A people’s manifesto and a growing number of young and female candidates could help Labour win at the polls, says its leader.

Stephen Cowan, leader of the Labour opposition at Hammersmith and Fulham Council, told the Chronicle if his party failed to win at the council elections on May 22, it would be near impossible to reclaim power back from the Tories.

The Conservatives took a shock win in 2006, pushing Labour out after nearly four decades and retained control again in 2010 with a 35 per cent majority. Bookmakers Ladbrokes have this week made the Tories odds-on favourites to win next month's election.

Mr Cowan said: “This is a strong Tory borough. If we don’t win this time it will be a Conservative borough forever. At the moment, we’re a good opposition and have got a check on them. The elections gives us a chance to sort things out. We know what residents want because we’ve been asking them for the last year.”

He said the main battle grounds are in Fulham Broadway, North End and Ravenscourt Park wards – all in the middle of the borough which divides the traditionally Labour north and Tory south.

But the Labour Party have been canvassing hard and created a ‘resident’s manifesto’ based on feedback from several meetings over the last year with residents’ associations and community groups from across the political divide.

It has resulted in five pledges: to save A&Es at Charing Cross and Hammersmith hospitals; to continue to cut council tax; to create affordable homes for residents not luxury developments where huge chunks of property are sold to overseas investors and remain empty; to defend neighbourhood policing in the face of Met cuts and to put residents first.

Mr Cowan, 49, a training consultant, said: “No one ever does this at local elections. It’s about representing the residents and proper democracy.

“We’re taking the manifesto far more seriously than anyone before, which we have been working on for the last year.

“We have put together cost- neutral suggestions – based on the council’s current budget – just ways to do something different which saves more money. We want to reform council costs, so things are done better and cheaper and responsive to what residents want.

“For example we would like to stamp out the main senior executives and we would use the money saved there to have ward panels where local councillors work with residents to fund local projects in their wards. We want to make it easier for people to get things done.”

Labour has more than 10 candidates under the age of 30, and candidates include a doctor, teachers, business people and charity workers.

Mr Cowan, a father of two, who volunteered on Barack Obama’s presidential election campaign in New York in 2007, said: “We have the largest number of young candidates we’ve ever had and 45 per cent of our candidates are women.

“I’ve helped find people who would not normally come into politics, put them on training programmes and they have joined the Labour Party.

“All our candidates are engaged with their communities and doing things to improve their communities.

“If we talk to residents, they recognise that we’re a mainstream bunch of people looking to make sure the council is on their side.

“Politics is a force for good if people have a clear idea of what they want to do and bring on board the views of residents.”