Eight independents take on main parties in Brighton and Hove

Eight independent candidates are standing in the local elections next month.

They hope to be among the 54 members who will decide how Brighton and Hove City Council is run over the coming for years.

Among them are David Watkins, Jo Heard and Mohammed Asaduzzaman, all of whom stood for mainstream political parties at the last local elections.

Ms Heard stood as a Conservative in Brunswick and Adelaide but the two seats there were won by the Liberal Democrats.

One of the two seats was won by Mr Watkins who is running there again having resigned from his party after he was deselected.

Mohammed Asaduzzaman is standing in Queen’s Park, having contested Rottingdean Coastal for Labour last time.

He faces Brighton’s alternative panto producer, Brian Ralfe, who stood in Brunswick and Adelaide four years ago, also as an Independent.

Two former members of the council are standing as Independents – Mark Barnard and his wife, the former Mayor of Brighton and Hove Jenny Barnard-Langston.

They were Conservative councillors before joining the Liberal Democrats in 2002.

Mrs Barnard-Langston, who stood for the Tories in Hove at the 2001 general election, and Mr Barnard are up against both their former parties in Wish ward.

The remaining two Independents are Theo Child in North Portslade and Gerald O’Brien in St Peter’s and North Laine.