Local Elections: May 2026 – Vote for your local ward councillors and decide who runs Hillingdon Council from 2026 to 2030

With the local council elections taking place on 7th May this year, residents have been asking if we know who is standing to represent our area.

While the official “Statement of Nominations” is not published by the council until April, we have reached out to all sitting ward councillors to ask for their intentions. We believe residents deserve transparency; knowing who is seeking your vote should not be a guessing game.

Ruislip Residents’ Association’s area spans two wards – Ruislip (with three councillors) and Ruislip Manor (with two).

Ruislip Ward

All three sitting Conservative councillors for the Ruislip ward have stated their intention to stand for re-election.

• Councillor Philip Corthorne: “It is a great pleasure to have the opportunity to stand once again, in my case for the tenth time since 1993, with my talented ward colleagues.”
• Councillor John Riley: “I am proud and delighted to have been selected to fight for my home ward of Ruislip in the upcoming May elections. After 18 years in this position, I remain ever more determined and committed to represent our residents, putting them first in all my political and civic actions.”
• Councillor Peter Smallwood: “Standing for election is always a humbling thing to do. The fact that we live in a democracy where people choose who represents them is something special. Ruislip isn’t just somewhere I represent, it’s home.”

Ruislip Manor Ward

We also contacted the two sitting Conservative councillors for the Ruislip Manor ward, Douglas Mills and Susan O’Brien, to ask if they intend to stand. At the time of publication, a month after we asked them, we had received no response at all – from either of them.

Councillor Peter Smallwood recently wrote on Facebook: “It is important people know who is standing… I’ve never understood why people think they’re being clever keeping it one big secret.”

Other Political Parties

Reform UK and Labour have announced that they each intend to contest every seat in the borough, so we expect them to both field candidates.  In the past, both Liberal Democrats and the Green Party have also contested the seats in both wards.

Important Voting Information

Less than 42% of those eligible to vote did so in the 2022 elections.  This year’s election is likely to be one of the most closely contested in many years with the rise of Reform UK and more recently the Green Party.

Official candidate lists will be published by the London Borough of Hillingdon on 10 April. Please ensure you are prepared with the following deadlines:

Reminder: You must present an accepted form of photo ID to vote in person. If you do not have one, you can apply for a free Voter Authority Certificate via the GOV.UK website. 

Even if you do have a valid form of photo ID, why not apply for a Voter Authority Certificate? Do it today, to beat the rush.