A long-serving Labour councillor who served as mayor of Brighton and Hove has quit the party almost 50 years after she first joined and will sit as an Independent.
Jackie O’Quinn said today (Friday 13 February): “It is with deep regret that I am standing down as a Labour councillor with immediate effect.
“I will remain as an Independent councillor and will not be joining any other parties.
“This has been a very difficult decision to make as the Labour Party has been my political home for most of my adult life as I first became a member back in the ’70s, had a break for a while and then rejoined when I moved from Guildford to Brighton, nearly 31 years ago.
“My family has had a long association with the Labour Party and I joined when I was 25.
“In late 2013, I was asked to stand for my ward as a councillor and I agreed because I was retiring from teaching.
“I was both thrilled and honoured to be elected in 2015, the same year that Peter Kyle became MP for Hove, and to be re-elected in 2019 and 2023.
“However, despite Labour being my political home, I’ve been greatly troubled by various decisions and policies of the present Labour government since they came to power and my disenchantment is now overwhelming.
“I can’t quite believe all the unforced errors that have been and still are being made.
“The present highly damaging situation has come about through poor judgment and long-term structural issues within the Labour Party.
“I don’t believe the situation will be resolved by a change of leadership. That will bring its own, more perilous issues, but I do believe that change within the Labour Party is imperative and also possible and I look forward to seeing it.
“I also look forward to the Labour government being somewhat more generous to the present administration as the Fairer Funding review failed to recognise the levels of disadvantage that exist in the city.
“The most rewarding part of being a councillor has been meeting people from all walks of life and finding out about the issues that affect them and what can be done to help them, sometimes easier said than done.
“As Mayor of Brighton and Hove I met the world and its mother, or that’s how it felt, and it was absolutely the most wonderful experience and such a privilege to represent the city of Brighton and Hove.
“This has also been an exceptionally hard personal decision as I believe this administration is the best I have worked in.
“Many excellent and forward-thinking decisions have been made and policies implemented, so I’m proud to have been a part of it and wish my colleagues well as I know how hard they work for the city and its residents.
“I will now focus on my work in Goldsmid ward with residents.”
Wow!! Another huge resignation from a local Labour councillor. Gooda you!!! They are losing their best local politicians. Will the local leader resign?
Labour are now a national embarrassment, I’m not surprised so many of their councillors are jumping ship. Sadly, it only seems to be the ones with principles who cannot stomach what Labour who have become who are leaving. It’s looking like the power hungry Tories in red rosettes are the ones who remain.
I assume it is the devastating cuts budget the Labour council are about to vote through which is a factor (on top of the national issues) making this councillor leave her party. The council cuts they are looking to vote through will close a day centre for adults with learning disabilities, close council maintained nurseries, introduce charging in public toilets (despite warnings in the equalities assessment on the impact this has on disabled people) and means taking out a £15 million loan and the approx £10 million in interest that residents will pay back over the 20 year term. All this is being done without a whisper of criticism from the Labour administration at the council about the shortfall in government funding behind these dreadful cuts.
It’s good that this councillor is being so clear in her reasoning for leaving her decision. The most surprising thing is that more Labour councillors aren’t leaving their party too. How they can administer a cuts budget like they plan to in a few weeks, and how they can stick being the local face of a party that’s become a national embarrassment, is a mystery!
I read it slightly differently; she’s making a clear distinction between local and national. They are very different beasts. It’s the equivalent of saying that because Farage is regularly accused of being a racist millionaire, that all Reform voters are also the same, when in fact, very few of them are millionaires.
The visitors to the Day Centre are having an alternative provision provided, so there’s no loss of service, even if it means a different building. Consolidation is perfectly reasonable in this case, although I agree it is sad to see any service like this become unviable.
However, I would gently say it’s naive to think that the members of any party all think the same way. Take the Cons, for example: you’ve got New Cons, The Common Sense Group, No Turning Back, and One Nation to name a few. All Cons, but a wide range of views and standpoints within that. Of course, these groups will criticise internally, but they’d never fight in public, because otherwise you’ll get what happened in OneParty – utter chaos.
Brighton – do not forget the awful mess the Greens left the city in. Labour are a catastrophe, Sankey is a nightmare – no wonder people do not vote in this city.
Not voting is the WORST thing you can do. Every vote is a push for the kind of city we want. Staying home lets others decide for us. Disengagement might feel like a protest, but it’s the easiest thing for those in power to ignore.
#Factcheck: Labour have run the council for 7 of the last 10 years. Greens ran the council as a minority administration for 3 years after the Labour administration collapsed during the pandemic in July 2023 due to in-fighting in the Labour Party and claims of antisemitism: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/08/30/how-a-tumultuous-labour-administration-failed-brighton-and-hove-and-brought-shame-to-our-city/
And for those who remember those tumultuous pandemic years, just weeks before the Labour administration collapsed in 2020, the then Labour Leader (Dan Yates) was talking about a £66 million funding gap in the council’s budgets: https://www.brightonandhovenews.org/2020/07/07/coronavirus-crisis-leaves-council-facing-66m-cash-shortfall/. It’s not like when Labour collapsed they left the council in a good place.
It’s just worth having a refresher of facts about who has been running the council for most of the last decade, as Labour always seem to finger point at everyone else, and never seem to take any responsibility for their own mess. For those who pay attention it won’t go unnoticed that certain Labour councillors can hardly utter a sentence without deflecting responsibility away from themselves by blaming Greens and anyone and everyone else. I guess they hope that by saying it enough people will forget it’s been a mainly Labour-led council for years and years and years. Now it’s a Lab government too I guess there’s nowhere for Labour’s failings to hide.
I am sad but not surprised. Having lived in Goldsmid Ward for 26 years I feel Jackie has been the most responsive local councillor I have ever met. She is always there supporting or leading local people – as during the big fight to stop the building of a hotel in Cromwell Road. She is honest and sincere and as someone who is likewise deeply disappointed in so many of the actions (or inactions) of the national Labour Party I totally understand why Jackie no longer wishes to be associated with a party that appears to show little interest in what it was established to do , namely fight for a more equal and just society and promoting democracy. I hope she will stand in the next local elections (whenever they may be – a case in point about Labour eroding the democratic process) as there are very few of her calibre and experience left in local or national politics.
She won’t be the last. Getting out before the rentboy trial starts.