I AM elated that the Green party has been elected.

Hopefully they will have the courage to oversee the removal of four strategic directors appointed last November by Brighton and Hove City Council. Will we see the results of their work or is this a closely guarded secret?

The Greens have a lot of work to do to make this council accountable and transparent – something not seen in years – and I wish them, like many others, all the best for the time ahead.

Noel S Deighton, Holland Street, Brighton

SO Brighton and Hove has a hung council, with the Greens as the largest party.

Having read their plans and proposals, it appears Green councillors are some of the most naive politicians the city’s ever had.

There are going to be lot of failures and broken promises when they suddenly understand that the budget is finite and nasty choices will have to be made.

Their aspirations are admirable but, at present, most of them are unrealistic, impractical and unaffordable.

The Green party will get the same shock the Lib Dems got when getting into the coalition.

It’s one thing to be criticising from a minority position – it’s very different to be having the responsibility to make tough decisions. They’re in for a shock!

David Guthrie, Hollingbury Road, Brighton

THERE is lots to unpick following the local elections in Brighton and Hove.

Obviously the Greens were the big winners, but Labour should take heart in Hove and Portslade having made four gains.

The party ran an effective campaign to win back seats in North and South Portslade and Hangleton, while they left the Tories stunned in Wish ward where Labour topped the poll and was only 166 votes shy of a clean sweep.

On top of this, former Councillor Simon Battle was just 132 short of becoming the first Labour Councillor in the history of Westbourne ward.

Labour will be disappointed to lose Melanie Davis in Goldsmid to the Green onslaught. However, whatever your politics one thing is clear, Hove MP Mike Weatherley has reason to worry when he surveys his constituency.

When the coalition disintegrates – surely only a matter of time now – and the people of Hove and Portslade return to the polls, he will have a tough job on his hands to retain his seat if the evidence of these elections are anything to go by.

Mark Drayton, Molesworth Street, Hove

EVERY Green voter I know owns a car. Enough said.

H Atkins, Hornby Road, Bevendean, Brighton

IT WAS good to see Hove Liberal Democrat, Paul Elgood, accepting last week’s local election defeat to the Greens with good grace (The Argus, May 7).

It was also interesting to note that Mr Elgood had been speaking out against his party being in coalition with the Conservatives for some time.

In contrast, it was extraordinary to see his national leader, Nick Clegg, blaming fear of a “Thatcherite-style programme of cuts” for his party’s abysmal showing at the polls. What does he think his coalition has been planning for the past year, if not a programme of cuts that will dwarf anything Margaret Thatcher did?

It is also galling to hear Tory and LibDem politicians continually repeat the lie that the cause of these cuts is the mess that Labour left the country in. This is patently untrue. The current deficit is almost entirely due to the global banking crisis. They know that, but continue to trot out the same old myths.

What is equally distressing, however, is that the LibDems have squandered the chance to introduce a more progressive voting system into the UK.

By meekly accepting the deep, damaging cuts to public services and the huge rise in university fess, the Liberal Democrats have destroyed any faith the electorate held in them, thereby making the vote on AV a foregone conclusion.

The Tories are now busy planning boundary changes which will mean fewer Labour MPs in the future and have also created more Tory Lords in the House of Lords – the net effect of which will be to make it harder than ever to replace them at the next election, or to challenge their current plans.

Peter Atkinson, Wolseley Road, Portslade

WE WOULD like to thank those residents who stayed loyal to us and came out and voted for us last week.

In Tarring, we won with a good majority but sadly, in Castle, we missed out by a handful of votes.

We understand the public’s point of view in these challenging times, and hope they will continue to support us locally in the work we do for the community.

We will continue to lobby the Government for our local area – in particular for the NHS, which is so vital to us.

Hazel Thorpe (Tarring ward), Robin Rogers (Castle ward), Liberal Democrat councillors, High Street, Tarring

MAY I, along with my fellow councillors Penny Gilby, Leslie Hamilton and Alan Robins, thank the residents of Portslade for their support in last Thursday’s local election.

councillor Bob Carden, Labour North Portslade, opposition spokesperson for planning and community safety at Brighton and Hove City Council