Coalition? What coalition! Greens say Labour pulled out of ‘joint working’ deal

Leading Green and Labour councillors said that the two parties were not working together after the Conservatives accused them of having a coalition deal.

Green councillor Hannah Allbrooke, the deputy leader of Brighton and Hove City Council, said that the two parties had not had a formal agreement to work together since her party formed the administration in July 2020.

Previously, the two parties had a “memorandum of understanding” setting out the policy areas on which they agreed to work together when Labour formed a minority administration after the May 2019 local elections.

But just over a year later, two Labour councillors became Independents after facing claims of anti-semitism, leaving the Greens as the largest party.

At a meeting of the full council on Thursday (20 October), Councillor Allbrooke spoke out after the Conservatives repeatedly referred to a Green and Labour “coalition”.

She said: “Can I be really clear that that has never been the case. Also, since the (start of the) Green administration, we asked the Labour group to sign up to the same agreement that we signed up to when they ran this council.

“For the last two years, they have refused. There is no memorandum of understanding with the Labour group anymore. There has not been since this administration.

“You can try as much as you like saying there is a coalition. There never has been and, at this point, until the Labour group agree to the same we gave them, I don’t think there ever will be.”

Councillor Carmen Appich, joint leader of the Labour opposition, said: “There is no formal signed memorandum of understanding between the Labour and Green groups.

“However, we do passionately believe in moving the council’s Corporate Plan forward, particularly in the areas of sustainability – where we co-chair the zero carbon working group – housing and equalities.

“We do, of course, work together where policies and priorities align and vote together where we support and further the same aims. We had a joint motion on period poverty on the agenda, for example.

“There has never been a formal coalition as alleged by the Conservative group.”

The Green Party said that, after the 2019 elections, the two political groups had agreed to work together on housing, climate and combating austerity.

They Greens added: “We are proud of the achievements we achieved in collaboration with Labour when they ran the council.

“Together, we put together a plan to build new homes and improve our housing services, held a Citizen’s Climate Assembly, which continues to guide the council’s work on climate, and worked together to safeguard vital services put at risk by government cuts.

“Despite our continued aspirations as Greens to work together on these issues, Labour has repeatedly made it clear they no longer wish to do so.

“This is incredibly disappointing. We believe, first and foremost, in co-operation to achieve the best outcomes for our residents. Our city sees many benefits when we take action together on the critical issues.

“We have been aghast over the last few weeks to see local Labour councillors being pulled out of co-operative agreements in Stroud and in Hastings by the national Labour Party.

“Are we seeing this here? If so, it means the Labour party is only interested in its own success – not tackling key issues that face our city.

“Our door remains open to work with Labour and stand up for what is best for Brighton and Hove.”