BRIGHTON AND HOVE GREENS SCENT SUCCESS
Forget all other dates. May 3rd is the only one on the minds of Brighton and Hove Greens. The local elections have brought out party activists from the city and further afield. Pounding the streets, knocking on doors, delivering newsletters and newspapers, they are persuading electors that the Green Party is the city’s best hope for the future.
By Geoffrey Bowden
Pete knows what he is talking about. He was the first elected Green councillor in Brighton in 1996 stepping down in 2003 after two terms to concentrate on his young family. Now he has made a welcome return and is coordinating a disciplined election campaign, while standing again in the stronghold ward of St Peter’s & North Laine. The party has grown steadily since it first contested all seats on the old Brighton Borough Council in 1990. At the last local election in 2003, the party put itself into pole position by doubling its seats to six. The upward trend continued the following year with Caroline Lucas attracting more votes in the Euro election than Labour and coming second overall in the city.
The 2005 General Election saw Keith Taylor secure 22% of the poll in Brighton Pavilion, the largest ever Green vote, while deposits were saved in the two neighbouring constituencies. Independent pollsters are predicting significant Green gains in the local elections. Party activists, along with probably the strongest slate of candidates ever, have been hitting the streets daily. They have been joined by party members from as far a field as Oxford, Hackney, Norwich and Lancaster. There is even a former Hove resident and party activist now living in New Zealand who has rallied to the cause. He is tele-canvassing via the internet phone service Skype.
“While voters want to give Labour a bloody nose, they also want to know what Greens have achieved over the last four years and what the city can expect from a council with more Green councillors ,” says Keith Taylor, Convenor of the Green Group. Those achievements are many. Party pressure led to the greening of developments, along with construction training for all major regeneration schemes in the city. Greens campaigned to make Brighton and Hove a fair trade city and drew praise nationally for its campaign against homophobic and anti-women ‘murder music’. Other campaigns have brought a seafront rapid transit link nearer, while a fairer secondary schools admissions system is now in place – although well-off parents are upset that buying homes near to good schools no longer guarantees privileged access for their kids.
