County Hall in Lewes, where the Conservatives no longer have a majority of seats.

ESCC becomes a hung council

East Sussex County Council is now under no single party’s control following Conservative losses in two recent by-elections. The Tories now have the same number of seats as all other parties and independents combined. Nick Terdre reports.

Conservative losses in two recent by-elections have moved East Sussex County Council into a position of ‘no overall control’. With the Liberal Democrats and the Greens having won one new seat each, the Tories have 25 seats, as do the opposition parties – LibDems 12, Greens and Labour five each and Independent Democrats two, plus one independent.

On Thursday LibDem candidate Brett Wright was elected in the Meads division of Eastbourne, replacing long-standing Conservative councillor Barry Taylor who died in June. In late July the Green Party’s Anne Cross was victorious in the Heathfield and Mayfield division of Wealden in a by-election prompted by the death of Tory councillor Rupert Simmons in April.

In the event of a tied vote at Full Council, the Tories would still be expected to prevail by virtue of the casting vote of the chair, Tory councillor Peter Pragnell, although HOT understands the one independent often votes with the Tories.

Pragnell’s one-year term as chair ends next May, when a new chair is due to be elected by councillors. According to Sussex World, the council’s constitution is unclear as to what happens in the event of a tied vote for chair. The general public next gets a chance to choose its ESCC representatives in May 2025.

Of the result in Meads, Martin Griffiths, chairperson of the Hastings & Rye LibDems, said on Friday, “The Liberal Democrat victory in Meads division in Eastbourne last night is fantastic news, and gives us serious hope for a Liberal Democrat victory for Josh Babarinde at the next General Election.

“In the meantime, we will be scrutinising the every action of Peter Pragnell, the Chairman of County, who has the casting vote, to see how he delivers for Hastings.” Pragnell is also a Hastings Borough Council councillor. The LibDems lost the Eastbourne parliamentary seat to Tory Caroline Ansell in 2019.

In Rother an alliance of non-Tory councillors has replaced the previous Tory administration, as Southern Rother LibDem councillor Andrew Miers noted: “We have a good working model of non-Conservative alliance at Rother District Council.  I am sure that the Liberal Democrat County Group will be seeking to lead a similar sort of interim administration, so that we can get the Conservatives out of County Hall as soon as possible.  Our poorest families need us to do this without delay.”

Meanwhile Green councillor Johnny Denis has asked for a proportionality review of the chairs of key committees. “When I joined the County Council I was shocked that the Conservatives chaired all the key committees, including the Scrutiny committees,” Green councillor Julia Hilton told HOT.

“This is the Tories marking their own homework. With the increasing number of Greens, and now another LibDem, we are in a stronger position to change this bad practice.”

The Tories have mostly controlled the county council but it has been under no single party’s control three times since 1973, the last time in 2013-17.

The Tories do not control any of the five borough and district councils in East Sussex. Apart from Rother, three are under no overall control: HBC, where Labour is the largest single party, Lewes District Council, where the Greens constitute the largest single party, and Wealden, where the largest single party is the LibDems. Eastbourne Borough Council is controlled by the LibDems.

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