The Greens have won the Queen’s Park by-election from Labour, with Mark Strong taking the seat previously held by Milla Gauge.
The votes cast were
- Mark Strong (Green) 1,139
- Steve Gladwin (Labour) 802
- John Shepherd (Reform UK) 160
- Stefan Speckessen (Conservative) 97
- Rüdiger Dikty-Daudiyan (Liberal Democrat) 74
The turnout was 33.36 per cent.
The seat became vacant when Labour councillor Milla Gauge resigned, saying that the council was not doing enough to protect children suffering from gender confusion.
The by-election is the third in the two-member ward since the local elections in May 2023 and the eighth in Brighton and Hove in that time, all caused by the resignation of former Labour councillors.
Milla Gauge won her seat for Labour just over two years ago after Chandni Mistry, from Leicester, was suspended and then expelled by the party, along with her mother Bharti Gajjar, and resigned from the council.
In September last year, Green councillor Marina Lademacher won a seat in the ward from Labour after Tristram Burden resigned, citing a conflict of interest after taking a job with the Care Quality Commission (CQC).
At the local elections in May 2023, Labour won a majority, with 38 of the 54 seats. The Greens won seven seats, the Conservatives six and the Brighton and Hove Independents two. One Independent was elected.
After the Green win today, there are currently 31 Labour councillors, 12 Greens, five Tories, four Independents and two Brighton and Hove Independents.
Poor Queens Park.
Thanks for the incisive comment Trace.
Sad day for Brighton
Well played to Mark, he’s has been someone who has been active in QP for years before this. Positive to note Reform vote collapsed since last time too. Progressive politics remain front and centre.
saw Adrian at the count he was arguing with someone – then turned out it was a cardboard cut out of a person! took 35 minutes to realise
Can’t you just knock on my door and insult me to my face? Jeez!
Not many turned out to vote, craz5
It’s actually about standard for a by-election, always get a lower turnout. Goldsmid and Westbourne were both about 36% turnout as well, so it tracks.
One rather hopes the good people of Queen’s Park might now be allowed a little rest.
Three by-elections in one ward since May 2023 is less a functioning electoral cycle and more a subscription service nobody remembers signing up for.
Whatever one’s politics, residents deserve councillors who turn up, serve their term and give the ward a little stability. Queen’s Park has endured quite enough political drama for one council term.
Congratulations to Mark Strong on his election. Now perhaps the posters can come down, the leaflets can stop arriving and everyone can enjoy a blissful few months without another knock at the door.
At least until the local elections next May, naturally. One mustn’t become too comfortable.
My dear Lady Bracknell,
“a subscription service nobody remembers signing up for” — how perfectly you put it. I fear Queen’s Park residents may now be wondering whether their electoral roll comes with an automatic renewal clause.
Three by-elections since May 2023 is certainly impressive, although I suspect the residents might have preferred the less exciting luxury of simply being allowed to get on with their lives.
And perhaps we should not be too quick to blame voter apathy for the modest turnout. After the recent adventures of the Number 20 bus, there is every possibility that a substantial proportion of Queen’s Park’s electorate were still somewhere on its magical mystery route, attempting to establish where precisely they were going and whether they might eventually be permitted to get off.
One can hardly fault residents for finding the endless political and civic drama rather exhausting. Between elections, consultations, reconsiderations and the occasional apparently preordained decision — Wellington House comes rather readily to mind — one begins to wonder whether the citizens are being consulted, or merely invited to witness the next instalment.
Still, as you so wisely observe, there is now the blissful prospect of a few months’ peace.
Until May, naturally.
I shall cherish the interval, my dear Lady Bracknell, though I fear that in this city tranquillity is rather like a decent biscuit: much desired, seldom allowed to remain undisturbed for long.
Yours, with considerably more affection than civic stability would appear to permit,
Viscount Biscuit
My dear Viscount, indeed let us cherish the interval until May.
The good people of Queen’s Park have surely earned a few months in which nobody asks them to put a cross in a box.
And do remember: biscuits, unlike council seats, are generally improved by frequent renewal.
Until the next electoral excitement, my dear.
Augusta
My dear Augusta,
You do make it rather difficult for a gentleman to maintain his composure when you put it quite so charmingly.
Ah, but you tempt fate when you speak of “the next electoral excitement”. I wonder whether we ought to place a small wager on precisely when it will arrive.
Not, of course, on who might depart the municipal stage – one would never wish to encourage speculation about the longevity of any particular councillor. Rather, simply on which ward will next acquire the dubious distinction of requiring another by-election.
The winner, I propose, should be treated to a proper luncheon. None of this hurried sandwich-and-coffee business: I have in mind a table overlooking the sea, a bottle of chilled Chablis Grand Cru, perhaps a turbot with beurre blanc, Dover sole meunière or, if we are feeling particularly reckless, a magnificent whole sea bass, followed by a pudding that requires its own introduction.
Brighton does still possess establishments where lunch can be regarded as an occasion rather than an interruption.
Although, given the frequency with which our councillors seem to require replacing, we may need to establish a rather more substantial prize fund.
Three by-elections in Queen’s Park since 2023, after all. At this rate, by the time we have finished luncheon we may discover that another vacancy has occurred and the wager needs to be renewed.
Still, I shall happily take your advice and cherish the interval until May.
And should the biscuits require renewal before then, I shall endeavour to ensure that they are of suitably aristocratic quality — particularly if I have the pleasure of sharing them with you.
Yours, with rather more fondness than electoral stability would appear to permit,
Viscount Biscuit
My dear Viscount,
Wagering upon the premature departure of elected representatives strikes me as terribly vulgar.
A luncheon overlooking the sea involving Chablis, Dover sole and a pudding requiring its own introduction, however, is an entirely different constitutional matter.
I should warn you that Lord Bracknell may begin to take an interest if your proposed refreshments become any more elaborate. The rug and custard creams were one thing. Grand Cru and turbot suggest escalation.
For now, let us hope every councillor remains happily in post until May. It is cheaper for the taxpayer and considerably safer for your cellar.
Yours truly,
Augusta
P.S. Talking of vulgarity, one heard a rather vulgar rumour carried on the unseasonably warm winds of East Brighton today that a change of the guard may be coming.
One has absolutely no idea whether there is anything in it, of course.
But as the saying almost goes: to lose one councillor may be regarded as a misfortune. To lose ten looks like carelessness.
My dear Augusta,
I am relieved that you regard the luncheon as an entirely respectable constitutional matter. I had rather hoped it might be.
As an aside, I was taking afternoon tea at a rather upmarket establishment in the east of Brighton this afternoon — a pot of something suitably restorative and a plate of biscuits of respectable breeding — when I happened to overhear the most intriguing little suggestion.
I say suggestion because I would not dream of calling it a rumour.
And I certainly wouldn’t dream of gossiping.
Apparently, there may or may not have been some suggestion that something somewhere at the council might possibly be rather different at some point in the future.
Or perhaps not.
One hears all sorts over afternoon tea.
It did, however, make me wonder whether our little wager on the next electoral excitement was perhaps rather too narrowly drawn. Perhaps the next excitement will not involve a ballot box at all.
And, purely as a matter of idle constitutional curiosity, I did briefly wonder whether either of your two Jacobs might find themselves somewhere near whatever happens next.
But I shall say no more.
I have no wish to start rumours based on absolutely nothing whatsoever. That would be most improper.
Besides, I suspect Lord Bracknell may eventually wish to know why his wife is being invited to increasingly elaborate constitutional luncheons at my expense.
For now, therefore, I shall remain loyal to our existing constitutional arrangement: you may continue to disapprove of my wagers, I shall continue to provide the biscuits, and we shall both pretend that the luncheon is entirely about civic accountability.
Yours, with considerable affection, impeccable discretion, and absolutely no gossip whatsoever,
Viscount Biscuit
AI slop
What do you mean Viscount Biscuit is actually just called Alison?
A bad day for democracy. It was down to two old white men who fail to understand the difference between not discriminating against any minority yet keeping children safe, especially those who are mentally or emotionally vulnerable.
Glad to see your name on the ballot Martina. Oh wait no it wasn’t was it, rather spout hot air in a newspaper comment section than actually put their money where their mouth is.
The greens, with their green policy of putting 5 paper flyers through everyone’s door. 33% turnout is not a ringing endorsement. Let’s hope for the state of the cities roads and bin collections that the greens do not get any more seats.
The problem with the greens is they get swept up in national debate about random left wing talking points, rather than doing the basics of running a city, which none of them have a clue about. I think they do this because they will never be a proper national party, just another protest party, and that’s evident here. So they use the council as a platform it’s not intended for and because they are side tracked chatting nonsense, everything else suffers
* Electorate: 6,837 people entitled to vote
* Votes cast: 2,281
* Turnout: 33.36%
* Did not vote: about 4,556 people — 66.6% of the electorate
On you heads be it.