The count in the Goldsmid by-election is due to get under way this morning (Friday 26 June) with a seat at stake on Brighton and Hove City Council.
Six candidates are standing in the contest which follows the resignation of former mayor Jackie O’Quinn.
They are Nadia Barton Ahmad (Green), Philip Berman (Labour), Louis Bird (Conservative), Glenn Kelly (Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition), Kim Leyland-Walker (Liberal Democrat) and Luke Willmoth (Reform UK).
The by-election is regarded as a contest between Labour, who won the seat in 2023, and the Greens – and both parties have held seats in the ward in recent years.
Labour currently has 33 councillors out of the 54 on Brighton and Hove City Council. The Greens have 10.
There are five Conservatives, three Independents and two Brighton and Hove Independents plus the vacancy in Goldsmid ward.
At the most recent local elections in May 2023, Labour won 38 seats, giving a party a majority for the first time in more than 20 years.
The Greens came second with seven seats, having been the largest party going into the elections. The Conservatives won six seats. The Brighton and Hove Independents won two seats and there was one Independent.
This is the seventh by-election since the 2023 local elections. All of the seats were won by Labour candidates in May 2023. The party has won four of the by-elections and the Greens have won two.
This was the result in May 2023 …
Goldsmid (3 seats)
Birgit Miller (Labour) 2,426 – elected
*Jackie O’Quinn (Labour)2,421 – elected
Trevor Muten (Labour) 2,261 – elected
Rebecca Duffy (Green) 1,369
Ollie Sykes (Green) 1,211
Alexander Sallons (Green) 1,085
Edward De Souza (Conservative) 498
Linda Elisha (Brighton and Hove Independents) 490
David Lewis (Conservative) 481
Mark Long (Conservative) 456
Andrew England (Liberal Democrat) 350
Paul Chandler (Liberal Democrat) 342
Owen Sharp (Liberal Democrat) 274
Ballot papers rejected 15
Votes cast 13,664
Turnout 44.11 per cent
*sitting councillor
A Local Government Boundary Commission review in 2021 said that the ward had 11,003 electors and that by 2027 the number was forecast to 13,828.
My money is on the Greens. Even with Burnham now the top nobody can trust anything Labour say anymore and residents can see it.
This is a local by-election and there is clearly evidence of the many things Labour have done in the city, whereas the greens are vacuous and silent. Their candidate said almost nothing about the ward other than being an active campaigner, yet has only lived here a short time.
So I am sorry Craig but I’d rather trust Labour to continue delivering for the city, than risk going back to the greens and the damage they did to the council’s finances.
They are now exposed as having nothing in the policy draw and can’t hide behind ‘get rid of Starmer’ anymore. Interesting times.
Loving the fact that you don’t refer to what the “evidence” you’ve seen is when it comes to “delivering for the city”.
When I check my notes and have a think, I see, closed libraries, Wellington House day centre for adults with learning disabilities being closed and the hundreds of dead trees at Hove Beach Park the council allowed to die. I could go on.
PS – think you’ll find it’s Labour’s continuation of Tory austerity at a national level that’s caused the most damage to the city’s finances. Irrespective of which party has led the council administration over the last 16 years, the damage of Tory austerity and Labour carrying it on and still underfunding local authorities has and is causing real harm and damage in Brighton and Hove.
Greens did create a lot of financial issues causing the local black hole. The fact Labour haven’t been able to pull us completely out of it yet, is indication of the scale of the mismanagement of finances.
Removal of the two child benefit cap is one of the biggest things Labour could have done against austerity, so claiming continuing strike quite hollow to me.
More homes being brought back and built under Labour is also another massive impact on ending austerity. One that the Greens fully support as well, mind.
Ooh – here we go. Wondered how long it would take for you to chip in Benjamin.
BTW you are aware that Labour initially refused to lift the 2 child benefit cap before they were forced to do a u-turn due to public pressure and evidence showing the harm their appalling decision to keep it was having on children. Labour even suspended some of their own MPs who refused to tow the party line when Labour voted initially to keep the cap. The whole thing was pretty disgusting imo, just one of many national policy decisions the Labour government got wrong and misjudged and were forced to u-turn on.
I do enjoy a political discussion, my friend! And yeah, national Labour politics have been, on several occasions, where I’ve wished it was tested beforehand. They got the right answer eventually, but like you said, kicking and screaming. U-turns have been coined as a bad thing, but personally l think the alternative of stubbornly sticking to something flawed is worse.
Because, and bringing that back to local, sunk fallacy created the issue with the Greens proceeding with the i360 project. Anyway, the main thing all progressives need to be wary of is the hard and extreme right. With weekly stories of why they continue to prove themselves as dangerously incompetent.