Caroline Lucas will be back in Hastings this month (photo: Hastings Green Party).

Caroline Lucas to launch local Greens’ election campaign

Caroline Lucas, the Green Party MP, will return to Hastings in late March to launch the party’s local election campaign in which the Greens will stand candidates in all wards. Nick Terdre reports.

Caroline Lucas, Green Party MP for Brighton Pavilion, will be joining Hastings Green Party members to launch their campaign for the local elections which take place in May. She will be addressing members and supporters at All Saints Hall, All Saints Street, in the Old Town at 5pm on Friday 27 March, before joining in with a door-knocking session locally.

The event, which will conclude with a shared meal, is “open to everyone who wants to see Green councillors elected in Hastings,” but those wishing to attend are asked to book in advance.

Hastings Green Party will be standing candidates in all 16 wards at the forthcoming local elections, looking to improve on its 2018 performance when Julia Hilton fell just 30 votes short of taking a seat from Labour in the Old Hastings ward. Lucas came to lend her support on that occasion too.

“I am delighted that Caroline Lucas is coming to launch our local election campaign in Hastings, and proud that we will be standing candidates in every seat,” said Hilton, the party spokesperson.

“Hastings Borough Council has been a two-party council for too long, and we urgently need more diversity of political views in order to hold the council to account. We came very close to winning a seat on the council in 2018, and invite all those who want to see us win this time to come along and find out how they can help.”

Labour losses predicted

The Greens, and other opposition parties, will have taken note, and probably heart, from reports of a leaked Labour Party document predicting substantial losses in the local elections. According to the forecast, some councils could be lost, including the long-held Sheffield stronghold.

Like Labour nationally, the local party will go into the elections under a new leader, Cllr Kim Forward.

Radical changes in Hastings look a remote possibility, but it will be interesting to see if Labour’s current 23 seats are reduced. Only one seat in each ward will be up for election – that held by the councillor polling the second highest number of votes in 2018, when all seats were contested.

In that election, in the seats won by Labour, the party’s combined vote was less than 50% in four wards: Castle, Old Hastings, Ore and St Helens.

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