Last chance for Brighton and Hove's rainbow alliance?

A last-ditch attempt to salvage the rainbow alliance’s hold over Brighton and Hove City Council has been proposed by the Labour Party.

Earlier this week, the two-month-old agreement between the council’s Green, Labour and Liberal Democrat parties seemed to be in tatters after the Greens hit out at Labour, saying they had refused to work with them to agree amendments to the annual council budget, due to be discussed this afternoon.

Labour countered that the Greens had not come up with their own amendments to be discussed.

Now, Labour leader Gill Mitchell is proposing the ruling Tory administration accept at least one amendment to their budget from Labour, the Greens and the Lib Dems.

She added: “There is no one party in overall control of the council and we should all be given the chance to responsibly represent the people that elected us and our respective parties.

“The council has a duty to pass a balanced budget. This is why I will be asking the Leader of the Council to accept at least one amendment from each of the political groups, as a logical and common sense way forward.

“We have each put forward some very positive suggestions for the city and it would be great if politics could be put to one side, with proposals judged on individual merit.”