Labour swept to power in the local elections winning 38 out of the 54 seats on Brighton and Hove City Council.
The party has a majority for the first time in 20 years and has elected Bella Sankey, 40, as the new leader of the council. She was unopposed.
The Greens were reduced to a rump, with just seven seats, as council leader Phélim Mac Cafferty losing his seat.
And the Conservatives ended the day with six seats. Their leader Steve Bell also lost his seat.
The Brighton and Hove Independents won both seats in Rottingdean and West Saltdean – they previously held one – and Independent councillor Peter Atkinson held his seat in North Portslade.
Labour councillors are expected to meet on Tuesday (9 May) to decide the key jobs as Councillor Sankey’s team takes shape.
Jacob Taylor, 33, newly elected in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, is expected to become the finance lead. The former Varndean College student joined the Bank of America 12 years ago and has risen to chief operating officer.
A number of councillors are understood to be hopeful of becoming deputy leader. The council’s political groups have tended to elect two deputies in recent years.
Given the influx of new councillors, Alan Robins, 66, who has previously chaired a policy committee and served as mayor, looks to be one of the main contenders. He held his South Portslade seat by a comfortable margin.
Another potential deputy is Gill Williams, 61, who represents Whitehawk and Marine. She was elected in the old East Brighton ward four years ago and chaired the Housing Committee before the Greens took over the council.
Several councillors will be keen to take on one of the half a dozen or so key posts – chairing policy-making committees such as Housing.
Some face early disappointment. An important challenge will be to help channel their energies and abilities constructively while maintaining party discipline and morale – vital aspects of the whip’s job.
Amanda Grimshaw, 58, is tipped to be whip – a behind the scenes party manager who will be key to maintaining unity in such a large group. Unusually, two whips may be chosen.
Councillor Grimshaw previously represented Moulsecoomb and Bevendean but took the risk of standing in Hangleton and Knoll, the ward where she lives.
It was won by the Conservatives four years ago but even a strong personal vote for long-serving Dawn Barnett, 81, was not enough to hold back the red tide.
The composition of the new council is
- Labour 38 seats
- Greens 7
- Conservatives 6
- Brighton and Hove Independents 2
- Independent 1
Make the most of Hove Library, before Labour shut it for good..
This was dealt with back in February.
The day that Brighton Green Party received a long awaited visit from Karma.
So long Phelim
So long Hannah
So long Jamie Lloyd
All that lying, cheating and hypocrisy came back to bite you.
Conversely, a glorious day for Brighton and democracy.
Now we can look forward to a council run by the unions.
I dare say the dustmen are planning another strike, so that their Labour councillor mates can come to the rescue with a huge payrise….
Not how that works.
Remember labour handed over the ruling power over to the Greens, became a kind of coalition and then distanced themselves the past couple of years . They played a very clever game by doing that, knowing that The Greens woukd make a mess of everythng and which they did putting labour in with a good chance of winning a majority which they did. Lets hope they get the basics of the city back to standards with a less tollerance to to all the things that has turned this city into a shit hole. Somehow how I kind of doubt it.
2/3 replies are immediately whingeing, showing that the vocal opposition to the greens was largely sad Tories.
38 Labour councillors were not installed by vocal tories, sad Judas.
This is like a cloud lifting from over the City. The day that all that lying and ignoring the rights and wishes of residents, finally caught up with the Greens – dogma driven zealots who, quite rightly, have been consigned to the political dustbin .
Great news – are we ahead of the curve with the country we are dumping a Green administration, (having suffered its abject failures), while others are getting their first Green councils. Bella Sankey is a good choice for leader, I really hope Labour can turn around this city.
It is the end of a very dark period in the history of Brighton and Hove. The Greens did more damage to this city than Hitler managed to achieve. However, Labour did not put up much opposition to their bizarre behaviour. Let us hope they act more sensibly this time.
What a bizarre comparison.
Fantastic news that Green ideological dogma will not be controlling our lives anymore.
Hopefully common sense can return and we can:
* get back to single chairpersons chosen based upon talent, taking responsibility and being accountable, rather than pairs chosen for diversity purposes
* review expenditure and cancel the £10m per year wasted on the climate emergency fund
* rerun the LCWIP but this time actively listen to and involve groups other than pro-cycling anti-motorist activists
* review council efficiency and unnecessary headcount – esp. the 26 person communications group and do we really need a full-time biodiversity officer?
Sort bins. Sort weeds. Sort homelessness. Sort graffiti. Sort antisocial behaviour. Don’t spend money on silly vanity projects. Looking forward to seeing quick results.
A lot of those aren’t quick fixes, but get involved at a community level if you have an interest in it. I can tell you that the CEO team in BHCC are a helpful bunch, even if they are still learning how to engage the community.
A nightmare has ended, now begins a bad dream.
I assume that sustrans will have to move to Mid Suffolk now and Bricycles change its name to sufcycles and set up in Stowmarket as their puppets in Brighton and Hove are no longer in a position to skew council policy decision making to that demanded by a tiny minority rather than that needed by the vast majority.
It is with great sadness that I note that cllr Jamie Sustrans Lloyd was not re-elected.
Also, fate has finally caught up with the previously Teflon coated Green cllr Leo Littman, integral in gifting our city the i360.
You *do* understand how majorities work, right Bear? If you are the leading party, you get to dictate the policy moving forward.
Time for a review of the seriously flawed VG3 scheme. Even the council’s own professional advisors rand warning bells over the plans. And in this time of budgetary cuts, how much of this is being paid by local taxpayers.
And £13m for Beryl Bikes?! Someone’s having a laugh at our expense!
Perhaps the replacement chair of the ETS committee can get departing chair, Green Councillor Steve Davis, to explain how, and why, Beryl bikes won the contract, what the tender process was, and what other options were considered?
Unlikely, Peter. The next contract certainly can be scrutinized though, and rightly should.
The Greens could not even keep our streets tidy from weeds. The Green agenda has not worked. For example you can’t get rid of fossil fuels to you have something to replace them. Importing fossil fuels actually increases our carbon footprint. Use our own fossil fuels and phase them out sensibly.
It’s because of the ban of the weedkillers being used as they were far more damaging to the environment. The academic evidence behind made that decision perfectly justifiable.
The challenge is like you said, the replacement with manual weeding is much more labour intensive.
The solution? There are few ideas, bit of resident participation, community gardening groups, EDB funding, alternative weeding methods.
If you come up with an idea, take it to the Community Engagement and Resident Area groups. My experience with both have been wholly positive and productive over the last couple of years.
The dirty look of Brighton should now brighten up with a cleaner type of people running it. The last lot were fine it seem what with living with rats and overfilled bins and waste food just laying about the street, at least now that should stop and cleanliness restored.
Prépare for managed decline and car-dependant stagnation
Don’t be a party pooper. Everyone else is celebrating! Perhaps if the Green Stalinists had paid more heed to what residents and businesses wanted and not just their vanity projects?
And such a shame Phelim and Hannah have deleted their twitter accounts – bad losers!
Car Delenda Est
Prepare for managed decline?
We’ve had that under two ‘green’ administrations, I don’t think we can get any lower. Time will tell.
Car-dependant stagnation ?
Have you seen the traffic flows in Brighton recently. No neither have I so improvement in management is needed to get the vehicles moving.