A previous Labour councillor who left the party in protest in 2022 has been re-elected to his old seat in the West London borough of Hounslow in a significant rebuff to Sir Keir Starmer’s ‘Continuity Tories’ Labour government.

A by-election in Hounslow’s Syon and Brentford Lock ward on March 6th saw the former Labour council cabinet member Theo Dennison win 615 votes – a 33.5% share of the poll – as an Independent candidate, beating the Labour party on 603 votes, and with the Green Party third on 218, ahead of the Tories (150), Reform (149), and the Liberal Democrats (102).

Labour’s vote fell from 1,463 in the last election in May 2022 (37.8%) in which Theo, also standing then as an Independent after twelve years as a councillor in the area, had come in at second place with 822 votes (21.2%). 

No matter how it will be spun by Labour, this is a symptomatic defeat.  No wonder the government was so keen to cancel elections in nine councils due to go to polls on May 1st!  And the Tory councillors in those authorities too, who backed Labour in this undemocratic act.  In Hounslow the Tory vote also fell, from 14.9% in 2022 to 8.2% now.

A pointer for the May elections

But some local elections are going ahead on May 1st, in 23 councils together covering a population of over 15 million people.  They will be a chance to protest and fight for socialist change – and TUSC would encourage as many working class fighters as possible to come forward as a council candidate to make such a stand.  And if they want to use a clearer alternative description on the ballot paper, it is possible to do so.

In the Hounslow by-election Theo Dennison had enough of a local record for most voters to know where he stood – and there was no other candidate also appearing on the ballot paper as ‘Independent’.

But that won’t necessarily be the case in May’s elections – nearly one in twelve of the councillors facing re-election, for example, were elected last time and sit in their town halls as ‘Independents’, where they have voted for cut after cut to local public services.  So how could an anti-cuts or anti-war working class campaigner, who is genuinely independent from the establishment politicians but without perhaps the same profile as a rebel ex-councillor, distinguish themselves on the ballot paper?

There are alternative descriptions available, however, including an Independent Socialist identifier (see https://www.tusc.org.uk/21421/02-03-2025/independent-candidate-if-you-want-to-use-an-independent-socialist-identifier-you-can/).

To be clear.  TUSC enthusiastically welcomes the Hounslow rebuff to Starmer and the rise of working-class candidates prepared to stand independently against the establishment parties as an important first step to a new mass workers’ party, however they present themselves on the ballot paper.  It’s a sign of what’s coming.

But if you want to use an independent trade unionist and socialist identifier for the May local elections, you can!  ■