New Green councillors – Tony Collins in Central St Leonards, Amanda Jobson in Gensing and Glenn Haffenden in Tressell ward.

Labour lose council majority following Green surge

In the face of a Green surge, Labour has lost its controlling majority on Hastings Borough Council, opening up the prospect of more collaborative decision-making in council chambers. Nick Terdre details the results of Thursday’s local elections.

Labour’s seemingly impregnable majority on Hastings Borough Council came to an end today when the local election results showed three gains for the Greens, all from Labour, from the 16 seats being contested. The Conservatives, who had high hopes of repeating their successes of last year, when they took four seats off Labour, won nothing new, perhaps reflecting voters’ dissatisfaction with prime minister Boris Johnson, while, in contrast to their performance nationally, the Liberal Democrats had a forgettable day, coming in last in nine of the 11 seats they contested.

Overall the council now consists of 15 Labour councillors, 12 Conservatives and five Greens. How this will play out in practice remains to be seen, though the current exclusion of all opposition councillors from the Cabinet will clearly have to end. Recently installed council leader Paul Barnett, who took over as leader from Cllr Kim Forward in April,  had already declared himself open to collaboration with other parties.

Green wins

Kim Forward’s lengthy period as councillor for Gensing has now been ended by the Greens’ Amanda Jobson, by a healthy 776 votes against 671.

In Central St Leonards the Greens’ Tony Collins ousted sitting councillor and deputy mayor Ruby Cox by a more modest 745 votes to 711. But the most remarkable swing to the Greens came in Tressell, where Glenn Haffenden scored 635 votes against 325 for Liam Crowter, who was seeking to retain the seat for Labour after former council leader Peter Chowney stood down.

Simon Willis, Labour’s new councillor for Ore.

Old retainers

Labour councillors retaining their seats included Mike Turner in Baird, Judy Rogers in Castle – though by a bare five votes over her Green opponent Becca Horn – Paul Barnett in Hollington, Nigel Sinden in Silverhill and Andy Batsford in St Helens.

Mayor James Bacon, who might have expected a tough fight to retain Old Hastings after Julia Hilton won the Greens’ first ever seat in the town there last year, in the end came home comfortably with 51% of the vote.

New reds and old blues

Meanwhile Labour’s Margi O’Callaghan returned to the council at the first attempt in Braybrooke and Simon Willis and John Cannan won seats for the first time in Ore and Wishing Tree respectively.

Conservative leader Andy Patmore: “A remarkable result.”

There were four Conservative holds, all by incumbent councillors: Mike Edwards in Ashdown, John Rankin in Conquest, Andy Patmore in Maze Hill and Matthew Beaver in West St Leonards. Cllr Patmore called the results “remarkable” – “Labour have lost control of this town because, I think, they haven’t listened to residents. Decisions will now have to be taken in a more collaborative way.”

Tressell victor Haffenden said the outcome was “amazing – to go from one councillor to five in such a short period of time shows that Hastings want to change, and they are taking the Green agenda very seriously. Our huge gains show that if you vote Green you get Green.”

The highest turnout in the borough was 49.1% in Old Hastings, followed by 48.1% in St Helens. Elsewhere it varied between 30 and 39%, apart from West St Leonards, where it dipped to 28.7%. Though Labour lost seats, its vote actually increased overall by 4.7% over 2021. The Green vote rose by 5.9% while Conservative support was down by 9.7% and Lib Dem backing by 1%.

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