The leader of the council has hit back at a Labour colleague who has quit as councillor, accusing her of “breaching her promise” to the party.
Milla Gauge quit Brighton and Hove City Council yesterday, saying she had been prevented from raising concerns residents had raised with her over the council’s policies on trans issues.
She said she was stonewalled when raising concerns over Hove GP WellBN, which was criticised for providing ad hoc and unmonitored gender care including cross sex hormones to children as young as 11 despite not being a specialist provider in a blistering NHS report in June.
She also said the council had failed to say it would uphold new guidance on single sex spaces – and if so, how this would work in practice.
Brighton and Hove News asked the local Labour party to respond to Ms Gauge’s letter of resignation yesterday morning.
This afternoon, council leader Bella Sankey said: “It is disappointing to receive the resignation of Milla Gauge, breaching as it does the promise she made to residents and to the Labour Party in 2024.
“Milla Gauge’s statement repeats a pattern: while she has been unable to point to a specific safeguarding concern resulting from the council’s trans inclusive approach, she has persisted in making generalised accusations which appear intended to damage the council’s reputation.
“The [local NHS] has conducted a thorough investigation into WellBN and has made a number of recommendations. None of these mention or relate to the council as the council has no role in the commissioning of gender-related healthcare.
“When I was asked about this by Milla Gauge I advised that the appropriate council forum for any discussion of the report was the Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee which has responsibility for health oversight and I asked whether she had spoken with the committee.
“Cllr Gauge appeared not to know this and had not spoken with the committee.
“As to the EHRC guidance, it is a flawed and confused document which seemingly contradicts obligations public bodies have under Labour’s Human Rights Act.
“While we will always comply with the law, the guidance does not provide the clarity public bodies need to support us to do that, nor to ensure that trans people are not discriminated against or harassed in their access to services.”
