Ken Livingstone, the former mayor of London, is due to speak to a sell-out audience in Hove next week at a fundraising event for the local Labour party.
Mr Livingstone, who used to have a home near the Seven Dials in Brighton, is lending his support to the party’s candidates in the local elections in May.
Labour ran Brighton and Hove City Council until the elections May 2007 when it was reduced to 13 seats out of 54.
More than a hundred party activists are due at The Gallery Bistro in Church Road, Hove, to listen to Mr Livingstone on Wednesday (16 February).
Councillor Gill Mitchell, the leader of Brighton and Hove’s Labour group, said: “I am delighted that Ken will be able to join us in Brighton & Hove next week to back our campaign for the May local elections.
“It’s not long now before people will be placing their vote for who they want to run the Brighton and Hove City Council.
“We want to make sure that local people understand that a vote for Labour this May is a vote for a fairer council and a more successful, sustainable Brighton and Hove.”
Mr Livingstone, who was leader of the Greater London Council (GLC) in the 1980s and will run against his Conservative rival Boris Johnson to try to win back the job of London mayor next year, said: “The Conservative-led government’s cuts to public services are unprecedented and threaten the jobs and livelihoods millions of families across the country.
“Cutting child benefit and EMA while increasing fares, fees and VAT show this government is more interested in protecting the interests of the bankers and privileged than the majority.
“The local elections here in Brighton and Hove and across the country in May are chance to send a message to David Cameron and to elect Labour councillors with a fresh Labour leader under Ed Miliband, to put the interests of the majority of residents first and invest in a fairer deal for local people.”
A Labour government would still have made major cuts. If you want a fairer council and a more sustainable city then vote Green.