With such positive and encouraging results across the the UK, the loss of 13 green councillors at the May local election in Brighton and Hove is perplexing.
The Council has been led by the Greens as the largest group without a majority since July 2020. On May 4th 2023 the Labour Party took control with 38 out of 54 seats whilst the Greens tumbled down to 7 members, just one up from the Conservatives. All the key posts held by the Greens have been lost. These include the Leader, Cllr P. MacCaffertry, Deputy Leader H. Allbrooke and Cllr Littman, for the Planning Committee. The chair of key committees such as Housing, the Environment, Transport and Sustainability, Tourism/Equality, Community and Culture, the Children & Young people skills committee, Health & Wellbeing and Licencing will be handed over to Labour.
Ominously, the GPEW Autumn Conference is due to take place in Brighton in early October. This may be the last Conference before the next General Election. Coming from all 10 regions of England and Wales, members may therefore wish to ask Brighton green activists to share their views as to what went so badly wrong for them. On the other hand, and depending on whether the majority of attendees come from London, the South East and Brighton itself, they may chose to brush it all under the carpet. They may simply put it all down to “the cost of living” and swiftly move on to the LGBTIQA+ Green and Young Greens fringe meeting to discuss their campaign against the EHRC ‘s proposed amendment to the Equality Act.
Until such time as this hypothetical internal self-reflection takes place and bearing in mind the obvious political biais of this article, here is Labour’s take on the demise of Brighton & Hove Greens on May 4th.
The Green Light 