Ealing Labour Group is the latest to join a growing number of Councils from all political parties, in opposing the government’s plans to force all schools to become academies.

The vote for who will be the next London Mayor on 5 May is rapidly approaching so I want to explain why I'll be voting for Labour's Sadiq Khan. Sadiq is a Londoner - born on a council estate to immigrant parents he went to his local comprehensive school and has succeeded, first as a solicitor and then as an MP and government minister. The son of a bus driver he is totally grounded and in touch with ordinary Londoners.

Setting the Council's annual budget and council tax level is always a big decision and this year has been no different. With the Tory government continuing to slash the revenue support grant Ealing Council receives the relentless cuts to our budgets carries on unabated. By 2020 we will have seen £180m cut from our budgets in the decade beginning in 2010 - a reduction of over 50%.

Your local Labour council has decided to freeze council tax again this year. This is the 6th year we have been in charge of the council and our 6th freeze in a row. These six years of freezes have saved the average Ealing family £664.

Councillor Bassam Mahfouz, Labour abinet member for transport, environment and leisure, said:

Happy New Year! It still isn't too late to exchange a New Year greeting or to set yourself a new year resolution even though more than three weeks of 2016 has already whizzed by. As a natural optimist I enjoy this time of year and along with many I am busy working on my 2016 goals, the preeminent one being to lose weight, get fitter and look after my health more through exercise and healthy eating. I have already done a cycle ride from London to Brighton and am currently even flirting with the idea of training to take part in my first ever triathlon.

2015 saw the fantastic news that Ealing will finally be getting its cinema back after the Council successfully served a compulsory purchase order on the previous owners Empire. Other good news included the new incline lift at Greenford Station and the new Southall Broadway Boulevard with improved traffic flows and wider pavements. We will make further progress on the Cinema and other projects in 2016 but the new year will also bring some tough decisions as we try to close the £37m black hole in our budgets caused by the Tory cuts of 56% to local government. But with Crossrail bringing new investment, jobs and homes to Ealing I'm sure we will find a way forward. A very happy Christmas and prosperous New Year to all local residents.

Ealing Assembly Member Onkar Sahota, along with all three local Members of Parliament ,have issued a joint statement condemning David Cameron’s “rush to war” and explaining why they will not be supporting today’s motion to begin airstrikes on Syria.

This week is Living Wage Week and to mark it Ealing Council has announced that it will offer local businesses up to £200,000 in business rate relief if they pay their employees the Living Wage and become accredited Living Wage employers.