One of Brighton and Hove’s youngest but longest-serving councillors has resigned for personal reasons today (Monday 14 March).
Conservative councillor Joe Miller, 27, won his Rottingdean Coastal seat at the 2015 local elections, having been runner-up in a by-election in the safe Labour ward of East Brighton three years earlier.
He was just 18 when he stood in East Brighton and steps down from Brighton and Hove City Council with just over a dozen of the 54 members having served for longer.
Councillor Miller has also stepped down from his role on Lewes District Council where he served briefly as deputy leader of the council.
In Brighton and Hove, he spoke for the Conservatives on finance and worked behind the scenes to try to find ways of funding the restoration of Saltdean Lido and the Madeira Terraces.
He was a member of the Planning Committee, he chaired the Audit and Standards Committee and put a series of searching questions at one marathon Housing Committee meeting that lasted until midnight.
At the 2019 general election he stood in Brighton Kemptown, coming second to the sitting Labour MP, Lloyd Russell-Moyle, and he formerly chaired the Conservative Party in Sussex.
He is currently completing his training as a barrister and runs a consultancy business. He graduated from Sussex University with a first class degree in law after leaving Cardinal Newman Catholic School in Hove.
Councillor Miller said: “It is with great regret that I have decided to resign from the council with immediate effect today.
“I am stepping down for personal reasons – I’m getting married, moving away from the city and it has become increasingly clear that I no longer have the time required to perform the public duty involved in being a councillor as my consultancy work increases.
“I stood for election seven years ago successfully and have dedicated the past 10 years to politics to making a difference and improving the life chances of the most unfortunate.
“And a difference, if even only a slight one, I have made – but at huge expense to my personal professional development with the time the role takes if done properly.
“You can understand why more young people do not go into and stay in frontline politics. It is hugely underpaid and in the vast majority of cases a thankless task.
“Whatever you do, one way or another, you are in the wrong in the eyes of at least one group of people and you are held to a perfect human ideal that simply cannot be achieved constantly.
“It is a role for which you receive regular abuse from the public and other politicians and even the occasional death threat or slashed tyre.
“The city is in denial about its state of managed decline of the council, it’s services and ultimately the city as a whole, and there is no sign of that changing at the next election.
“It is a council run by some excellent officers from the very top to the very bottom.
“Sadly, there are some who fall short and, one problem with councils, like the rest of the public sector, is that it is so hard to ensure that the right people are in the right jobs without creating a huge cost for the taxpayer.
“Despite all of those challenges, it has been an honour and a privilege over the past seven years to represent the people of Rottingdean Coastal and Brighton and Hove, the place where I grew up and a place that I love.
“I am pleased to have made a difference. Some have been minor improvements in our ward to the Saltdean Park play area or to Ovingdean and Rottingdean seafront, among many others.
“Other improvements have made a bigger difference including helping to bridge the final funding shortfall for Saltdean Lido, enabling important work to start there, and ensuring that the first phase of work to restore Madeira Terrace is fully funded. These have made the role hugely worthwhile.
“I can look back at my time with a measure of pride and, above all else, with thanks for the few true friends I have made while sorry for the deteriorating state of my beloved city.”
A by-election is expected to be held on a date yet to be announced.
Well done plus totally understand and wish you all the best for your bright future.
Agree that politicians are underpaid. Time and time again we see TV presenters on millions giving hard working ministers and politicians a hard time that are on a fraction of the money.
The media and social media think its their job to give politicians a hard time and never give compliments.
Thank you for your service
Thank you for your fantastic service to the city!
Good luck in your future endeavors, and upcoming marriage.
Keep on fighting that drink driving charge and maybe in future don’t go around calling people terrorists then getting upset when others call you names back
Bingo!
I think that cllr Miller gave a large chunk of life to being on the Council alongside a crucial time in his career. It was always convivial to speak with him – and he did very well in fending off Labour when it went round Rottingdean in 2016 with leaflets which claimed that seven branch libraries would close down if Hove’s Carnegie Library stayed open. Hove remains thankful for help from the East!