In the week and
a bit since the local election results in Brighton and Hove, any truly
attentive observer of the local scene will have seen the important positive
developments underneath the froth of stories about resignations from this or
that, or developments on social media.
First of all,
in response to Daniel Yates’ announcement that – for personal reasons – he wanted
to move on from being leader of the Labour Group on Brighton and Hove City
Council, we have seen the tremendously
welcome declaration of her
candidacy for that position from my friend and comrade Nancy Platts.
Daniel had
initiated, before announcing his departure, a positive approach to working with
the Green Party on the Council, which I know that Nancy will want to pursue.
Today the Greens have responded – in
a very positive way – to the approach from the Labour leadership locally.
The Greens “welcome
the invitation from Labour to discuss how we can work together to make a
difference for our residents” and “would
welcome the opportunity to work with Labour Councillors to set up our shared
vision of a citizen’s assembly on the climate crisis”. They also pledge to “work with the Labour council to achieve what is
best for our city”.
This is a positive response to a positive proposal, and I
hope that the two parties will be able to discuss this a little further in the
coming week, so that next Sunday’s meeting of Labour’s Local Campaign Forum can
make a sensible response in turn. As I have
already said here we need to build solid majority support on the Council
for the radical policies which are necessary if we are to ensure their
implementation by Council officers.
Obviously both Labour and Green activists will be concerned
to promote the interests of their own Party, and will therefore disagree from
time to time about important matters (such as who to vote for in the European elections).
However there is much that we have in common in our manifesto commitments to
the people of Brighton and Hove.
Local people expect us to cooperate in the interests of the
people of the City, and I am optimistic that we shall find ways to do so.
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