On Friday we marked International Women’s Day and in true Brighton style there were so many unique and creative events celebrating women and girls across the city – including an over 500 strong women’s sea dip, writes Bella Sankey. As a woman council leader I know I’m only here because of the sacrifices and struggles of women that came before me. And this year’s theme of inclusivity, reminds us that women’s equality will only succeed when women who are held back by multiple disadvantage are allowed to live safely, freely and in dignity.

By far the most pressing injustice against women and girls in our country and wider world, is the violence we endure. It’s horrifying that so many women are killed by men every year in our country. At the council we are continuing to invest over £1 million in our frontline VAWG (violence against women and girls) services in 2024-25, including our women’s refuge and support services, but we need a Labour government that is serious about ending this epidemic of violence.

As a country we still have a long way to go to close the gender pay gap. But I am proud to say that this is now not so at Brighton and Hove City Council, where we don’t have a gender pay gap. In fact, currently our women staff on average earn marginally more than our men.

I also want to acknowledge the women in positions of power today, who continue to break glass ceilings. One that stands out for me is Labour’s shadow chancellor Rachel Reeves, who I hope will very soon be the UK’s first female chancellor. Rachel is a formidable woman and she is also the most competent and best placed person to turn our country’s economy around.

The spring budget announced by Chancellor Jeremy Hunt last week fell well short of the measures needed to grow the economy or ensure adequate funding for public services. Even his own backbenchers were dismayed with such a lacklustre budget in an election year.

Along with other council leaders and the Labour-led Local Government Association, I lobbied for an extension to the Household Support Fund, a vital fund established as a safety net to mitigate the Tory cost-of-living crisis by for example allowing us to provide direct support to food banks and meal vouchers for low income families during school holidays. During the autumn statement the Treasury stated that the fund would end this year. Yet with just three weeks to go until the next financial year, the Tories have now U-turned and confirmed a partial extension of the fund of six months. While I am glad our lobbying has been successful, this still falls well short and makes no sense, leaving food banks and councils unable to plan beyond this - does the government think there won’t be food poverty and families on the edge in six months?

This has validated our decision to create the Brighton and Hove Fairness Fund to support residents. Our Labour council has set up this local fund of £614,000 which will ensure continuation of funding for those struggling the most in our city in this broken Tory economy. The fund will include help with food vouchers, discretionary payments, support for food banks and funds to community groups in need. Where the Tory government won’t provide a contingency fund for a whole year, your Labour council will.

The most jaw-dropping bit of the spring statement for me was Hunt’s attempt to spin away the impact of austerity by blaming the crisis in local government funding on investment in equality, diversity and inclusion (EDI) programmes. It’s laughable to suggest the billions missing from our local government finance settlements has anything to do with the relatively tiny amount of funding that makes our councils fairer and better performing. I suggest Mr Hunt embraces EDI and gets some training for his colleagues – from Liz Truss cosying up to Steve Bannon to Lee Anderson’s sickening Islamophobia, we’ll take no lessons from this Tory government on how to tackle racism.

Local Conservative councillors are little better. They spent their tax-payer funded time last week talking Brighton down to the national right-wing media, presumably pleased to see negative headlines about our fantastic city.

Between the lacklustre spring budget and the recent political decision to prevent cities like ours qualifying as “functional economic areas” I can’t help but think the Tory government are dragging us back to the 1980s, when they adopted an approach of managed decline. Deliberately withdrawing funding from cities like Brighton makes no sense, particularly as all the evidence shows that our city consistently punches above its weight and is integral to the economic growth of the wider region.

But thankfully their time is nearly up and under Labour we’ll do so much better.

Bella Sankey is leader of Brighton and Hove City Council