As a local councillor, I generally steer clear of international affairs. My ward residents in Moulsecoomb and Bevendean are entitled to demand that I focus on fixing this town, before worrying about towns and cities a thousand miles away.
But we also have a responsibility to try to explain how events around the globe are affecting residents in Brighton and Hove.
Back in February of this year, the Trump administration launched an unnecessary and foolish war on Iran, which most experts agree was illegal under international law.
It’s a war that many people think has been a strategic mistake and a war that America has arguably been losing. But beyond the stupidity and illegality of this war, it has also had a hugely negative impact on the global economy.
As the ceasefire breaks, things might get even worse. We should be very glad that the UK Labour government refused to take part.
In response to military attacks from the USA, Iran has often attacked and effectively closed the Strait of Hormuz, a key route for energy supplies and global trade.
The effects have been clear: soaring global energy prices, with a particular impact on UK gas and electricity costs. These rises have hit business and households – and they have a knock on effect to the cost of producing other goods.
But there is another inflationary impact, arguably even more profound: the cost of building materials.
The construction giant JLL estimates that the price of key building materials has increased by up to 7 per cent in the UK as a direct consequence of the war.
This chimes with everything I hear from the local industry – whether it’s local housebuilders, housing associations or councils from the broader region. Costs have gone up substantially.
This has a particular impact on places like Brighton and Hove where the council is proactively building new social housing to tackle our housing crisis as well as repairing roads, creating new leisure facilities and restoring heritage assets.
Against this backdrop, how has the President himself fared? The New York Times estimates that his wealth has grown by a staggering $2.2 billion in the past year alone.
This almost certainly breaks the record for how much an American politician has enriched himself while in office. So much for the populist who promised to make things better for ordinary working people.
As a council, we will keep pushing forward and finding creative ways to deliver housing and infrastructure. The costs of not building more social housing will be even more devastating to future generations.
So, the next time your builder tells you that your home improvement project will cost more or you hear of a large housing or infrastructure project overrunning, you’ll know who to blame: the billionaire in the White House.
Councillor Jacob Taylor is the Labour deputy leader of Brighton and Hove City Council.
It’s concerning when you hear policies and ideas from private companies like Reform mimic Trump’s rhetoric and actions, observable in their shared rhetoric of dehumanisation, such as targeting disabled welfare claimants as “undeserving,” and framing immigrants as an “invasion”, all whilst enriching their elites. It reminds me of a quote, and something we should all reflect upon:
“Fascism begins not with violence but with the erosion of shared reality through lies and scapegoating, replacing democratic deliberation with manufactured crises.” – Hannah Arendt