On 7 May 2026, residents in the Northfield ward will vote to choose who represents them at Ealing Council.
EALING.NEWS has asked all candidates standing to become a councillor, 7 questions about who they are, what they hope to deliver and why they want residents to vote for them.
Here’s what Mike Barnshaw, standing for Ealing Community Independents in Northfield, has to say:
Tell us a bit about yourself, your priorities for the ward and why you want to be councillor for Northfield?
Now retired, I have worked as a librarian and researcher in the public and private sectors. A longstanding campaigner for peace and social justice, I am an officer of Ealing Trades Union Council and the local branch of Unite Community.
I am standing as a candidate for Ealing Community Independents because we need a real alternative to Ealing Council’s cuts, contempt for democracy and complicity with genocide in Palestine.
As a former officer of the Ealing Southall Constituency Labour Party (CLP), I have experienced first-hand the ruthless denial of democracy practiced by the ruling faction in Ealing Labour.
The result of a well-attended AGM in 2021 was simply cancelled because they did not like the result. The CLP – as a properly constituted body – has not met since.
Trumped-up disciplinary charges were used to silence and purge dissenting voices.
A decisive vote by members to trigger the reselection of the previous MP was ignored, with the MP simply reimposed by the National Executive Committee (NEC).
The current MP was simply imposed by the NEC, with members having no say.
Councillor selections have been rigged, with stacked panels to prevent members having a genuine choice of candidates.
For the 2022 and forthcoming council elections, even the pretence of party democracy has been dispensed with. Candidates in Ealing Southall – including Northfield – have been imposed, with members once again having no say.
The denial of democracy inside the Labour Party is replicated by Ealing Council’s attacks on local democracy:
The council has more than doubled the number of signatures required to secure a debate petition – from 1,500 to 3,671 (1% of the borough’s population), as well as removing of hybrid petitions (combined online and paper formats).
Even when petitions surmount this very high hurdle, the Council seems determined not to debate them until a politically ‘convenient’ time. On Monday 16 February 2026, campaigners from Ealing Palestine Solidarity Campaign (EPSC) and other organisations, handed in 4,994 manually collected signatures to Ealing Council. The petition calls on Ealing Council to adopt a motion similar to one passed unanimously by Kingston Council in July 2025, reviewing its ethical investment policy and divesting from companies alleged to be complicit in breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. Despite being submitted in good time, the Labour Mayor refused to allow petition to be debated before the upcoming Council election on May 7th!
Ward forums – public meetings where residents can raise concerns and require responses on the record – were replaced by a council-controlled format that substitutes managed engagement for genuine accountability.
Many former Labour Party members and supporters – and voters in general – are fed up with having no say. Locally, we have found a home in Ealing Community Independents.
What motivates you?
Intolerance for injustice.
What is your own personal connection to either Northfield or any other part of the borough?
My wife and I have lived in Northfield for 26 years.
What do you consider to be your 3 top political, work or personal achievements and what impact have they had?
A child of a poor family with a disabled father, I’ve experienced poverty first hand. Thanks to a maintenance grant and no tuition fees, I was able to attend university and enjoy a successful professional career. I am determined that we should defend and extend the welfare state and public services for future generations.
Many of us fought hard in the ultimately unsuccessful struggle to democratise the Labour Party. We have now have built a great team in Ealing Community Independents, which will provide a positive alternative on 7 May. I am proud that will be standing 26 excellent candidates across 11 wards.
As an officer of Ealing Trades Union Council and Unite Community, we have played a key role in fighting for peace, workers’ rights and public services. To give only two recent examples: we have supported the traffic wardens’ strike against Ealing Council’s disgraceful refusal to recognise their union, Unite: we have supported the magnificent Save Ealing Children’s Centres campaign to resist the closure of 10 out of the 25 children’s centres.
What do you consider to be the top 3 challenges Northfield faces and how will you as a councillor address them?
Public services – not cuts or closures
We will reverse closures to children’s centres, including the Log Cabin. We will defend and rebuild our services based on resident needs, oppose outsourcing and privatisation. The continuing lack of step-free access at Northfield station is a scandal. We need councillors and MPs who will ramp up pressure on TfL and the government to fund the necessary improvements.
Restore democracy: people-led politics
We promise decisions shaped with residents, not imposed from above. We will reverse attacks on local democracy. We will:
Reverse Ealing Labour’s increase to the required number of signatories for public petitions, so that residents may more easily raise priority areas of concern to be discussed by councillors.
Restore ward forums to formally consult over local budgets, planning priorities and public realm schemes.
Improve consultations and accountability.
Increase the share of the council’s discretionary spending going to participatory budgeting – where residents propose and vote on projects such as youth services, park improvements and safety measures.
Ethical & responsible council investments
We will work to ensure Ealing Council’s actions do not support companies in violation of international law and human rights in Palestine and across the world. Nearly 5,000 Ealing residents, many of them from Northfield, signed the petition calling on the council to divest from companies alleged to be complicit in breaches of international humanitarian law in Gaza and the Occupied Territories. Unlike the sitting councillors, Ealing Community Independent candidates have signed the PSC Councillor Pledge for Palestine and support the PSC’s petition.
What do you love about Northfield and the borough of Ealing?
One of the things I most value about the borough of Ealing is its rich tradition of struggle for social justice. This year is the centenary of the General Strike, where one of the strongest mobilisations was in Ealing. Southall has a proud history of anti-racist struggle. This tradition continues to the present day with the campaigns to resist the closure of children’s centres and forces Ealing Council to divest from companies complicit in genocide.
We have a vibrant, diverse and socially-minded community in Northfield and the borough. They deserve better representation.
How accessible will you be to Northfield residents and how can they get in contact with you now and if elected how will you ensure you are accessible to them in the future?
Ealing Community Independent councillors will re-establish neighbourhood engagement in all wards. We will:
Engage with residents regularly via street surgeries, meetings online and in person, newsletters, email and other communications.
Respond to written requests within five days of a resident’s first contact.
Ensure a clear visible presence in every ward, supported by ward teams of Ealing Community Independent members.
Residents can contact me through info@ealingindependents.org. Follow me on Facebook at ‘Mike for Northfield – Ealing Community Independents’.
Click here for all Northfield candidates standing.
Full coverage of the 2026 Ealing Council local elections and candidates standing can be found here.
