With power comes responsibility

The local elections are less than seven weeks away and the council’s Green administration’s only concern seems to be to win votes, instead of reaching out and working with others to implement constructive policies in the best interests of residents.

Instead, they have chosen to play political games with the lives of those they serve.

From undermining Labour’s action plan to locate the missing refugee children from the Hove hotel and learn lessons from this safeguarding catastrophe to ploughing on with cuts to lifeguards despite Labour finding money to save them at budget council, they have lost their grip on reality.

Twice now they have run the council and both times this has been characterised by chaos, bin strikes, public opposition and a council with its fingers in its ears – choosing dogma over data, ideology over evidence and making decisions without the input of residents.

Labour have been a constructive opposition and put the city above party politics. This has helped progress some of Labour’s goals in the council’s corporate plan to deliver hundreds more council homes – and genuinely affordable homes – and to introduce school streets where viable, roll out anti-racism education and build community wealth.

It was Labour in opposition who

• intervened to put an end to the bin strike that was threatening public health
• held the i360’s feet to the fire over loan repayments after Greens and Tories lumbered our city with debt to fund the £46 million vanity monument to failure
• forced the Greens to raise food voucher allowances for disadvantaged children during covid
• found money to reverse Green plans to close public toilets
• found funds to save lifeguards
• raised the alarm about missing refugee children and presented a practical plan to fix the crisis

…

But it seems that it’s precisely because it was Labour who have secured these wins for the city that the Greens are refusing to implement them.

It’s really not important who gets the credit for reopening public toilets, safeguarding refugee children and preventing swimmers drowning off our beaches so long as it happens.

At the emergency council meeting we called to discuss our action plan to address the child safeguarding catastrophe in relation to missing refugee children, the Greens played politics with the lives of vulnerable children and watered down our proposals.

At the most recent tourism committee, the Greens stuck to their dangerous plans to cut the lifeguard service, playing politics with the lives of swimmers, despite Labour finding money to save the service at budget council just last month.

At the most recent environment committee, the Greens decided that they wouldn’t even bother implementing the road safety measures residents have asked for on boundary roads such as Elm Grove, Queen’s Park Road and Egremont Place. This was despite Labour leaving £1 million in the budget specifically to address these concerns.

My message to the Greens is simple: for the next few weeks, please remember you are still the administration and with that power comes responsibility – to keep our residents safe. So please, stop counting votes and start protecting lives.

Councillor John Allcock is the joint Labour opposition leader on Brighton and Hove City Council.