In our second interview ahead of the local election, Conservative group leader Alessandro Georgiou speaks to Joe Ives, Local Democracy Reporter, about his plans for the council should the party win power

London Assembly member Alessandro Georgiou — Alessandro Georgiou wants to become the first Conservative leader of Enfield Council since Michael Rye, who happens to now be his deputy (credit GLA)

Opposition leader Alessandro Georgiou is eyeing up the top job at Enfield Civic Centre as the Conservatives look to return to power in the borough for the first time in 16 years.

Cllr Georgiou has been a councillor in Enfield since 2014 and, after the 2022 local election, took over as leader of the local Tory group.

As both the leader of Enfield Conservatives and a member of the London Assembly, to which he was elected in 2024, Cllr Georgiou is already a full-time politician.

But he will have even more work on his hands should his party win a majority on Thursday, 7th May. Even if time and energy is not an issue, Cllr Georgiou will have to navigate the local authority’s finances.

Enfield Council is now almost £1.5billion in debt. However, the Conservative manifesto still promises, among other things, to hire 25 additional antisocial behaviour officers in a bid to “crush illegal business activity” and create safer streets, bring back weekly bin collections, deliver an additional 200 school places for children with special educational needs and disabilities (Send), and “eradicate potholes” across the borough.

All of which will cost a lot of money.

In addition, there could be even more spending needed to fight potential legal battles, as Cllr Georgiou’s Tory administration may face challenges to some of its policies.

These include ending a so-called “war on the driver” by abolishing two low-traffic neighbourhoods (LTNs) installed by the current Labour administration. Tower Hamlets Council has tried since 2022 to do the same, but failed after losing a battle in court with campaigners wanting to keep them.

Cllr Georgiou maintains that his party’s manifesto promises are “fully costed” but has not published the figures.
In March, Transport for London (TfL) warned if the Conservatives follow through with their promise to remove the Hertford Road cycle lanes in the east of the borough, the council would have to repay the money TfL gave the local authority to install them – reported to be at least £8million.

But this sum has not entered into the Conservative group’s budgetary equation, Cllr Georgiou says. The cycle lane’s removal, he claims, would cost much less – and if TfL ask for their money back “I would say ‘see you in court’”.

Enfield Conservatives are campaigning on a platform of “governance, accountability, transparency and fiscal responsibility”, which includes a proposed inquiry into the fiscal decision-making of the Labour administration since 2010.

The Local Democracy Reporting Service asked Cllr Georgiou why, given his commitment to transparency, he was unwilling to give further details on how the Conservatives would pay for their election promises.

“I’m not in administration right now, I’m in campaign mode,” he says, adding that he didn’t want the “dodgy” Labour competition to steal his party’s ideas before the election.

The Conservatives certainly won’t be stealing Labour’s plans to support the government’s ‘new town’ proposals at Crews Hill.

Cllr Georgiou says his party would do “everything possible” to stop the 21,000-home development project if they win power in May. The proposals would mean the forced closure of many businesses in Crews Hill and the widescale development of Green Belt land in the north-west of the borough.

“Crews Hill,” he says, “is an integral part of Enfield”.

The Conservative leader blames what he sees as “nasty developers” and a “useless Labour government” – as well as London mayor Sir Sadiq Khan and the Labour-run council – for trying to sell a false narrative of the area being run down. “It’s a vibrant hub,” insists Cllr Georgiou.

The Cockfosters councillor is personally invested in keeping garden centres open, too. “My wife takes the piss out of me,” he jokes, “but I love my garden”.

As for the Green Belt, Cllr Georgiou accuses Labour of being “nasty hypocrites” for advocating for the plans while also declaring a ‘climate emergency’. For him, “it’s about protecting the environment, it’s about protecting jobs – and it’s about protecting Enfield’s heritage”.

Enfield Conservatives at the launch of their 2026 election manifesto

Enfield Conservatives, Cllr Georgiou says, would immediately withdraw the council’s ‘expression of interest’ in the new town scheme should they be elected in May – a move which could be difficult to implement if the government or mayor of London take over planning control, via the creation of a development corporation.

When challenged on this the Tory leader responded, saying: “If the government and Sadiq Khan want to play silly buggers we will see them in court all along the way.”

A protracted legal battle could be expensive here, too. Cllr Georgiou claims he is prepared to pay for this. If elected, he says Enfield Conservatives “will have a mandate to protect those sites”.

Regardless of what happens on polling day, Cllr Georgiou believes “there’s no way shovels go in the ground by next parliament”.

A recent national poll by YouGov poll found that, right now, 24% of voters nationally would support Reform UK at a general election, compared to 19% for the Conservatives. Nevertheless, Cllr Georgiou says he is not concerned about Nigel Farage’s party.

“I’ll be entirely honest with you: I thought in this campaign we would find quite a bit of Reform [voters] given the national polling. We’ve found next to none. They won’t be winning a single seat in this election – I’m fairly confident on that.”

Reform, he says, is a “one-man band” for Farage as well as “a receptacle for failed Tories”.

Yet his party’s manifesto promise on civic flags would likely appeal to some Reform voters. The Tories are pledging to “respect national and local identity” by ensuring only the “Union, St George and Enfield Beast flags” are flown from council buildings.

Questioned on this, Cllr Georgiou admits to an exception for the Armed Forces Day flag, to commemorate the annual event. “We’re not going to be that prescriptive in that sense,” he says.

Would he be willing to make a similar exception to celebrate the LGBTQ+ community?

Cllr Georgiou says, in principle, he wouldn’t be against a Pride flag going up temporarily. The Conservative leader adds he is “proud” to have openly gay councillors and candidates.

His view on transgender recognition is not quite as resounding.

“I believe you are what you are born as,” Cllr Georgiou says. “Having said that, if ever the day came where I had a Conservative councillor that wanted to transition, let’s say, from being a man to a woman, and wanted me to call them by their new name, I’d gladly do it – because that’s a matter of respect.

“It’s not a matter of my personal judgement on whether they’ve made the right decision.”

While sparring with the opposition about the council’s budget earlier this year, Cllr Georgiou made a reference to 50 Ways to Leave Your Lover by Paul Simon. Wrapping up, the LDRS asked Cllr Georgiou about his music taste.

George Michael is the artist the Tory leader listens to in the car with his wife. “What we dance to,” he adds, is Whitney Houston’s I Wanna Dance with Somebody (Who Loves Me), because it is the first song they danced to when they started dating.

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