Scores of people packed into St Luke’s Church Hall to hear from four of the five candidates standing in the Queen’s Park by-election.
Polling day for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council is next Thursday (24 September) in the third by-election in the two-member ward since the local elections in May 2023.
It was called after Labour councillor Milla Gauge resigned over safeguarding concerns for gender-confused children.
At the hustings last night (Thursday 16 September), the candidates answered pre-submitted questions from members of St Luke’s Residents’ Association and, in the final half hour, questions from the floor.
The candidates who attended were Steve Gladwin (Labour), John Shepherd (Reform UK), Stefan Speckesser (Conservative) and Mark Strong (Green).
Liberal Democrat Rüdiger Dikty-Daudiyan, also known as Rüdi Dikty, submitted written answers which were printed out for residents to read because he was away on a business trip.
Ms Gauge’s resignation was the subject to three pre-submitted questions which each of the candidates addressed together.
The first said that Ms Gauge because she had been prevented from pursuing concerns about services for women who have experienced sexual violence and that the council had failed to assure her that it would comply with the Supreme Court’s ruling on single-sex services.
The candidates were asked if they would establish whether genuinely single-sex provision is currently available to women survivors of sexual violence in Brighton and Hove and if not to ensure it is.
The second question asked about gender assignment and toilet use, leaving many in the community, particularly children, vulnerable and rendering safeguarding a joke.
The questioner said that Ms Gauge resigned because her concerns for these groups were never addressed and asked what the candidates would do to address and resolve these concerns?
The final question said that Ms Gauge resigned after encountering repeated obstacles in trying to have pupil safeguarding concerns properly scrutinised, including concerns raised by parents. Candidates were asked what they would do differently?
Labour candidate Steve Gladwin said that the issue was complex and sensitive and noted that all the candidates were men.
He described himself as a heterosexual male, a father and grandfather and a former NHS director who wanted to hear people’s lived experience about the issues raised.
Mr Gladwin said that the allegations around the WellBN doctors’ surgery had been investigated in the right way by the integrated care board with NHS England.
He said: “I do not support the idea that this should have been investigated by the (council’s) Health Overview and Scrutiny Committee. I think we should work with the (committee) to see if going forward there is more that we need to do.
“But on this particular issue we need to give the NHS and the regulators the space to do so.”
He said that the council was already working on a strategy for providing safe spaces for women.
Reform UK’s John Shepherd said that it was a “frankly astonishing situation” to have another by-election.
He said: “A local Labour councillor goes to her group, expresses concerns that residents have brought to her doorstep and she’s rebuffed. She’s told: ‘You’re not gonna talk about it. You leave it alone.’
“The councillor perseveres, so I’m told, and it’s not hearsay, we have Milla’s resignation statement.
“So she perseveres, and she goes to officers, they report back to the leader and she’s told to ‘shut up’ and has no other opportunity to her other than to resign.”
Mr Shepherd said that he was a gay man with trans friends who don’t understand what the fuss is about.
When it comes to children, he said, children go to school to learn the “three Rs” and anything else should involve parents.
Conservative Stefan Speckesser spoke about “safeguarding first” and agreed with the need for scrutiny after the report into WellBN was published in June, which he understood was with the General Medical Council.
On schools, he said: “There have been non-consistent procedures applied across different schools, some of which might be undefined for the past few years, and what has been established as adequate safeguarding of young people around such matters.
“It would be valuable to have a systematic evaluation of our safeguarding is undertaken in schools to understand where there are inconsistences.”
On single sex services, he said that there was clarity from the Supreme Court and the council was legally bound to align its services on the definition of biological sex.
He would ask for an audit because of inconsistencies, ask questions and get answers.
Green candidate Mark Strong said that he was proud to share a city with people who can be gay and can express themselves openly through a scale of gay, lesbian, transgender and non-conforming people.
Mr Strong said: “I’m from a generation that remembers the AIDs crisis. I remember ‘section 28’. This is repeating ‘section 28’.
“This is about villifying trans people. Other European countries have a minority and they get on and it works fine. Why in this country has it been roused to push a finger at trans people?
“This is all stirred up to try to create division.”
On safeguarding, he said that it should be carried out with children’s interests in mind, not parents or schools because “children come first”. This was, he said, a “made up issue”.
In his written responses, Liberal Democrat Rüdiger Dikty-Daudiyan said that his party was committed to upholding the rights of woman – and those who have experienced sexual violence needed to be treated with great sensitivity.
He would seek to establish what the situation is in the city for women survivors of sexual violence under the Equality Act 2010.
On safeguarding, he said: “The Liberal Democrats are committed to ensuring the dignity, safety and inclusion of trans people while simultaneously upholding the rights of women.
“We have been clear that any guidance regarding these spaces must be inclusive, workable and provide absolute clarity so that no person or provider is left exposed to legal risk or safeguarding failures.”
He criticised guidance that would see people challenged about accessing facilities based on how well someone else believes they visually conform to gender stereotypes.
Mr Dikty-Daudiyan did not want to make a judgement on internal Labour disputes but described children’s safeguarding as “non-negotiable”.
Polling stations are due to be open from 7am to 10pm next Thursday (24 September). Valid photographic ID is required to vote.
Terrible article… nothing About queens Park…. just people banging on about gender… this website is just “Adrian hart bores on about it” – will they look after city? No just attack trans people.
Exactly.
Three questions dedicated to the same subject? Seems like a bit of a waste of a hustings…
I don’t know who Adrian Hart is, but this is a really important subject. The sitting Councillor appreciated that. It’s certainly not about trying to be unpleasant towards transgender people either. Single-sex spaces matter. My daughter was reluctant to go to school because the mixed toilets weren’t properly police by staff, she didn’t feel safe, and she became analysis retentive one term. She also complained about what sounded like pressure to question her gender. She was 12-13 at the time. Ig was utterly inappropriate. My partner tried raising it with her class teacher, but she felt as though she was being accused of bigotry over a basic safeguarding concern. It was a worrying time for my daughter and for us. We’re fortunate she’s fairly open and communicative at home, if a bit reserved and easily embarrassed in company. We may be lucky, buf it’s not hard to see the risks of a major scandal in Brighton because of a wilful blindness to genuine concerns. The answer from Mark Strong in particular should outrage any open-minded individual, and Steve Gladwin doesn’t sound much better. If I still lived in the Ward, they would represent my usual choice of Party. I can only hope whoever wins wakes up go their responsibilities.
One has said it before, but there are few spectacles quite so dispiriting as five well aged white men lining up to tell the rest of us how we ought to vote.
And when some of the most sensitive questions of the evening concern women, single-sex services, safeguarding and gender, the absence of a single woman among the candidates becomes rather more than a curious footnote.
No doubt all five gentlemen have views. Gentlemen so often do.
With so many wonderful people of all genders, races and identities calling Queen’s Park home, one cannot help feeling rather sorry for its residents.
In 2026, is this really the best democracy can muster?
I woukdn’t vote for any of them, they all looked like they’ve rolled out the rubbish!
John Shepherd (Reform) is the only one who has got it right without trying to pander to anyone! Why the issue with them being white and of an age Lady Augusta, are you a rascist and ageist?
Lol reform supporter accusing someone of being racist and ageist, the projection
Not accusing, asking! You see everyone can be a little bit racist, ageist or any other ist whether they like it or not!
And you are accusing me of being a reform supporter, you shouldn’t jump to conclusions sweetie!
Notagain!, my dear, no.
Observing that five candidates are all men, all white and all of a broadly similar generation is not an objection to any of them because they possess those characteristics. Nor did I suggest that any one of them was less capable as a consequence.
It is an observation about the field as a whole.
Queen’s Park is a wonderfully diverse community, and when a panel of five people seeking to represent it looks rather less diverse than the community itself, I think it perfectly reasonable to notice. Particularly when those same five gentlemen are being asked to discuss matters concerning gender and women’s services.
That is rather different from racism or ageism.
Indeed, one of the advantages of advancing in years is discovering that disagreement need not immediately require the most dramatic accusation available.
But thank you for asking rather than assuming. There is hope for us both yet.
Yours,
Lady Augusta Bracknell
Ok but would you raise the same observation if they were all black or asian!
Yes, Notagain!, I would.
A striking lack of diversity is perfectly capable of being striking whichever group happens to be absent.
I shall leave it there, my dear.
Lady Bracknell is far too old for this sort of excitement on a Sunday.
I find John contradictory, standing for a company that has a really poor track record when it comes to equality of the genders.