A Labour councillor has resigned from the city council, citing health reasons.
Leslie Pumm was elected in May 2023 to the newly created Westbourne and Poets’ Corner ward in Hove, alongside fellow Labour candidate Julie Cattell.
Last year he became one of the administration’s first cabinet members, for communit8ies, equalities and human rights.
Today, he posted on Twitter that he was resigning from both roles.
He said: “Stepping down from these roles is a tough decision. It has truly been the honour of my life to serve as a Labour councillor.
“Unfortnately my health does not allow me to continue in a way that will service the residents of Westbourne and Poets’ Corner well.
“I am very grateful for what we have achieved and proued of my Labour friends and colleagues, whom I will miss dearly.”
Don’t tell me- no by election due to the inbound gerrymandering!
The only elections that were postponed locally were for the scheduled full elections East and West Sussex County Councils (incidently at the requests of the Tory Leaders of both those councils and granted by the Government using an Act passed by the last Tory Government).
So a by-election for B&HCC will still be called and held according to the relevant legislation.
I wish Cllr Pumm all the best with his health, but as others have said, there are a ridiculous number of by-elections caused by Labour councillors stepping down. That’s now 5 in the space of just of over a year. And it surely won’t be long before we have another one in Queen’s Park, after Cllr Burden stepped down from the cabinet, apparently after a big row with Sankey. The Labour group is clearly not a happy work environment! And don’t forget each one of these by-elections costs tens of thousands of pounds, paid for by our council tax.
Burden didn’t “have a row” with Sankey though?
It’s hard to keep up with all the Labour councillors stepping down from various positions they had, and in this case completely. Doesn’t sound like a happy ship.
Good on them. I don’t agree with their socialist politics but the ones who stepped down have demonstrated they have a back bone on them. We need more people of values and a sense of duty on politics.
If only they had socialist policies! Then they would be much more interested in housing low income people and keeping our infrastructure sound rather than cuddling up to big business and private equity firms
Seems to be a lot of resignations from the labour councillors of late. wonder how many more are on the way.
Strange our dear leader Bella hasn’t wished councillor pumm well or commented, probably more to it than just health.
I wish Sankey would resign. “Neither use nor ornament” as my grandmother used to say.
Nice one Grandma, that gave me a chuckle at 1.30 am !
O.K don’t mess about Sankey ,we want an election or are you frightened?
O.K don’t mess about James, local councils are elected on fixed terms and can’t typically hold elections at will.
Well…this would be a by-election for a casual vacancy which can be triggered by two electors in the City asking for it to be held. So Bella Sankey could call it with someone else, but then so could James!
O.K don’t mess about Andy, James was pragmatically inferring a local election, not a by-election, the later of which is of course going to happen, so we don’t need to mess about with that.
Ok don’t mess about James! If you live in the City Council area you and one other person can ask for the by-election whenever you want.
Andy, the b-election is happening, why would it not ,
Those lucky enough to have any say as a city Councillor these days then find they can’t take the pressure and responsibility of being in a Cabinet.
Bring back the much fairer and more equal committee system.
There is no point in having 54 city Councillors if only around a quarter are allowed to actually represent their electorate and do or decide anything.
Have to agree with you.
This is the third Labour Councillor that is stepping away from some/all of their duties in the last two weeks.
The Cabinet system has had nearly 9 months now and all we have seen is an even bigger nosedive in the way the city is being run. It’s a disgrace they cannot even reopen the seafront road after over a week, claiming it has anything to do with a fire at the Albion hotel nearly 2 summers ago. If we believe that, we’ll believe anything.
Chris, I do wish you spent the time to grasp the subjects before speaking. The road closure has to do with a recent structural inspection…
There was no excuse for the building to be unsafe in any way that long after the fire. There should have been regular safety inspections from day 1. Plus there were people seen working IN that part of building during the time it was said to be too ‘unsafe’ for vehicles to drive past. Explain that.
That doesn’t necessarily preclude controlled work being carried out under strict safety measures.
There’s more to it then that though Chris. Committees are also inefficient. And there’s more to councillor work then just the cabinet roles.
It’s odd that Councillor Lyons here agrees with you, since advocacy in the community is arguably far more important, something I have always said he is good at.
I know Lesley and the news item is absolutely actuate sadly. Lesley has a health issue, that has meant that he feels unable to represent his residents properly, whilst he is off sick so often. Believe me, there was absolutely no falling out or disagreement. Lesley will be very missed in the Labour Group. No one wanted him to be in this situation. Yes, Bruno did resign from the Labour Party but this was due to national policy not local Labour policies. There was no in fighting locally , in fact his resignation came as a surprise to everyone. And Tristram did step down from his Cabinet role but again there was no falling out. And he is still very much an active part of the Labour Group. But yes, it is very unfortunate that these things happen very close together like this.
The annoying thing is these three were the best ones really with Rowkins and Daniel. They were head and shoulders above the others, good as cllr and people. They actually were respected by officers and partners. Real shame!
From those I’ve spoken to about this, being a councillor is a lot of hard work. You have to deal with us public people all day every day, and I’ve witnessed how nasty some of us can be; attend a lot of meetings; do the political dance; and all for an allowance that is not survivable on – so whilst maintaining a second income.
Plus cabinet being a brand new structure for this city, so councillors may not have known what the work entails comprehensively as the first cohort.
So, it is not surprising some have taken a very reasonable decision to step back and prioritise their wellbeing.
Which is why the Conservative Group, Greens & Independents & I suspect some of the Labour Councillors (before they were whipped) did not want a cabinet. Given the size of the city & roles involved – it is essentially a full time job yet most councillors have day time jobs or family life. The previous system worked well & more of the work spread amongst the 54 councillors. With Labour having such a large majority what do they have to worry about?
However, on balance, cabinets are much more streamlined decision-making and a clearer chain of accountability; we can look to the i360 as an example of obfuscation of responsibility. In particular considering the need for more decisive actions on urgent issues like housing, climate change, and community services, there are a number of metrics we can refer to that suggests that committees were not working well. Maybe there is merit in a hybrid approach?
You raise a good point around the workload, without appropriate financial recognition, the role remains undervalued. I firmly believe a job, regardless of what it is, should be liveable on. In any other situation, the amount given to ward councillors would be considered illegal – being below the minimum wage.
Is that fair?