Labour by-election victor offers to meet concerned parents

Labour has won the South Portslade by-election, with the party’s candidate Josh Guilmant offering to meet parents to see what can be done to support all children in Brighton and Hove schools.

His comments came after a hard-fought by-election where the proposed closure of St Peter’s Community School in the ward dominated much of the debate.

Councillor Guilmant said that he was delighted that voters had decided to stick with Labour after the resignation of long-serving councillor Les Hamilton, who represented the area for more than 50 years.

Despite the low turnout of 21.8 per cent, the 40-year-old law teacher topped the poll with 874 of the 1,609 votes cast, a 55 per cent share, to win a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council.

After the result was announced at Hove Town Hall today (Friday 12 January), Councillor Guilmant said: “I’m delighted, really pleased that Portslade has continued with Labour and put their faith in me to continue what Les and Alan (Robins) have been building over the last decade – and decades.

“It’s a real team effort.”

Parents and the six other candidates in the election challenged the proposals to close the primary school, brought forward by the Labour council elected last May.

Councillor Guilmant said: “It’s an issue in the sense we’ve had continual cuts in education by the Conservatives over a decade.

“Having that means the council is now in a position where they need to look at funding across the city and make sure they are effective in terms of delivering for South Portslade and delivering for every other ward in the city so every child is taken care of.”

He committed to listening to parents’ concerns as St Peter’s future is decided, with the results of the recent public consultation due to go before councillors on Monday 22 January.

Councillor Giulmant said: “I’m more than happy to meet with parents, sit down, doing it properly, looking at the data and looking at what is feasible and realistic as to what we can achieve.

“I’m a teacher. I had an EHCP (education, health and care plan). And I know exactly what it’s like to be in a position where your parents have to fight for your education. I understand that – and I also understand the reality of the council budget.

“I don’t want to speak badly of the Greens but they have not been effective over the last two years in dealing with the issue.

“And because of that, we’re in a position where under Labour we have to now make sure we solve it and solve it effectively for all the children.”

The Labour leader of the council Bella Sankey said that, while canvassing on the doorsteps of South Portslade, she heard from people who felt that the party was delivering its promises despite only being elected less than a year ago.

She said: “I feel really elated to see the people of South Portslade resoundingly return a Labour councillor.

“It’s a community where we have very well-established and very strong links with thanks to the excellent service of Les Hamilton and the brilliant service of the other Labour councillor Alan Robins.”

Josh Guilmant at the count at Hove Town Hall

When it came to the issues around St Peter’s School, she said that she understood parents’ concerns.

Councillor Sankey said: “We understand wholeheartedly the distress that is being felt by parents about the proposals for St Peter’s. Of course, parents want to fight for the best education for their children.

“We also as an administration want to deliver the best possible education for children in our city. That is what we are seeking to do by bringing forward a range of proposals to solve this issue at the moment.

“It is the government that funds schools and at the moment the government funding of our schools in this city plus the falling pupil numbers means that over 50 per cent of our schools are in licensed deficit.

“That situation is not sustainable. Our current number of schools and class numbers is not sustainable.

“What happens when schools aren’t sustainable is support staff and teaching staff are cut and you end up delivering a worse quality education in the long term.

“We don’t want that for our city. We are fighting for our children’s education and we are listening to parents, meeting with them and explaining our proposals and hearing their feedback.”

Councillor Les Hamilton

The count took place at Hove Town Hall today and revealed a low turnout of 1,609 votes cast by 21.8 per cent per cent of the registered electorate. South Portslade has a registered electorate of 7,390.

The results were