Brighton and Hove’s leading Green councillor explained why his party would prop up the minority Labour administration until the local elections in May.
At an extraordinary meeting of Brighton and Hove City Council at Hove Town Hall this afternoon (Tuesday 5 March) Councillor Phélim Mac Cafferty said: “This meeting is proof that the divided Labour Party has hit the buffers.
“A fortnight ago, Kemptown’s Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, in a rather waspish outburst said: ‘Unless something changes in the next few weeks, I believe we are on course to lose seats at the local election to both the Greens and Tories.’
“With one councillor defecting to the Conservative Party and their former leader cutting ties with the group, we are here today because the Labour council has put its internal divisions before the good of the city.
“With Labour in disarray, it falls to the Greens to mop up Labour’s mess and stop the Tory takeover.
“But first, let’s roll back four years and compare behaviours. Virtually every nasty trick in the book was deployed by Labour in opposition.
“They clubbed together with the Tories to cut the sustainability budget. The former Labour leader who, on the one hand, wasted council time and officer money with his no confidence vote but at the same time hilariously said: ‘You cannot use the people of this city to play political games.’ A no confidence vote that incidentally, had no meaning.
“Roll forward four years and I can tell you it would be tempting this evening to stand here and tell you that revenge is a dish best served cold. But I won’t. Why?
“Because the Green group of councillors are clear: our focus remains on delivering for the city and residents. City above politics.
“We asserted this just last week in reversing some of the worst cuts and in injecting an additional £12.5 million to help our city deal with homelessness and climate change.
“Last week’s budget was further evidence that the gruesome Tory austerity experiment is failing.
“We will not allow the architects of Conservative government austerity to take control of the council but neither are we here to prop up a failing Labour administration.
“Neither party is fit to steer our city through the challenges ahead. Greens will support Labour’s amendment because we are concerned that the Tories’ ‘takeover’ bid is about nothing more than derailing safety improvements at our city’s accident blackspot, Valley Gardens – a project that Labour has delayed and taken four years to deliver.
“We cannot allow this to fail and we desperately need this for our residents’ safety.
“And while I might vote to keep out a Conservative administration, I have no confidence left in this Labour administration either.
“Residents are right to feel deeply let down by the Labour Party. From overflowing bins, school catchment chaos, slow action on homelessness, division over Brexit and paper-thin commitments to sustainable transport which has been asserted in not a single square metre of cycle path having been built under their watch, they have failed Brighton and Hove.
