The city’s new Labour council leader has publicly slammed the former Green administration - calling it an “unmitigated disaster”.
Labour’s Bella Sankey made the comment on Twitter in response to a post from Green MP Caroline Lucas, who congratulated all those elected to the city council but expressed disappointment at her party’s dismal performance in the polls.
Cllr Sankey slammed the Greens in a tweet at 2.26am on Saturday, just hours after former deputy council leader Hannah Allbrooke stormed out of the ballot count in a fury after losing her seat.
“Thanks for the congratulations, but your party has been a disaster for our city. An unmitigated disaster. And they needed to be kindly shown the door. A relief for us all,” said Cllr Sankey in a reply to Ms Lucas.
The councillor’s remark was met with mixed reviews, with some applauding her no-nonsense approach while others said it was uncalled for.
“What an ungracious thing to say. Not impressed,” said one person.
While another said: “Bad start from you with that. Totally unnecessary.”
Cllr Sankey defended her comments saying she is standing up for people who have voiced frustrations to her on the doorstep at how the Greens ran the city.
“They have left our city in a terrible state and I’ve spent eight months listening to the deep frustrations of residents which clearly came through in my tweet," she told The Argus.
“The Greens also allowed five classrooms of children seeking asylum to disappear from a hotel in Hove and oversaw the most homeless deaths anywhere in England in 2022.
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“I felt Lucas’s praise for their covid response was misplaced given that they left asylum seekers sleeping rough during Covid and were successfully sued for this in the High Court.
“With this record and given the scale of their defeat last week, I’d expected some acknowledgement from them on the need to reflect but none has been forthcoming.”
Cllr Sankey said she has extended “sincere commiserations” to Green and Tory councillors who lost their seats at the elections last week and recognises the emotional impact it will have.
The councillor also said she has a “great deal” of respect for Caroline Lucas.
“But I will never shy away from critiquing the record of the Green party in administration in Brighton and Hove,” she said.
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