Political alliance running Hastings Borough Council comes to an end

Since the last round of elections left the authority in no overall control a little over six months ago, Hastings Borough Council has been run by a Labour-Green cooperative alliance.

Under this arrangement Labour holds six cabinet postions and the Greens hold two.

The Green Party says it is withdrawing from this agreement as it was about to lose its cabinet positions in the face of pressure from the national Labour Party.

A Green Party spokesman said: “The agreement has been hanging in the balance for weeks, because the national Labour Party has threatened the local Labour leader, Cllr Paul Barnett, with expulsion if he doesn’t remove the two Green portfolio holders from cabinet.

“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.

“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.

“We cannot continue an alliance in which Labour rules bar Greens from holding leadership roles. So, with huge regret we are ending our cooperative agreement. The national Labour Party has made it impractical for us to do anything else.”

With 15 councillors, Labour remains the council’s largest political group; meaning it will have to operate as a minority administration if it intends to continue to control the authority. The Conservatives hold 12 council seats and the Greens five. While there is theoretical possibility of the two groups forming a new cooperative alliance, political reality means such an arrangement is unlikely.

The door is not closed on some form of cross-party working among the council’s political groups, however, with Green group leader Julia Hilton having called for a cross-party meeting.

She said: “Hastings Borough Council faces a severe financial crisis with possible threats to services.

“Hastings residents face a winter of hardship and increasing insecurity, so we need to work together for our town. We call for a cross party meeting to identify a way forward.”

The Hastings Labour Party issued a statement and confirmed the end of the cross-party leadership. Council leader Paul Barnett said: “I would like to thank personally the professional response and relationship I have enjoyed with Cllr Julia Hilton the leader of the Green party group in Hastings during this period of time, her continued understanding and the hard work Cllr Glenn Haffenden and herself have put in to their roles within the cabinet.

“I want to ensure them that 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.”