A good choice for Labour in Brighton and Hove

This is one of those blog posts where I ought to remind you that this is a personal blog, on which I express my own personal opinions.

East Brighton Councillor Nancy Platts has responded to the announcement from Labour Group Leader Daniel Yates that he will not be seeking re-election as Group Leader by declaring her candidacy for the vacancy.

I think that Nancy is the ideal candidate to lead the Labour Group in Brighton and Hove, and to lead any negotiations with the Green Group which may now take place following Thursday’s local election results. I have known Nancy for more than a decade and know that she is a committed and principled socialist.

Nancy is well known in the Party and City, having served as Chair of the former City Party across Brighton and Hove, and having stood for our Party in both Pavilion and Kemptown in the past decade. Since being elected for East Brighton last year she has quickly developed a reputation as a hardworking local Councillor.

Nancy is also well-placed to unite the Party, as a well-known ally and supporter of our Leader, Jeremy Corbyn who is respected on both the right and left of the Party. Our unity will be important if we are to have constructive discussions with our friends and neighbours in the Green group in order to try to establish a solid majority for a radical local authority.

I would like to see a process whereby all Labour Party members could express their views about the leadership of the Labour Group – and I hope that we can develop such a process for future years. Now, however there is no time to initiate this process before the Annual Meetings of the Group (on 13 May) and of the Council (on 22 May).

This year the decision as to who shall be Labour Group Leader must be made by the 20 members of the Group. I hope that they will rally behind the radical unity candidate, Nancy Platts.