Brighton and Hove is an amazing city – vibrant, exciting and friendly. I feel lucky that I grew up here and proud that I am now raising my own children here.
It’s a city that’s world-famous and that “punches above its weight”. But there’s another side to Brighton and Hove, something that visitors from elsewhere don’t always understand.
We are a city of deep inequalities, with areas of significant deprivation. That’s why this council administration is so focused on doing everything we can to tackle poverty in Brighton and Hove and create a fairer city for all.
We have recently produced a new Economic Plan for the city which will be debated and hopefully approved at a meeting of the full council next month.
In compiling this plan, the evidence collected on our local economy was stark. On a city-wide basis, average household earnings are almost the same as the national level (£30,000 per year).
However, in some communities those earnings are well below the national average. Indeed, 9 per cent of our population are earning below the national living wage.
The report also confirmed other inequalities. In Brighton and Hove, there are neighbourhoods that rank among the worst nationally for access to healthy and affordable food and GP services.
Overall wages have not kept pace with inflation in recent years, which means residents are actually worse off in real terms than they were in 2011.
What’s even more shocking is that within this statistic, women’s wages remain below men’s and the gap has widened in the last two years.
As a Labour council, we are taking action to try to address these inequalities. It’s why I was so pleased that the Labour government is extending the Household Support Fund. This will mean a further £2.2 million in funding that the council can target to our most deprived residents.
Locally, we have gone even further, by creating the “Brighton and Hove Fairness Fund”, with £600,000 of council funding which will provide targeted support to residents who are struggling to make ends meet.
We want to expand this fund and have already secured support of nearly £100,000 from businesses.
These aren’t just numbers on a spreadsheet – they have an impact on real lives. This week I’ve been finding out about the families who have received support from these funds.
I learnt about a local mum and her daughter, who has complex special needs. In the same week, her daughter’s bed broke and her fridge-freezer packed in, causing all her food to be defrosted.
The family were living on the poverty line, with debts to pay and no income due from universal credit for two weeks.
The council used the funds available and provided food vouchers, help with fuel costs and a new fridge-freezer to help tide the family over. Small things, but a huge difference to that family.
This city and this country have a long way to go in rebuilding living standards and reducing poverty after 14 years of disastrous Tory rule.
But the work has already started and the creation of the “Brighton and Hove Fairness Fund” shows what a compassionate Labour council can do when in power.
Councillor Jacob Taylor is the deputy leader of Brighton and Hove City Council and the cabinet member for finance and city regeneration.
Good news! Will this fund also be used to help pensioners who lose the winter fuel allowance?
The upsurge in pension credit applications has been interesting to see.
That a be the day.you cant run a tap between you,your only interest is inviting developers, and taking a pittance, in free bunts LETS SEE YOU TAKE THE BULL BY THE HORNS AND BUY SOME FARMLAND AND BUILD A RAKE OF COUNCIL HOMES OR VERY AFFORDABLE HOMES ON IT THEN I (MAY) BELIEVE YOU.
Is this article a joke – a Labour councillor who is about to impose £100 million of cuts on the city with zero push back to his chums in central Government that this will be unacceptable, is talking about tackling inequality and poverty!
The fund he talks about is the equivalent of his administration stabbing residents in the back, and then giving them a sticking plaster to try and fix it. What nonsense.
Oh and let’s not forget there are more than 30,000 people in the city who will no longer get the Winter Fuel Allowance. I know that some pensioners don’t need it, but many do and will be pushed into poverty. He talks about collecting evidence, but perhaps if his Government had done an equality impact assessment on the WFA cut and published it, they would have more than enough evidence to see what cruel and immoral decisions his colleagues are making.
I’ve seen no evidence of the “compassion” Jacob Taylor talks about. It’s just words.
There are two ways to tackle inequality.
1) tax people who have worked hard and were thrifty and saved money and give it to people who have less.
2) improve the ability of those who have less so that they can earn more.
Unfortunately in the UK all we her about is choice one, maybe on the basis that if we are all poor we are all equal. That does rather mean we would have fewer highly skilled people like doctors and lawyers, engineers and financiers. Once all the money has gone then it is gone.
Why do we never go for choice two ?
I think your characterisation of two groups is fundamentally flawed. Effort does not equal wealth. Inheritance is an excellent example.
If you think that wages in real terms have not risen since 2011, just wait until all the “net zero” plans start to bite.