recent scrutiny meeting, my colleague Cllr Jack Emsley asked a perfectly reasonable question: “What is the point of the Lampton Group?” Founded in 2013 to generate income for the Council, it has instead operated at a loss for twelve consecutive years. Despite this, the Council insists on keeping this leviathan afloat. It has loaned Lampton an extraordinary £230 million — including £174 million borrowed from external lenders. So I too, ask: what is the point of the Lampton Group?
Council Leader Cllr Shantanu Rajawat offered a characteristically flimsy nothing to see here defence, insisting everything was under control. Except, of course, for the awkward detail that his administration has been issuing cash advances to the Lampton Group, so it can pay back the interest on the very loans the Council issued in the first place!
The Lampton Group was sold to residents as a creative solution to financial pressures. Instead, it has become a sprawling liability — a monument to an administration that has lost its way. The promise of efficiency and enterprise has quietly given way to secrecy, blame-shifting, and financial mismanagement.
And this is only one symptom of a deeper problem. Something troubling is happening to our local democracy. The idea that councillors are elected to represent the hopes and expectation of their residents seems lost on many in the ruling Labour Party. “Holding the administration to account” — once the sacred duty of every councillor, whatever their political colours — has become little more than a slogan.
The cracks are starting to appear. You may have noticed the steady stream of Labour councillors abandoning the party in recent weeks, including the accounts of widespread nepotism, resignation and bad blood. You are you’re not imagining things.
We must save our local democracy
This mismanagement of people and public finances did not spring from nowhere. It is the predictable by-product of fifteen years of continuous one-party rule. In fact, since 1965 Labour has run the administration in all but four years — those between 2006 and 2010 under Cllr Peter Thompson and the Conservatives
I remember the chamber back then as interested observer. Debate was robust, scrutiny meant something, and consultations weren’t pre-scripted to engineer a preferred outcome. Council meetings were vibrant; they actually led to changes in policy. Cllr Thompson had to think on his feet as backbenchers challenged him on issues affecting their wards. That was democracy in action.
Now the chamber feels more like a theatre. Councillors play the role of an obedient audience member, prompted when to applaud, when to laugh, and when to deliver their lines. Individual thought has been replaced with groupthink.
Labour councillors operate under the cosy illusion that they are the “good guys.” Opposition councillors like me, are treated as obstructions, and any scrutiny is taken as an affront. Morality is measured not by service to residents, but by loyalty to the Labour Party’s top brass.
When I was first elected in 2018 for Chiswick Gunnersbury — alongside my colleague Joanna Biddolph — two Labour cabinet members confronted me in genuine disbelief. “How can you be a Conservative? You seem like such a nice guy?”
This, in miniature, is the state of local politics today: the assumption that virtue lives on one side alone, and those who disagree must be either misguided or morally suspect.
In my humble opinion true democracy relies on dialogue — even uncomfortable dialogue. Within the Conservative Group, we don’t always agree with one another, but we air those disagreements as openly as possible. Labour, by contrast, suppresses dissent until it erupts through resignations and disillusionment. And we are seeing that disillusionment very clearly play out.
Leadership without Responsibility is like Smoke without Fire
Whenever Labour faces criticism, its instinct is to point the finger elsewhere — usually at the national government. For years that meant blaming the Conservative government. You might expect, therefore, that Chancellor Rachel Reeves MP would now be the new villain of choice.
But no. Despite nearly a year and a half of a Labour government, they are still blaming us. Despite her imposed Jobs Tax through the Employers National Insurance, her Tax on Education with VAT on school fees, her hike on Stamp Duty leading to a stagnant property market and a stagnant economy with rising unemployment; Hounslow Labour, will find someone else to blame.
Meanwhile, residents here face rising council tax, declining services, and a £30 million black hole created by terrible local financial choices. When challenged, Cllr Rajawat shrugged it off, saying: “It’s easy to shout ‘Fire!’ in a crowded theatre.”
Well then, Cllr Rajawat — if there is no fire, how do you explain the multi-million plume of smoke billowing out of Hounslow House?
Does Labour know the role of Local and National Government?
Government — whether national or local — is not supposed to make a profit. Its job is to provide value, efficiency, and fairness. As Milton Friedman put it, the state exists to protect citizens from coercion, enforce contracts, and create the conditions in which enterprise can thrive.
By burdening the public sector with the need to generate profit, Labour has blurred the line between governance and commercial enterprise. Lampton’s ballooning debts are proof that this model is broken.
Instead of creating a lean, efficient council, Labour has built an expanding bureaucracy funded by ever-increasing taxes.As the state grows, accountability shrinks.
In 2026, we will seek to reverse this trend.
Let’s start by welcoming my friend, Cllr Vickram Grewal
It was a pleasure to welcome my friend Cllr Vickram Grewal, who yesterday left the Labour Party and joined the Conservative Party. Vickram and I go way back; he was instrumental in helping me with Laptop donation initiative during covid, where we helped collect and repurpose second-hand laptops donated by residents across Chiswick, Brentford and Hounslow to give to pupils from disadvantaged socioeconomic backgrounds. This enabled them to access to online learning during lockdown. Cllr Grewal brings a wealth of experience to our group; a senior and long-standing former Labour councillor in the Borough, whom like many, has been horrified by Labour’s record of economic mismanagement both here in Hounslow and more recently at the national level.
Remarkable, Vickram had been selected as Labour’s candidate in Chiswick Homefields in next year’s local elections. As he said in his statement, he could not in good conscience stand to represent our area for a party who referred to Chiswick as a “backwater” at the beginning of the council term.
Thank you Vickram for having the courage to stand up to Labour’s mismanagement of public finance and for backing us here in Chiswick. I know that you will make a formidable Conservative Councillor.
Cllr Ron Mushiso
07976 702887
DEMOCRACY: DATES FOR YOUR DIARY
Anyone can attend public meetings of the council. Most meetings take place on the 6th Floor, Hounslow House, 7 Bath Road, TW3 3EB. Hounslow House is fully accessible. The nearest tube is Hounslow Central which does not have step-free access. Parking in local roads is limited.
Principal meetings are broadcast live on the Council’s YouTube channel
25 November: Borough Council at 7.30pm - Including the first call on the Medium Term Financial Report for the Annual Budget 2026/27
Tuesday 3 February 2026 Audit and Governance Committee 7:00 pm
Tuesday 10 March 2026 7:30 pm Budget Setting Meeting for the Annual Budget 2026/27 (moved from 24 February 2026). Including setting the Council Tax for April 2026 onwards
Chiswick Area Forum
- Monday 17 March 2026 6.30 for 7.30pm
Normally at Hogarth Hall, Chiswick Town Hall, Heathfield Terrace, Turnham, W4 4JN, but moveable around Chiswick (please check the website)
Informal Meeting at 6.30pm. Formal Meeting commences at 7.30pm
Both meetings are open from 6.30pm allowing residents to meet officers of Hounslow Council in Adult and Child care Social Welfare, Education, Housing and other Services
(Residents are encouraged to stay on for the main agenda)
Emergencies
You can report emergencies outside office hours by ringing the council on: 020 8583 2222.
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLOR SURGERIES
Chiswick: Every Saturday from 9.30am to 10.30am at Chiswick Library (the seven Conservative councillors take this surgery in turn).
Gunnersbury: First Saturday of the month from 10am to 11am at The Gunnersbury Triangle Club, Triangle Way, off The Ridgeway, W3 8LU (at least one of the Chiswick Gunnersbury ward councillors takes this surgery).
CONSERVATIVE COUNCILLORS and CONTACTS
Chiswick Gunnersbury ward
Cllr Joanna Biddolph joanna.biddolph@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 703446
Cllr Ron Mushiso ron.mushiso@hounslow.gov.uk 07976 702887
Chiswick Homefields ward
Cllr Jack Emsley jack.emsley@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 396017
Cllr Gerald McGregor gerald.mcgregor@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784821
Cllr John Todd john.todd@hounslow.gov.uk 07866 784651
Chiswick Riverside ward
Cllr Gabriella Giles gabriella.giles@hounslow.gov.uk 07966 270823
Cllr Peter Thompson peter.thompson@hounslow.gov.uk 07977 395810
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