A senior Labour councillor put himself forward tonight to become his party’s next leader after council chief Warren Morgan announced that he was standing down.
Councillor Daniel Yates, who chairs the Health and Wellbeing Board, which brings together councillors, council officials, health chiefs and others, urged colleagues to unite behind him.
The 45-year-old councillor for Moulsecoomb and Bevendean put himself forward at a meeting of the Labour group – made up of the 22 Labour members of Brighton and Hove City Council.
Councillor Morgan announced his resignation to the Labour group meeting after three years as leader of the council, running the administration without a majority.
Councillor Yates said: “Obviously with the news of Warren Morgan’s departure from leadership of the Labour and Co-operative group on the council and his leadership of the Labour and Co-operative administration many members will have strong opinions over the future direction of the Labour and Co-operative group and the effect on our Labour campaign to take majority control of Brighton and Hove City Council in 2019.
”As a member of the Labour and Co-operative group I have formally indicated to group this evening that I will put my name forward to lead the group and the city council forward into the 2019 elections where the future of our city, our public services and the prosperity of our residents will be at stake.
“Labour in the city has a record membership, strong community activism and the popular support across all parts of the city to take control of the city council and to deliver the best possible services despite ongoing savage Tory austerity.
”We cannot undo what national Tory government is doing to us but as a Labour and Co-operative city council we can work to protect the most vulnerable and demonstrate as a party that by the strength of our common endeavour we can achieve more than we achieve alone.
“I am proud of the positive results that a minority administration led by Warren has delivered for the city.
”I know that, with a united party working for the benefit of residents in communities, on the council and in Westminster we can all play our part in delivering the better, fairer society that we all wish to see.
“The decision of a future leader will be one for our councillors to take.
”I hope to be able to win their support but more I hope that the whole Labour and Co-operative group will be able to earn, engage and repay the support of the whole party in the months and years ahead.”
Sad to hear warren morgan departure and welcome
To Cllr Daniel Yates prospective leader for the city of Brighton and Hove .
Wish you both good health and keep united party and policy with the members and build the the bridge building capacity for our diverse and sustainable social and economic prosperity.
City deserves strong leader to lead and delivering for the city’s all need. Also not to devide with the groups ,be together for the right goal for our city .
Respect and recognise the people who have been working hard for our community and give them civic award and celebrate the diversity community cohesion
Cllr Yates declared himself at a meeting to be an enemy of Hove’s Carnegie Library. So it could be a case of new boss same as the old boss. The other Leadership contender, cllr Emma Daniel has also lashed out at Carnegie readers.
Did he though? Did he actually say “I am an enemy of Hove library” or something similar? Or does he just not share your obsession with shoehorning the phrase “Carnegie Library” into every conversation, like that David Walliams character who kept banging on about having been Molly Sugden’s bridesmaid?
He attacked cllr Nemeth and said that books could go in any building. He evidently does not understand architecture, which is a key aspect of life in Hove and Brighton.
Grow up, Chris. People are living in accommodation unfit for purpose, working families live in poverty and rely on food banks to feed their families and social care is being stripped back to the bone by savage Tory cuts and the only thing that matters to you is a Victorian building and Virginia Wolf.
Your comment is supercilious. I care about many things, life is a matter of daily discoveries. And a good library is a place of delight for everybody, and always has been – especially for those you describe. The Carnegie is a country house for everybody. I recall that Labour’s deputy chair Nicky Easton snarled at me, “you should be ashamed of yourself” for having a Carnegie campaign. That hateful, grotesque remark bolstered the determination to campaign for a place which belongs to us – and, in the process, there was exposed, as it was in 2003, that we were being presented with false costs about work to the building – a huge lie.
That is the appalling atmosphere which cllr Morgan’s Administration has been creating. He was never up to the position of Leader.
Frankly you come across more like a Charles Hawtrey, matron.
I was at the Econ Dev & Culture meeting where Daniel shocked with his dismissal of the relevance of the building holding books, saying only the books were important.
Buildings message and inspire and hold our past within the present with as much to say to us as the pages contained inside of a book. Our Carnegie library is an important resource. And if Daniel disvalued THAT identifier/heritage item, why would he value the Royal Pavilion any better.
The example of Mao’s Cultural Revolution should be informing his attitude as well as Jenny Mulligan’s. The total destruction of artifacts/heritage reminders/antiques/buildings in mainland China did huge damage. With newfound wealth, its people now comb the world looking to buy back things sold and exported long ago. Reconstructing heritage is now part of where tgey want to be.
Hove’s Carnegie library is Listed for a reason and its interior not nearly as appreciated as it should be. Labour is about ugly boxes that inspire nobody and motivate nobody.
Yes, Churchill said that we shape our buildings and they then shape us.
I fear that cllr Yates’s thinks everything should resemble one of those sheds on the Old Shoreham Road.