Brighton & Hove Local Elections: Who Are The Parties And What Do They Stand For?

Nine parties are fielding candidates for the 54 seats on Brighton and Hove City Council next month - who are they and what are their priorities for the city?

The Greens, Labour and Conservatives won seats at the last elections four years ago.

They will be joined in the contest by the Liberal Democrats, the UK Independence Party (UKIP), the Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC), Reform UK and two local groups of Independents.

The two local independent groups have registered as political parties with the Electoral Commission because, they say, the council’s rules restrict seats on policy-making committees to members of recognised parties.

The two groups are the Brighton and Hove Independents, which has nine candidates, and the Friends of Brighton and Hove Independents, which has eight.

TUSC has put up eight candidates. Three people are standing for UKIP and one for Reform UK.

Five other election hopefuls are running as Independents without any affiliation to anyone else. Three of those have served as councillors, having previously been elected as Labour members.

In all, there are 222 candidates. The Greens and Labour are each putting up 54 candidates – one in every seat – across all 23 wards while the Conservatives are fielding 50 and the Lib Dems 30.

Questions asked by voters were sent to all candidates and to the biggest parties.

The answers from the candidates will be published ward by ward next week. Here are the answers from the parties.

…

The Brighton and Hove Independents have nine candidates standing for election. The group can be found on Twitter @BHIndies, Instagram @BHindependents and Facebook www.facebook.com/bhindependents.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Back to basics: improving the look and feel of our city – bins emptied, pavements weeded and mended, graffiti stamped out, potholes filled, public spaces including parks maintained, more investment in social care.

New Homes – building on council-owned brownfield sites.

A high-quality education for all our kids.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Fixing the basics – bins, pavements, roads, graffiti, ongoing and proper maintenance of public spaces, more investment in social care, etc.

Homes – building new council homes and improving those that we have already.

Education – three-quarters of our city’s primary schools are running a deficit.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

1. By putting the needs of residents first. The primary role of Green, Labour and Conservative councillors is to put the needs and demands of their party first.
2. By listening to residents.

All politicians say they listen to the people they represent but we know this isn’t true. Valley Gardens Phase 3 is the £13 million scheme which will replace the roundabout at the Aquarium by the Palace Pier with a junction. Thousands of residents and prominent businesses – including the pier, the Aquarium, a medical centre, language schools and hotels – have objected to the scheme for years.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

1 Rubbish, recycling and weeding streets

1 Housing

1 Local economy and investment

1 Schools

1 Transport

1 Social care

1 Environment

1 Employment

Mental health

Personal safety

Physical health

Public involvement in decision-making

Digital literacy

Equality of opportunity

Freedom of expression

…

The Conservative Party has 50 candidates standing for election. The party can be found on Twitter @BHConservatives, Instagram @BHConservatives and Facebook www.facebook.com/bhconservatives.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Our manifesto outlines “10 Good reasons to vote Conservative”

www.tinyurl.com/brightonandhovemanifesto

1 Fix rubbish and recycling collections – As our number 1 priority, the Conservatives will fix the rubbish and recycling issues that have blighted Brighton and Hove for 12 years under Labour-Green councils.

2 Make our streets safe again – The Conservatives will reinstate lapsed PSPOs (public space protection orders), apply for funding for CCTV and lighting, enforce by-laws and end the extreme council policy that allows tents and begging in public places.

3 Save our urban fringe – The Conservatives will immediately stop the joint Labour-Green development plan that would concrete over 15 wildlife sites.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Restore our city’s heritage – The Conservatives will make restoring Brighton’s heritage a priority, starting with the Madeira Terraces.

The council has let the city’s heritage decay and left historic parks and gardens in a poor state.

During the past four years, Conservative councillors, with our local focus, worked to secure funding of £4.5 million to restore the first 80 arches of the Madeira Terraces, £1.135 million to kickstart the Saltdean Lido restoration and £250,000 funding to restore the Victoria Fountain.

A Conservative-run council would do even more to get our heritage restored and bring back civic events.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

The Conservatives will provide the leadership to get the council back to work in person and delivering its services for residents again.

We will reopen face-to-face services closed by Greens and Labour and ensure council telephone lines are open and being answered. Residents’ services must come first.

The Conservatives are 100 per cent focused on the local issues the council is responsible for.

We will return decision-making to the public view, make sure residents’ petitions and questions are heard and will reduce out-of-control bureaucracy, up 400 per cent under Labour/Greens. Don’t risk another four years of a Green-Labour coalition.

…

The Friends of Brighton and Hove Independents have eight candidates standing for election. The group can be found on Twitter @FriendsofBandH and Facebook www.facebook.com/profile.php?id=100090443114170.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Cleaning up the city and restoring all democratic and council services which residents pay for, rejuvenating Brighton and Hove as the UK’s premier seaside resort to make the local economy thrive again, working with residents to ensure we are providing a well-kept and well-functioning city in which to live again.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Ensuring every city youngster from the age of 14 had regular access to Youth Club activities in their area to give them something positive to enjoy irrespective of home/school situation and prevent anti-social behaviour, crime and mental health issues later, so this money would be repaid to the city in social benefits many times over in the future.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

Ensure all city proposals are widely advertised and easy to find on the website with generous feedback deadlines.

Ensure unbiased consultations with pre-set parameters of the percentage of responses needed in the affirmative for the next stage.

Reopen all council services. Publish all FOIs (freedom of information requests and responses) on the council website.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

1 Local economy and investment

2 Employment

3 Public involvement in decision-making

4 Social care

5 Housing

6 Rubbish, recycling and weeding streets

7 Environment

8 Schools

9 Transport

10 Equality of opportunity

11 Mental health

12 Freedom of expression

13 Personal safety

14 Physical health

15 Digital literacy

…

The Green Party has 54 candidates standing for election. The party can be found on Twitter @BHGreens, Instagram @brightonhovegreenparty and Facebook facebook.com/brightonhovegreens.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Understandably as the Green Party, we care about climate justice and tackling the climate crisis.

The next 10 years will see the effects of the climate crisis become more visible than they already are.

Therefore, continuing to fund projects which help the city both reduce rising temperatures and adapt to this changing climate is critical.

As a party, we are clear that climate justice goes hand in hand with social justice – that is, making the city fairer for everyone in it.

Our third priority is improving the health of communities, which is even more important after the pandemic.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Sadly, the funding given to councils is getting smaller and smaller due to increased pressures on essential public services and government cuts.

We believe that the piecemeal approach of offering councils pots of money to deliver random projects lets communities down and would like to see councils funded properly.

This £10 million would not return to the city the £200 million stolen from our residents by the Conservative government but we would put it, as we always do, towards protecting vital public services against the backdrop of Conservative government cuts.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

There has been some good practice in different consultations over the past few years, such as “planning for real” consultations or the climate conversations platform.

But sadly, the council doesn’t always get it right or use the best practice learned across the council.

We would seek to work with council staff to improve consultations and make them easier for people to give their views.

We also think it is really important that parties commit to keeping the committee system, rather than pledging a return to the cabinet system as this would make decisions less open and transparent.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

We believe many/most of these areas are intertwined and that policies should benefit many of this list rather than seeing them as separate “siloed” areas.

For example, retrofitting homes is a benefit to housing, the environment, employment and health.

Mental and physical health services, which have faced 13 years of government cuts, produce a huge number of co-benefits alongside their own importance.

Public involvement in decision-making also strengthens all of these areas, producing better outcomes across all areas of council services and beyond.

…

Labour has 54 candidates standing for election. The party can be found on Twitter @BHLabour, Instagram @bhlabourgroup and Facebook www.facebook.com/bhlabour.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Housing. Local economy and investment. Environment.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Should an incoming majority Labour administration have a £10 million budget enhancement, its priorities would be to focus on service areas that would deliver substantial benefits to our residents. These would include

– investment in homelessness prevention and “no second night out” programmes

– investment in mental health services for children

– investment in early years learning with the setting up a new “sure start” children’s centre

– pilot a Brighton and Hove living rent scheme with investment in private rental sector enforcement schemes

– additional support to businesses and households, the local economy and lifeguards on our beaches

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

Labour is committed to genuine consultation with residents. We should have a lot more face-to-face engagement with our customers.

For example, we could have a standing citizens’ panel, similar to Lambeth, which discusses all manner of different policies and initiatives. This was tried and tested with the climate assembly and worked well.

We should also reach out to people by having officers in shopping centres on certain days like Wandsworth and Worthing, where the public can come and discuss their issues directly with council staff.

We realise this will need a significant rethinking of customer services and investment.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

1 Housing

2 Local economy and investment

3 Environment

4 Schools

5 Mental health

6 Physical health

7 Employment

8 Social care

9 Transport

10 Rubbish, recycling and weeding streets

11 Equality of opportunity

12 Personal safety

13 Digital literacy

14 Public involvement in decision-making

15 Freedom of expression

…

The Liberal Democrats have 30 candidates standing for election. The party can be found on Twitter @liberalbrighton.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

Build more affordable housing.

Introduce a new park-and-ride scheme.

Bring back the standard of our pavements and roads to the standards of previous years.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

Purchase and instal 300 underground rubbish and recycling bins in the tourist parts of the city.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

Help implement regular surgeries by local councillors in each ward.

Ensure all elected councillors hold community ward gatherings to face residents and businesses every few months to take on board issues, concerns and praise for work they’ve supported.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

1 Environment

2 Schools

3 Local economy and investment

4 Social care

5 Housing

6 Mental health

7 Rubbish, recycling and weeding streets

8 Employment

9 Transport

10 Personal safety

11 Physical health

12 Public involvement in decision-making

13 Freedom of expression

14 Equality of opportunity

15 Digital literacy

…

The Trade Union and Socialist Coalition (TUSC) has eight candidates standing for election. The party can be found on Twitter @TuscB.

What are the three top priorities for Brighton and Hove over the next 10 years?

No one should be cold, hungry or homeless.

Brighton and Hove is nice to visit but an increasingly difficult place to live.

Visitors don’t see the deep-seated poverty in areas like East Brighton.

We can’t afford another 13 years of Tory government implementing planned poverty and running down public services.

Councils are responsible for 20 per cent of public expenditure. Central government has cut £100 million.

The council should set a “needs” budget so no one in the city is cold, hungry or homeless and join with others to demand the money back.

If you had £10 million to spend on anything in Brighton and Hove, how would you spend it?

£10 million is a fraction of the money central government has taken from the city in the past 13 years.

A TUSC councillor would use the council’s first meeting after the election to propose an emergency programme so no one is cold, hungry or homeless.

We would challenge the other councillors to vote for it.

Since June last year there has been a continuing strike wave. The council should devote resources to make Brighton a trade union city where all employers pay a living wage of a minimum of £15 an hour.

How would you improve public engagement and democratic accountability in Brighton and Hove?

Politics should be the people deciding how the resources of a rich country are spent.

This year’s budget debates ignored adult social care. It’s not surprising people are cynical about politicians.

A mass campaign to get the resources the city needs would certainly improve public engagement.

Four yearly elections limit democratic accountability.

The current Green administration wasn’t elected but became the largest group because of Labour’s purge of Corbyn supporters.

TUSC argues for the return of annual elections to improve democratic accountability.

Rank the following in order of importance from 1 (most important) to 15 (least important).

All of these are important. TUSC opposes playing one need off against others.

…

Polling day is Thursday 4 May when, for the first time, voters will be required to show photo ID.