Seventeen years after they won their first seat on Brighton Council, and two years after taking minority control of Brighton and Hove City Council, the Greens have lost one of their safest council seats to Labour on a swing of 12 per cent in a defeat at the heart of Caroline Lucas’s Pavilion constituency. Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group in Brighton and Hove Cllr Warren Morgan explains why.
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It’s well known that Brighton and Hove is the only council in the UK run by the Greens, and Brighton Pavilion is the only parliamentary constituency with a Green MP, so it will be a shock to some that Labour spectacularly defeated them in one of their strongholds, wiping out a majority of almost a thousand votes.
In 2010 Caroline Lucas won a narrow (1.2 per cent) victory over Labour’s Nancy Platts, followed by the election of 23 Green councillors a year later on a citywide vote share just 1 per cent larger than Labours. An efficient election machine, an appealing ‘anti-politics, anti-cuts’ message, a strong student electorate and ruthless targeting enabled the Greens to score successive victories in elections during Labour’s time in office nationally.
Taking office has, however, exposed the divisions within the Green Party which is, in effect, a broad and diverse coalition of people on the left, environmental activists, disillusioned Labour voters and, in a few cases, some individuals who are a little eccentric. At one time appealing in traditionally alternative Brighton, faced with brutal cuts to local government voters now want something more reliable that speaks about the very immediate challenges facing families and communities.
Last year the Green council leader Jason Kitcat narrowly survived a Green group leadership vote, despite the fact that no-one stood against him. After defeating ‘re-open nominations’ again this year in the midst of a bruising refuse collection strike, the rebel group of Green councillors approached me asking Labour to nominate another Green rebel as council leader. I declined. Unwhipped, Green councillors are free to call publicly for Cllr Kitcat to resign with no sanction. Meanwhile we’ve seen the absurdity of Green councillors voting to cut down a tree to create a cycle lane, then weeks later campaigning to save the same tree.
While many policies pursued by the Greens have had Labour support, the speed and manner of implementation (in pursuit of 2015 manifesto ‘achievements’) has meant they have been unpopular with residents, for example the introduction of a citywide 20mph limit using the entire road safety budget for the foreseeable future. Meanwhile despite achieving ‘One Planet Living’ status, recycling rates under Green council control have fallen.
The new politics of the Greens has foundered on some very old political rules. The lessons are, you can’t push your policies through against an unwilling electorate, you must have a degree of party unity and discipline to succeed, and easy promises in opposition are quickly exposed under the harsh light of scrutiny when in office.
Recent elections in the city have seen Green support plummeting and Labour taking between 40 to 55 per cent of the vote. At the same time the Tories are locked in a battle with UKIP which mirrors the Labour/Green contests of the past decade. Brighton and Hove now seems set to end its affair with the Greens and elect a Labour council, plus Labour MPs in its three top 20 target seats, on the same day in 2015. As one voter said to me on the doorstep, ‘we gave the Greens a try; now we are coming home to a party we know and can trust.’
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Warren Morgan is a councillor and the leader of the Labour group on Brighton and Hove City Council. He tweets @warrenmorgan
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Photo: Leo Reynolds
arrogant,smug,blairite.
What was Blairite about his article? God forbid someone should be pro-Labour on a pro-Labour site eh?
Poignant article well written. Let’s hope this is the beginning of the end of the Green Experiment.
Greens as ‘anti-politics’ – nonsense
Shows what’s wrong with party politics: not what’s wrong with ‘Greens’. Whipping and ‘party unity’ are anti-democratic and should, rightly, be illegal. That will never happen, of course: parties are quite content with their cartel, and its sequential identikit majoritarian dictatorships. Sad for Brighton: sad for us all.
“When I were a lad ….” as an electrical apprentice, working in Brighton, I remember the first parking meters being installed in a few streets. Like so many things in the last few decades, it was the thin end of the proverbial wedge. Now, under the Greens, Brighton is virtually a “no go
area” for motorists unless you are relatively well off, self-employed or on company expenses. “Poor people,” who are motorists, are squeezed out of Brighton because of exorbitant on and off street parking charges. The creation of bus lanes, draconian parking enforcement, various traffic control measures, etc. have angered many residents. They are perceived as the council’s anti-motorist policies. The extension of payment zones is relentless. For many, it appears it will only stop when the council has pushed them to the borders of the city. The local newspaper [Argus] is full of resident Brighton/Hove motorists ventingtheir anger over the years.
A few years ago, in a packed, Channel Four fringe, at the Labour Annual conference, I asked the question “Why is there so much anger out there (in society)?” [This was before the rise of austerity”]. I expected, and received, the groans from the audience’s green zealots to my suggestion: “Is it because of the attacks on motorists?”
Anti-motorist policies cause immense discord up and down the country. It is all very well for career politicians, swimming in the Westminster gold fish bowl, who use Public transport, taxis, etc. However, in the “real world;” where voters live, work and try to survive, having a means of
private transport is not only a source of pleasure but one of necessity. As one gets older, jumping on a bike can be a painful experience due to the wearing out of the body beautiful!
Public transport is held up as “The Answer.” Dancing is an important part of my life AND my mental health. There is pleasure in giving pleasure. From feedback, I also enrich the lives of my dance partners! This life activity entails a considerable amount of travel. To go dancing in Worthing from Patcham (a Brighton suburb) it would take me about 20 minutes. If I used public transport it could take one and a half to two hours, or more, depending upon connection gaps. Us “ordinary people” (the Plebs?!) put up with the hassle Green zealots throw at us to maintain that little bit of independence private transport gives us. As SERA admitted awhile back, “we
(green zealots) seem unable to get people out of their motor cars.” (Paraphrased).
Green zealots seem to hold a belief that if they ban cars from towns and cities, they will, somehow, solve the Global Warming problem. Oxford, where I have other connections, is yet another “no go area” for motorists. This is paradox in that a much of the city’s wealth and employment is dependent upon motor manufacturing! As, indeed, is a good deal of the UK
engineering economy. (Biting the hand that feeds you?!)
Many “attacks” on motorists [from clamping, private car parking “fines” to speed cameras, etc.] causes great anger, especially for the older generations who are, incidentally, the group most likely to vote. 20 mph zones imply that the average motorist is “thick” and unable to judge a safe
speed, depending upon the driving conditions. Apart from the “nanny state” argument, it is treating people, yet again, like robots. Are motorists perceived as a soft targets (e.g. by Police), wealthy and easily milked (e.g. by councils)? Were UKIP’s specific pro-motorist policies a factor in its surge?
If the war waged against motorists is a significant reason for the Green Party’s decline, should
Labour become “the Motorists’ friend”? John Cruddas was on the Channel Four panel that day. If he was not listening then, is he now? If HE does, will the young, career politicians with Labour policy influence do the same? I doubt it, since they do not seem to listen to mature people (who might have a great deal of REAL and varied life experience). Some even treat us with contempt!
OLD GRASSROOTS GEEZER