Ruislip Councillors re-elected as local wards remain central to Hillingdon Council

All five councillors for Ruislip and Ruislip Manor have been re-elected following a higher turnout than in 2022. With a strong Conservative result across the borough, changes in neighbouring wards and a new council leadership team based locally, attention now turns to the Annual Council Meeting and the confirmation of Cabinet and scrutiny roles.

The local elections saw all five councillors for Ruislip and Ruislip Manor re-elected, as turnout rose compared with 2022 across the borough.

In Ruislip, Cllr Philip Corthorne, Cllr Peter Smallwood and Cllr John Riley were all returned. Cllr Corthorne received 3,553 votes, the highest total in Ruislip, and achieved the highest share of the electorate of any councillor in the borough, with 30.43% of Ruislip’s electorate voting for him. Cllr Smallwood received 3,420 votes and Cllr Riley received 3,362 votes. All three Ruislip councillors appeared in the borough’s top five by share of the electorate, underlining the strength of their local mandate.

Cllr Corthorne has served as Mayor of Hillingdon for the past year. At the full Council meeting this Thursday evening, a new Mayor will be elected, and Cllr Corthorne will continue as one of Ruislip’s ward councillors.

Ruislip recorded a turnout of 52.87%. In neighbouring Ruislip Manor, turnout was 53.16%, second only to Harefield Village. Cllr Douglas Mills and Cllr Susan O’Brien were both re-elected in Ruislip Manor, with Cllr Mills receiving 2,097 votes and Cllr O’Brien receiving 2,072.

Shifts in Neighbouring Wards

There were also changes in neighbouring wards. In Ickenham and South Harefield, Martin Goddard stood down, while Eddie Lavery and Kaushik Banerjee were re-elected. Jane Palmer, previously a Harefield councillor, was also elected in Ickenham and South Harefield. In Harefield Village, Tommy Balaam was elected as a new Conservative councillor.

In Eastcote, Becky Haggar stood down. Nick Denys and Ian Edwards were re-elected, joined by new Conservative councillor Daniel Singham. In South Ruislip, Heena Makwana stood down, while Steve Tuckwell and Richard Mills were re-elected and joined by new Conservative councillor John Garner.

These results mean that Ruislip, Ruislip Manor, Ickenham and South Harefield, Eastcote, and South Ruislip all returned Conservative councillors, placing the wider Ruislip area in a significant position as the new council term begins.

Borough-Wide Result

Across the borough, the Conservatives have 30 confirmed councillors for the 2026–30 term. Hillingdon West, where the two seats were previously held by Conservative councillors, will vote on 18 June.

Labour remain on 16 councillors and have changed their Deputy Leader from Sital Punja to Gursharan Mand. Reform UK now have four councillors, the Green Party one councillor, while the Hayes Independents lost all of their seats. The Conservatives therefore remain the largest group on the council, with the final two seats in Hillingdon West still to be decided.

On the left of the photo, Councillors Tuckwell and Lavery at the count, watching on as results went their way. Cllr Corthorne is on the right.

New Council Leadership

There has also been a change in the Conservative leadership. Cllr Ian Edwards has stepped down as Leader of the Council after five years in the role, while Cllr Jonathan Bianco has stepped down as Deputy Leader.

The Hillingdon Conservative Councillor Group has elected South Ruislip’s Cllr Steve Tuckwell as Leader and fellow South Ruislip councillor Richard Mills as Deputy Leader. They are expected to formally take up those council roles at the Annual Council Meeting.

This gives South Ruislip both the incoming Leader and Deputy Leader of the Council. During the last council term, councillors from Ruislip, Ruislip Manor and neighbouring wards also held a number of senior responsibilities, including Mayor, Cabinet Member, Chief Whip and Select Committee Chair positions. While these roles are not automatic after an election, the results mean that many of the local councillors who held senior responsibilities in the last term have retained their seats.

Senior Council officers, including Chief Executive Tony Zaman, speaking to senior Councillors

The Important Role of Scrutiny Committees

The upcoming scrutiny appointments will be particularly important. Hillingdon’s Constitution describes the council as being committed to strong political leadership, sound decision-making, effective scrutiny and good governance. Owned by all 53 elected councillors, the Constitution is the council’s most significant document and is designed to create a powerful and effective means of holding decision-makers to public account.

Select Committees are central to that democratic work. Hillingdon operates four Select Committees. Their roles include:

• Assisting in the development of council policy and the improvement of services.
• Reviewing and evaluating the actions of the Cabinet before and after decisions are taken.
• Exercising the call-in procedure to recommend that key decisions are reconsidered before they are implemented.
• Monitoring the performance of council services and reviewing decisions made by officers.

These meetings take place in public, with residents able to attend at the Civic Centre or watch online via YouTube. Because Select Committees scrutinise the work of the Cabinet, Cabinet Members cannot sit on them, ensuring no one reviews a decision in which they were directly involved.

These roles carry formal responsibility. The 2026/27 Members Allowance Scheme provides an annual basic allowance (rounded down to the nearest £100) of £12,700 for all councillors. It also provides Special Responsibility Allowances for councillors holding specified leadership duties. Rounded down, these include:

• Leader of the Council: £60,100
• Deputy Leader of the Council: £50,600
• Cabinet Member: £42,300
• Chair of a Select Committee: £24,300
• Chief Whip of Largest Party: £24,300

At the end of the last council term, Ruislip and Ruislip Manor representatives held several of these responsible roles. Ruislip Manor’s Cllr Susan O’Brien was Cabinet Member for Children, Families & Education, while Cllr Douglas Mills’s son, Cllr Richard Mills of South Ruislip ward, served as the Conservative Chief Whip. In Ruislip, Cllr Peter Smallwood chaired the Residents’ Services Select Committee and Cllr John Riley chaired the Corporate Resources & Infrastructure Select Committee. Cllr Philip Corthorne served as Mayor of Hillingdon. With Cllr Richard Mills taking up the position of Deputy Leader, his father Cllr Douglas Mills takes over the role of Chief Whip.

For residents, these appointments clearly matter. Cabinet members make decisions, but Select Committees provide public scrutiny of the council’s work. Having returned local representatives who held these leading roles in the last term means the Ruislip area remains well placed as the new council arrangements are confirmed, alongside a clear responsibility to represent residents’ interests.

The next stage is Thursday’s Annual Council Meeting, where the new Mayor will be elected and Hillingdon’s council arrangements for the new term will officially begin to take shape.  It will be streamed live on YouTube: