The Conservatives may not have taken any seats in the city at the General Election but there is every reason to be optimistic, says Robert Nemeth

WITH three children under three and well over one million bees in my care, standing for Parliament in Hove and Portslade was always going to be tough.

A supportive family and the end of the beekeeping season really opened up the possibility though, and an incredibly loyal and hard-working team around me, to whom I will be forever grateful, made the idea appealing.

I was thrilled to be picked towards the end of October to stand alongside my friends and colleagues, Dr Emma Hogan and Cllr Joe Miller in Brighton Pavilion and Brighton Kemptown respectively, as part of the most united and positive team in Brighton & Hove. Whilst I didn’t win, I am hugely upbeat about the result, except for the fact that 2019 showed little progress by Conservatives in persuading residents that the Great Brighton Experiment – our wonderful city’s current dalliance with socialism – is comprehensively failing.

It’s touted as a badge of honour that somehow the city is being different in voting this way but the situation is exactly the opposite. All southern university-themed metropolitan areas are from the same mould (London, Oxford, Bristol and Exeter are obvious examples). The counter-culture in such places is now Conservatism! Radical policies to tackle poverty; reform public services; energise the North; and shake up the Civil Service are coming from the Right. Whilst vaguely amusing, there are serious consequences locally of the current “People’s Republic of Brighton” approach (a chilling moniker given how many tens of millions have met their premature ends in real so-called “People’s Republics”). My grandfather was lucky to escape Hungary in 1948, before the formation of the People’s Republic but after Communist takeover. Like a Guevera T-shirt, People’s Republic fantasies are best left at university, and are deeply insulting to anybody whose relatives may not have been able to get out.

I must stand up for Corbyn himself. I completely disagree with his solutions to the problems before us, but I don’t see him in the negative light through which he is portrayed. Corbynism is a different matter though. It makes absolute sense to me that the Labour Party is socialist otherwise what on earth is its purpose? But the negative motives of so many supporters, emboldened by a pack mentality on social media, poisoned a potentially principled position.

I must say that I was deeply impressed by the newly-elected Labour Member of Parliament for Nottingham East, Nadia Whittome, who has chosen to forego over half of her salary in solidarity with the less well-off. This is to be commended and a lesson in consistency, integrity and leadership for any millionaire claiming to be in favour of extreme wealth distribution.

Although Brighton & Hove was behind the curve in standing up to Corbynism, there is huge potential here to be different for the right reasons. It saddens me that we are so behind surrounding Conservative-run towns and villages on nearly every meaningful metric. It’s shameful that residents of Hove and Portslade have to drive to Burgess Hill and Worthing just to swim. Residents were even driving to Shoreham Tip to dispose of their rubbish until Adur Council put a stop to that. But these are minor issues compared to the very local crises of mental health, rough-sleeping and drugs. Labour’s local manifesto pledge to end rough-sleeping by 2020, whilst honourable, was completely unachievable and has clearly been a failure. I wish to see Brighton & Hove as a truly unique city so I’m loathe to suggest anywhere else to replicate. The pro-business, pro-technology and pro-tourism policies of California offer many lessons; not least because they ooze positivity. But the state’s rough-sleeping situation is a lesson in how not to do things. Positivity is uplifting. Negativity, not least a tendency to embrace bad news over good, has been most unhelpful in recent years. Lots of people actually believed the NHS conspiracy theories but disbelieved pledges on nurse numbers. Our Prime Minister’s enshrinement in legislation of the biggest-ever NHS funding boost was still sneered at. Conservatives locally do need to do more to win and this process has now commenced.

One irony of course is that Labour’s disastrous second referendum policy originated from Hove and ultimately caused the party’s downfall across the North and a collapse in working class support. Hove embracing the Remain cause ultimately led to a huge Conservative majority. Whilst the people never consented to Europe’s historic People’s Republics as they have done in Brighton & Hove, there will ultimately be a time when it will be felt enough is enough. Democracy will see to that. The Great Brighton Experiment is failing. Let’s confine it to the last decade.