Councillor Jason Kitcat’s review of the year (Argus Soapbox, December 28) is a long list of minor achievements, most of which will mean little to Argus readers struggling with the rising cost of living. Unsurprisingly, Cllr Kitcat leaves out a few important events of 2013, perhaps ones he would rather not reflect on.
The challenge to his Green Party leadership in May by rival Green councillors, which he defeated by just one vote, and the subsequent coup attempt trying to oust him as Council leader with opposition support, which resulted in mediators being summoned to try and resolve the split, are episodes he won’t want reminding of.
The shock Green by-election defeat by Labour in one of their safest wards in July, on a swing big enough to oust Green MP Caroline Lucas, also doesn’t get a mention. Nor does the BBC opinion poll in October which showed Green support in Brighton and Hove down by a third, leaving them 17% behind Labour locally and third behind the Tories.
With recycling rates continuing to fall, and levels of homelessness and debt rising, the Greens will soon put forward their annual city budget, which some Green councillors are already saying they will not vote for.
They are a party bitterly and fatally divided, in office but not in power, incapable of agreeing on how to meet the huge challenges the city faces in housing, school places and rising poverty, and unable to deliver their own policies.
The Green Party cannot take on the Conservative/Lib Dem government which is cutting tens of millions from city services, breaking up the NHS and handing tax cuts to millionaires while bills for the rest of us rocket.
Elections in less than 500 days will give voters the chance to kick out the Greens and replace them with a Labour council offering real leadership, and at the same time replace Green and Tory MPs with Labour ones who will put local people, local services and local communities first.
Councillor Warren Morgan, Leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, Brighton and Hove City Council
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