Going, going, gone: HBC’s red/green alliance ended on national Labour orders

Under orders from national Labour, council leader Paul Barnett has reluctantly ended Hastings Borough Council’s red/green co-operative alliance after less than six months and relieved the two Green portfolio holders of their positions and Cabinet posts. HOT’s Chris Connelley reports.

After weeks of rumour and speculation, it is now official. The Labour/ Green co-operative alliance on Hastings Borough Council is over, after less than six months.

The announcement was made early on Friday 14 October with the release of a statement from the borough’s five Green councillors. Headed ‘National Labour Party Destroys Local Alliance With Greens’, it asserts that “the national Labour Party has threatened local Labour leader, Cllr Paul Barnett, with expulsion from the party if he doesn’t remove the two Green portfolio holders from cabinet”.

The alliance came into being after May’s council elections, which saw Labour lose its overall majority for the first time in many years, following the loss of three seats to an ascendant Green Party. This followed another difficult set of results for Labour in 2021, when it lost five seats, four to the Conservatives, in Baird, Ore, Silverhill and St Helens, and one to the Greens, in Old Hastings ward.

With Labour on 15 seats, the Conservatives 12 and the Greens five, no single party was able to assume overall control, and this year’s Annual Council meeting was delayed as negotiations continued between the three parties on various permutations of possible alliance to create a majority scenario.

Co-operative alliance

After intense discussion, and considerable toing and froing, the lockjam was broken when Labour and the Greens agreed to work together as a co-operative alliance, with the smaller party securing two of the eight seats on Cabinet, the top table committee at which key strategic and budgetary decisions are made.

Under this arrangement, Cllr Julia Hilton, leader of the Greens, took on the climate change, natural environment and active travel portfolio, with newcomer Cllr Glenn Haffenden assuming responsibility for the urban environment. They joined six Labour councillors, under council leader Barnett and new deputy leader Maya Evans.

The Green statement suggests that the arrangement was working well and that “openness and transparency were growing,” before laying the blame for the alliance collapse firmly at the door of national Labour, noting that, “Cllr Barnett has now bowed to this pressure, which changes the terms under which we have been so successfully working. He is being forced to run what will be an unstable and inefficient minority administration”.

The statement continues: “That national Labour Party officials should wade in and pull the strings of the local Labour group with no thought for the best interests of the people of Hastings and St Leonards shows a complete disregard for local democracy. Clearly the national Labour Party cares more about its own internal rules than the lives of people in our town and places little value in parties working together”.

The Greens go on to invite local Labour councillors and activists to “protest against this sort of high-handed behaviour on the part of their leadership, and to defy national Labour diktats that go against the interests of local communities,” before listing the achievements of their two Cabinet members, most notably bringing back the grounds maintenance contract in-house as a direct council service.

The Labour Party issued its response later on Friday, claiming that “following the local elections in Hastings, as the largest political group on the council, the Labour Party, led by Cllr Paul Barnett looked to form a cabinet and lead the council.  With this in mind Cllr Paul Barnett reached out to other local political parties to discuss a way forward for the good of the town.

“These local discussions resulted in the agreement where the Local Green party would be invited to take up two Cabinet roles and work on a policy by policy basis together for the good of the town”.

New arrangement

“Since then, despite many weeks of negotiations and discussions it has become clear that the current cabinet arrangement will need to conclude. The Labour Group will look to set up a new arrangement where they can ensure the best possible outcomes for Hastings in agreement with Labour’s national executive committee.”

The statement concluded with a quote from Cllr Barnett thanking the Green Cabinet members and promising that “I will be looking to find a way to continue that constructive dialogue as we move forward. We are all passionate about our town, the climate change challenge and the huge need to protect our residents from the Conservatives destructive policies.”

The Labour press release provides no explanation as to why the arrangement could not continue.

HOT understands that, in an attempt to retain overall control, Cllr Barnett had tried to tempt the Greens with a new arrangement, under which they would continue to support the Labour administration on major votes in return for the offer of leading roles on new commissions dealing with climate change and culture short of Cabinet status. This proposal was rejected by the smaller party.

Minority administration

Cllr Barnett now confronts the difficult prospect of leading the Council as a minority administration at a time of deep economic uncertainty. His first task will be to fill the vacated Cabinet posts, with deputy mayor Margi O’Callaghan and newcomer John Cannan identified as possible contenders. The new appointments are likely to be accompanied by a reshuffle of portfolios, with veteran Judy Rodgers and Ali O’Rourke tipped for promotion.

Green councillors are due to meet with party members later this month and no further announcements are expected until after this.

Initial reaction on social media was relatively restrained, possibly overshadowed by major events in national government following the sacking of Chancellor Kwasi Kwarteng by Prime Minister Liz Truss after just 38 days.

 

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