A hustings has been organised to give voters a chance to put questions to candidates a week before polling day in the Queen’s Park by-election.
The event has been organised by St Luke’s Residents’ Association, a non-political organisation, and is due to take place at St Luke’s Church Hall, in Brighton.
Candidates will be invited to take part in the hustings from 7pm to 8.30pm on Thursday 17 September.
They will be standing for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council, with polling day set for Thursday 24 September.
The by-election is the third in the two-member ward since the local elections in May 2023 and was called after Labour councillor Mill Gauge resigned because of safeguarding concerns for gender-confused children.
The organisers said: “Come along and hear from the candidates standing in the council by-election.
“Each candidate will have five minutes to address the audience and then there will be questions from members to the candidates.”
They added that the event would be free and open to all local people but residents’ association members would be given precedence in the question and answer part of the meeting.
The residents’ association said that it was “easy to join – just a fiver and you can pay on the door!”
So far, three candidates have been announced – Mark Strong for the Greens, John Shepherd for Reform UK and Rüdiger Dikty-Daudiyan, also known as Rüdi Dikty, for the Liberal Democrats.
I’m pleased to see a Hustings being organised, and as someone who has stood as an independent candidate in Queen’s Park before, I hope voters will use it to ask some difficult questions about the issue that has led to this by-election.
At the 2024 Queen’s Park by-election that elected Milla the Hustings gave me an opportunity to raise concerns about safeguarding in schools and the Council’s approach to gender-questioning children. At the time, both the Green and Liberal Democrat candidates dismissed what I was saying as “anti-trans rhetoric”. As her resignation statement makes clear, Milla found herself increasingly concerned about child protection and the Council’s approach to these issues.
Since then, the WellBN investigation has identified catastrophic failings and potential harm to children receiving gender-related care locally. Yet calls for the Council to examine the wider safeguarding implications — including the relationship between schools, Council services and healthcare — have still not resulted in the independent review many parents believe is necessary.
I hope candidates at this hustings will therefore be asked a simple question: do you recognise the need for an independent review of pupil safeguarding in relation to Council services and schools, and would you support one if elected?
That seems to me a reasonable question for Queen’s Park voters to put to every candidate, whatever their views on the wider gender debate.
This is a very clear and important point. Any elected official or public sector employee must be held accountable for any of their attempts to suppress policy information from the public and/or denying basic child safeguarding in schools and public services.
An investigation has already happened by the relevant body: https://www.surreysussex.icb.nhs.uk/ipsi-wellbn-general-practice-brighton/
Yes — and that investigation is precisely why a wider safeguarding review is urgently needed.
The NHS investigation examined the prescribing practices at WellBN. It found that the practice had inappropriately prescribed medication to children and young people for gender dysphoria. But it did not investigate Brighton & Hove City Council’s schools guidance, safeguarding arrangements, relationships between schools and health services, or the wider system in which these children were being supported.
The question being put to candidates is therefore not “has WellBN been investigated?” It plainly has.
The question is: ‘what lessons has the Council drawn from what happened, and has it examined whether any of those lessons apply to its own responsibilities?’
Those are two quite different questions Benjamin.
There was a wider safeguarding review. The Cass Review. The most authoritative review we have on gender identity services for children and young people in England. So calling for another independent review would probably not be a good use of resources.
WellBN in my opinion is a red herring, not because it’s unimportant, but because it’s not the right lever for this change, something we discussed into granular detail. We know what the learning is, so the important question is how the recommendations in Cass are to be incorporated into the ongoing and continuous development of policy, particularly around an ever-evolving topic like gender identity.
Adrian will you stand again….. council need your deposit money 🤪
One day there may be a public enquiry.
It is scandalous and possibly criminal the way in which BRIGHTON Hove City Council Councillors have behaved.
Their persistent pushing of gender identity ideology is dangerous for all children.
How much money has Mark Strong earned from his Active Travel contracts with the council so far and on what legal and moral basis does he believe himself to be a fit and proper Councillor candidate when he is a live consultant for the Council and regularly included with senior Officers on council meetings already?
Irrelevant. He was not a Ward Councillor when a contract was awarded, and it would be really stupid to suggest that this by-election was the result of influence from Mark Strong.
I was one of Milla Gauge’s Queen’s Park constituents who sought her help with concerns about the Council’s approach to sex, gender and safeguarding. That is why her resignation has particular significance for me.
Milla listened, tried to pursue the concerns and, as her resignation statement makes clear, spent considerable time attempting to raise similar issues within the Council.
My own experience also illustrates what happened when I tried to establish the Council’s position on the legal and governance questions involved. After the Supreme Court judgment in For Women Scotland and the subsequent EHRC guidance, I asked for clarification about whether earlier Council statements and policies remained legally accurate. The matter was ultimately shut down by the Monitoring Officer rather than becoming the subject of the member scrutiny I had been seeking.
I am therefore very glad that Queen’s Park voters will have an opportunity to question candidates directly. For me, this is not an abstract ‘culture-war’ issue, its about whether a councillor can raise a constituent’s reasonable concerns, whether those concerns receive proper scrutiny, and whether residents can obtain clear answers from their Council about safeguarding and compliance with the law.
I hope candidates will explain what they would actually do if elected when residents bring concerns of this kind to them.
Not much, in Mark Strong’s case, I would have thought.
Much evidence of people being vilified for challenging the “groupthink” promulgated by the greens and adopted by labour.
It is not my ward but as a Brighton resident I must agree with Adrian
I see John Shepherd is having another go at it. Reform Ltd’s Suella Braverman denied saying homelessness was a “lifestyle choice” today, despite it still being on her twitter page, following the party’s constant stream of “ignorant, stigmatizing, and factually incorrect” as described by Shelter and Big Issue.
One has to wonder the wisdom of a candidate who aligns himself with an organisation like that.
What is behind the explosion of children who think they are trans in Brighton and Hove? Has the council’s funding for gender evangelists such as Allsorts driven this alarming rise? Has their trans toolkit for schools?
https://www.theguardian.com/society/2022/nov/24/an-explosion-what-is-behind-the-rise-in-girls-questioning-their-gender-identity
Dr Cass, from the article:
“Greater awareness of trans issues is likely to be one common-sense explanation for the rise in requests for referrals.”
Children are legally children. It is only groomers who seek to coerce and label them with a sexual or other identity which belongs to the adult age of consent and autonomy
Comment* not a question or imvite to debate but taking dr Cass suggesting a greater awareness of trans is the explanation for more trans is at best niaive. Understanding who is identifying as trans and why is important- this is not a homogeneous group but it is really very convenient for ideologists and activists to try and lump them all together as one.
No invitation required.
“Greater awareness of trans issues is likely to be *ONE* common-sense explanation for the rise in requests for referrals.”
This implies there are many, and reading into Dr Cass’ work goes into clarifying this into greater detail, stating it is a multifaceted issue, and why it is important not to “lump them all together as one”. It suggests your statement is a self-refuting contradiction, because Dr Cass’ work agrees with you.
The Charity Commission must be aware of Allsorts.
Also, the “trans toolkit” has now been dumped by councils across the country. Why are BHCC still promoting it? It is a dangerous ideology. No wonder so many children and young people in BRIGHTON are so messed up.
Do you believe there is a need for some guidance or framework? Would you prefer a flawed system that can be improved, or a free-for-all with unlimited potential for harm? There’s probably an argument to be made for both perspectives.