2019 Brighton and Hove City Council election

2019 Brighton and Hove City Council election

← 2015 2 May 2019 2023 →
All 54 council seats 28 seats needed for a majority
Turnout	42.7%
First party Second party Third party   Lab Grn Con Party Labour Green Conservative Last election 23 seats, 33.7% 11 seats, 24.8% 20 seats, 28.6% Seats before 23 11 21 seats Seats won 20 19 14 Seat change 3 8 7 Percentage 32.5% 34.1% 21.0% Swing 1.2% 9.3% 7.6%
Map of the results of the 2019 election, by ward.
Previous Largest Party before election Labour Subsequent Largest Party Labour

Elections to Brighton and Hove City Council election took place on 2 May 2019, electing all 54 members of the council, alongside other local elections in England and Northern Ireland.^[1][2]

The Labour Party lost 3 seats compared to the last election in 2015 but recovered its place as the largest party on the council, having seen its numbers reduced from 23 to 19 over the four years following 2015, while the strength of the Conservative group had been increased by one member in 2019, as a Labour councillor had changed allegiance shortly before the election. In addition to Labour and the Conservatives, the Green Party, which was in minority control from 2011 to 2015, fielded candidates for every seat on the council at this election.

Other parties contesting were the Liberal Democrats, the Women's Equality Party (for the first time in the city, with two candidates) and United Kingdom Independence Party, together with a number of independent candidates.

Following the election, the Labour minority administration that had governed since 2015 continued in office; however, a little over a year later, in July 2020, the Greens regained control of the Council, after the incumbent Labour administration collapsed when three Labour councillors, two of which were accused of antisemitism, quit.^[3]

The Green Party lost their minority control of the council after the 2015 election, following internal disputes. Labour became the largest party on the council, winning 23 seats. This was reduced in 2017 to 22 after a Labour councillor, Michael Inkpin-Leissner, for Hollingdean and Stanmer became an independent.^[4] There have been two council by-elections since the last election: the first in 2016 in the East Brighton ward was won by Lloyd Russell-Moyle,^[5] and the second, 18 months later and for the same seat, when Russell-Moyle resigned as a councillor having been elected as MP for Brighton Kemptown.^[6]

Warren Morgan, Labour leader of the council, resigned from the position in February 2018, some attributing it to internal party conflicts related to the rise of Momentum, a left-wing campaigning group within the Labour Party, who supported many of the candidates selected for seats in the city.^[7][8] In February 2019 Morgan resigned his Labour membership, to form a bloc supporting The Independent Group with Inkpin-Leissner.^[9] Anne Meadows, a Labour councillor, defected to the Conservatives, making the Conservatives the largest party on the council.^[10] Fifteen councilors were reported to be standing down at this election.^[11]

Labour published its manifesto in late March, with key policies such as building 800 new council homes over the next four years, making the city carbon neutral by 2030 and auditing outsourced services and bringing them back into council services should they fail in value.^[12] Controversy came when a provisional version of the document was leaked to the local media titled the "many-fest", a 210-page document that brought together ideas from consultation of local labour members.^[13][14]

The Green Party also posted their manifesto and coordinated their campaigning with Young Greens of England and Wales, who organised their activists from around the country to go to Brighton in April.^[15]

The Liberal Democrats released a manifesto focusing on five major themes, including housing and homelessness, with a flagship proposal of developing 1,500 new homes on part of the council-owned Hollingbury golf course.^[16]

The Conservatives announced their proposal to use money in the city council's reserves to fund projects,^[10] as well as the establishment of a local lottery programme to invest in sports and cultural facilities.^[17] A Conservative candidate standing in the Westbourne ward was forced to resign during the local campaigning period due to him posting islamophobic and other offensive jokes online.^[18]

A hustings for the elections – which focused on community housing in the city – was hosted on 27 March with councillors from Labour, the Conservatives, the Green Party and a Liberal Democrat candidate.^[19]

2019 Brighton & Hove City Council election
Party		Candidates	Seats	Gains	Losses	Net gain/loss	Seats %	Votes %	Votes	+/−
	Labour	54	20	2	5	3	37.0	34.6	76,088	–1.0
	Green	54	19	8	0	8	35.2	36.5	80,148	+10.3
	Conservative	54	14	0	6	6	25.9	21.9	48,247	–8.3
	Independent	5	1	1	0	1	1.9	1.6	3,493	+1.4
	Liberal Democrats	26	0	0	0		0.0	3.8	8,384	+0.5
	UKIP	11	0	0	0		0.0	1.0	2,253	–2.7
	Women's Equality	2	0	0	0		0.0	0.6	1,213	N/A

Details of the candidates for the 21 wards of the authority were published by the council after nominations closed on 3 April.^[2]

A by-election was called for 6 May 2021 due to the resignation of incumbent Labour councillor Tracey Hill. The by-election was subsequently won by the Green Party.

Hollingdean and Stanmer: 6 May 2021

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Green	Zoe John	1,542	41.6	2.8
	Labour	Leila Erin-Jenkins	1,262	34.0	3.3
	Conservative	Emma Dawson-Bowling	745	20.1	9.3
	TUSC	Rob Somerton-Jones	54	1.5	New
	Liberal Democrats	Alex Hargreaves	47	1.3	3.5
	UKIP	Des Jones	35	0.9	7.4
	Independent	Nigel Furness	24	0.6	New
Majority			280	7.6	N/A
Turnout			3,709	31.9	3.0
	Green gain from Labour		Swing	6.0

A by-election was called for 6 May 2021 due to the resignation of incumbent Conservative councillor Lee Wares. The Conservatives held the seat, but with a reduced majority.

Patcham: 6 May 2021

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Conservative	Anne Meadows	2,011	41.5	8.0
	Green	Eliza Wyatt	1,733	35.8	9.6
	Labour	Bruno de Oliveira	879	18.1	6.2
	Liberal Democrats	Madelaine Hunter-Taylor	174	3.6	New
	UKIP	Charles Goodhand	50	1.0	New
Majority			278	5.7
Turnout			4,874	43.8
	Conservative hold		Swing	8.9

Rottingdean Coastal: 5 May 2022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Robert McIntosh	1,443	29.6	10.4
	Independent	Stephen White	1,355	27.8	New
	Conservative	Lynda Hyde	1,185	24.3	1.6
	Green	Libby Darling	504	10.3	5.5
	Independent	Alison Wright	222	4.6	New
	Liberal Democrats	Stewart Stone	168	3.4	7.7
Majority			88	1.8	N/A
Turnout			4,896	44.0	1.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	6.0

Following the death of Garry Peltzer Dunn, an election was held on Thursday 8 December 2022. Labour gained the seat.

Wish: 8 December 2022

Party		Candidate	Votes	%	±%
	Labour	Bella Sankey	1,519	58.5	27.9
	Conservative	Peter Revell	756	29.1	7.7
	Green	Ollie Sykes	190	7.3	16.1
	Liberal Democrats	Stewart Stone	96	3.7	2.6
	UKIP	Patricia Mountain	34	1.3	1.6
Majority			763	29.4	N/A
Turnout			2,600	34.2	16.9
	Labour gain from Conservative		Swing	17.8

• Brighton and Hove City Council elections