Six candidates are standing in a by-election in Goldsmid ward for a seat on Brighton and Hove City Council on Thursday 25 June.
The seat became vacant when former councillor Jackie O’Quinn resigned.
The six candidates are Louis Bird (Conservative), Nadia Barton Ahmad (Green), Philip Berman (Labour), Kim Leyland-Walker (Liberal Democrat), Luke Willmoth (Reform UK) and Glenn Kelly (Trade Union and Socialist Coalition).
Each candidate has answered questions about local issues and why electors should vote for them.
Here are the responses from Reform UK candidate Luke Willmoth, 23, a small business owner
Why do you want to be a councillor?
I’m standing for election because our community deserves a council that listens and delivers.
Too often, decisions are made remotely, without proper understanding of everyday concerns like road conditions, housing pressures and value for money. I want to change that.
My focus is on practical improvements to local services and ensuring residents feel genuinely represented. I believe in a responsive, common‑sense approach to local government – one where your voice is heard and acted on.
Why do you want to stand in this ward?
I’m standing in Goldsmid ward because it is one of the most diverse and dynamic parts of Hove but also one facing real pressures on housing, transport, parking and local infrastructure.
Residents regularly raise concerns about day‑to‑day quality‑of‑life issues and I want to ensure those concerns are properly represented at council level.
My aim is to see them followed through with action – not just acknowledged.
What are the key issues specific to this ward?
Goldsmid Ward faces real pressures on housing, transport, parking and local infrastructure.
Key priorities include giving local families fair access to social housing, ensuring new development is proportionate and supported by proper infrastructure and improving road safety, potholes and pavement maintenance.
Residents want better upkeep and safety in St Ann’s Well Gardens, protection of local services under financial strain and firm action on anti-social behaviour.
It’s essential that all residents, including Jewish residents, feel safe and protected from anti-semitism, with practical, well‑managed services focused on everyday priorities.
Falling birth rates are affecting pupil numbers in primary and secondary schools. How would you manage this issue?
Managing school places requires careful, long‑term planning to avoid waste and disruption.
We must take a strategic approach to school provision, using funding efficiently and ensuring schools remain financially sustainable.
Where there is surplus capacity, it should be managed responsibly to prevent sudden or destabilising closures.
Any changes must be evidence‑based, fully consulted on and transparent with parents and school communities so decisions are fair, well‑planned and in the best interests of children.
Temporary and emergency housing is a huge expense. What measures should be taken to reduce this cost?
The focus must be on prevention and helping local people move quickly into stable accommodation.
That means stronger early intervention to stop homelessness before it happens, better support for tenants at risk of eviction and more effective use of private rented and housing association homes.
We need to improve how we procure and oversee temporary accommodation to ensure value for money.
At the same time, we must increase long‑term housing supply so we can reduce reliance on costly emergency placements and provide local families with secure, sustainable homes.
How would you improve and maintain roads in the ward?
Residents in Goldsmid ward deserve better‑maintained roads and pavements, especially given the heavy traffic the area handles.
Maintenance must be proactive, focusing on fixing underlying problems rather than repeating short‑term patch repairs.
Reporting systems should be faster and more responsive and contractors must be held to clear performance standards.
Prioritisation should be based on actual road condition and the real impact on residents, not just reactive complaints.
Polling stations will be open from 7am to 10pm. Valid photographic ID is required to vote.
Can we change his name to Luke WilluseChatGPT?
Hate to disappoint the trolls but no, no chatGPT used here but thanks for trying, speaks volumes
“Too often, decisions are made remotely, without proper understanding of everyday concerns like road conditions, housing pressures and value for money.” – Complete nonsense.
Malvern already picked up on it, but overall it’s incredibly generic. I could lift what was said and apply it to any party candidate, and it would still fit. Is that enough to stand out?
A pleasant, intelligent and sincere individual who genuinely loves his city. Just what politics needs. .
A Reform representative may inject a fresh political perspective to the city rotted by the well entrenched uni.party formed by career tories and labourites, ably assisted by the green lunitics. Good luck Reform.
Maybe as a young person, he could be a new perspective, but considering Reform is very much a cult of personality, a rebranding of UKIP, and demonstrating on a nearly daily basis why they are incompetent in local and national politics, a one trick pony, and dangerously close to fascism, I am not convinced that party should ever be anywhere in a position of responsibility.
Having met Luke a few times before I knew that he was a candidate or even involved in politics I concluded that he was a thoroughly decent, honourable and trustworthy young man.
What more could one ask for in a councillor.
Brighton and Hove News – you may have a story if you run his picture through OpenAI’s image checker. My grandkid showed me some AI detector sites on the weekend. His text is likely AI generated and the image has a hidden Open AI watermark. Labour had those Walter Mitty candidates recently, but at least they were real people (I think).
I think that’ll most likely be a false positive on the image, because it’s clearly had some photoshop work done to it, like the blurred background, touch up of the skin and teeth, etc. AI image detectors are fairly unreliable without CP2A.
There’s a few phrases in his responses that scream “I ran this through AI” to touch up what was already written. Personally, I don’t see a problem with AI being used in that way; it’s just improving the writing of an already existing thought – it does lose some humanity in it though. Fully written in AI has some very clear tells; see JamesGPT on here in previous articles.