Hounslow Council’s new Cabinet L to R: Lily Bath; Max Mosley; Madeeha Asim; Shantanu Rajawat; Tom Bruce; Samia Choudhary; Amy Croft; Ajmer Grewal; Salman Shaheen; Sue Sampson

Chiswick Riverside councillor Amy Croft is in, and former Environment and Transport Member Katherine Dunne is out in Cabinet reshuffle

The Leader of the Labour group on Hounslow Council has appointed his new Cabinet. Cllr Shantanu Rajawat will himself be confirmed as Leader of the Council and the Cabinet members will be endorsed at the Borough Council meeting on 26 May.

READ ALSO: Cllr Shantanu Rajawat re-elected as Leader of Hounslow Labour

He has appointed three new Cabinet members to replace Shivraj Grewal, who lost his seat in the elections; Pritam Grewal, who chose not run for Cabinet again; and Katherine Dunne, former Cabinet Member for Climate, Environment and Transport.

Cllr Katherine Dunne

Katherine planned to stand against Shantanu as Leader, having previously served as deputy leader, but in the event she didn’t, as she fainted at the party’s AGM on Monday and was taken home.

She has instead been elected by her fellow Labour councillors as Chair of the Overview and Scrutiny Committee, whose job it is to oversee the decisions of Cabinet.

Pritam Grewal has been appointed as Chair of the Planning Committee.

Cllr Amy Croft

New in Cabinet are Chiswick Riverside Cllr Amy Croft, who is just completing her year’s stint as Mayor of Hounslow; Max Mosley, who lives in Chiswick and represents Brentford East ward, and Madeeha Asim, who represents Feltham West.

Staying on as members of Cabinet are Cllr Lily Bath, Cllr Tom Bruce, Cllr Sue Sampson, Cllr Salman Shaheen, Cllr Samia Choudhary and Cllr Ajmer Grewal.

Their portfolios will be announced towards the end of this week. The new committee chairs will be announced at the full Council meeting on Tuesday 26 May.

New parties represented across the Council committees

As the biggest party in the Council Labour retains the right to chair the Council’s various committees, but their political make-up will change to reflect the parties proportionally, according to how many seats they won in the elections.

Labour won 31 seats, the Conservatives 17, Reform 8, Green party 3, Liberal Democrats 1, and Independents 1.

READ ALSO: Hounslow Local Election results: Labour reduced to majority of one

Labour will be offered first pick of how many councillors they want on each committee, within their quota, then the Conservatives, as the second largest party, and so on, in accordance with the Council’s constitution.

The most powerful committees are Planning, Licensing and Audit and Governance.

Vickram Grewal tipped as Conservative leader

Cllr Vickram Grewal

The Conservative party is holding its AGM on Monday to elect their new leader and decide on Shadow Cabinet roles. Former Leader Peter Thompson lost his Chiswick Riverside seat in the elections.

READ ALSO: Chiswick Riverside elects one Conservative, one Labour and one Green councillor

Chiswick Homefields Cllr Jack Emsley is well placed to take over as Leader, but his new Chiswick colleague Vickram Grewal, a former Labour councillor who recently joined the Conservatives and was elected in Chiswick Gunnersbury, is also hotly tipped to take over.

The Conservatives’ increased representation on the Council, with 17 councillors the majority of whom now represent the west of the borough in Cranford, Heston Central, Heston West, Hounslow Heath and Hounslow west, means Chiswick councillors no longer dominate the Conservative group and the leadership election is wide open.