Labour hold East Brighton in by-election
Labour held on to one of its safest seats in the East Brighton by-election tonight (Thursday 18 October).
Chaun Wilson, a member of the party executive in Brighton and Hove, topped the poll with 1,596 votes.
She becomes a member of Brighton and Hove City Council in place of Craig Turton, who stood down because of ill health.
Joe Miller, the 18-year-old Conservative candidate, came second with 531 votes and the Greens’ Carlie Goldsmith came third with 456 votes.
Chaun Wilson
Councillor Wilson joins fellow Labour members Warren Morgan and Gill Mitchell, the Labour group leader, in representing East Brighton on the council.
She said: “I would like to thank the people in East Brighton. They’ve made a vote for common sense and I’m really looking forward to working in the area.
“I’d also like to thank my colleagues in the party for all their hard work.”
She has worked in private and voluntary sector housing and dealt with homelessness and said that she was interested in issues such as inequality, discrimination and poverty.
She described herself as passionate about LGBT issues and inequalities of youth and said that she liked community engagement and involvement.
Former Brighton Pavilion Labour MP David Lepper was among the party members at the count celebrating the result.
Simon Kirby, the Conservative MP for Brighton Kemptown, went along to support Mr Miller.
The full result was
- Chaun Wilson, Labour, 1,596 votes
- Joe Miller, Conservative, 531 votes
- Carlie Goldsmith, Green, 456 votes
- Sabiha Choudhury, UKIP, 148 votes
- Dominic Sokalski, Liberal Democrat, 59 votes
- Jon Redford, Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts, 55 votes
The turnout was 26.21 per cent with 2,857 people voting. There were 1,105 postal votes and 12 spoilt ballot papers.
