Former council leader faces battle to be Labour candidate in Hove

The opposition Labour group on Brighton and Hove City Council has elected a new leader.

Councillor Warren Morgan takes over from fellow East Brighton councillor Gill Mitchell.

Councillor Mitchell stepped down as leader but continues to represent her ward on the council.

Councillor Morgan said: “In just 100 weeks voters in Brighton and Hove will get the chance to give their verdict on the Green Party’s four years in power and the wholesale privatisation plans of the local Conservatives.

“Despite the huge cuts imposed by the Conservative-led coalition government on the city council, I still believe in providing decent local services delivered by listening to what residents want.

Councillor Warren Morgan

“We have seen the absurdity of a Green council whose councillors voted to cut down a tree then campaigned to save it.

“A Green Party that won minority control with just 33 per cent of the vote by pledging to ‘resist all cuts’ but which has had to implement them nonetheless.

“A Green council which pledged a living wage but which is now cutting the pay of refuse and recycling workers by up to £4,000.

“We’ve seen with the Greens how promises made at election time often can’t be kept.

“However, there are some things I will pledge to do.

“A Labour and Co-operative-run council under my leadership after May 2015 will focus on jobs, homes and schools, on delivering well-run local services and bringing much needed investment into the city.

“We will aim to keep any council tax increases to a minimum under a Labour government committed to fair funding for local councils.

“The Conservatives have cut tens of millions of pounds from the city’s economy and from the funds the council relies on to deliver decent services.

“Their austerity policies have led to a thousand per cent increase in the number of people using food banks in Sussex and many working families have seen their incomes fall at a time when household bills are going up.

“I am on their side, not the side of millionaires who got a big tax cut last month.

Councillor Gill Mitchell

“I want us to look at good ideas that have been proven to work elsewhere, like giving discounts on bus travel to credit union members like they have in Oldham under Labour leadership or boosting lending to local businesses via co-operative loan schemes.

“We will look at establishing commissions to tackle inequality and boost opportunity as other Labour councils have done, set up initiatives to boost employment as many Labour London boroughs have done and see if we can learn from what Labour is doing in Liverpool, Stevenage and Rochdale to provide more homes that are affordable and sustainable.

“We will learn from others and we will innovate, without spending money on untested and experimental projects.

“We would encourage all new schools to be part of a family of local schools that look to the co-operative trust as a model and work together for the benefit of all the city’s children.

“At the next local elections we will have some fresh faces and some new ideas as well as experience and policies proven to work both here and elsewhere.

“We won’t abandon efforts to make the city more sustainable. We were the greenest council before the Greens came along. We will still be the greenest after they have gone.

“We won’t hand over local services to multinational companies on ten year contracts like the Tories want to do.

“People in Brighton and Hove want their council run and staffed locally by city residents, listening to what residents want – and that’s what we will deliver.”