The battle for Brighton and Hove

Brighton and Hove Council has a minority Conservative administration. They don't have any elections this year but have all the seats up for election next year. But in the General Election it is making up for it. All three seats were won by Labour last time and are targets for us this time. Hove (Target 8), Brighton Kemptown (Target 29) and Brighton Pavillion (Target 135.)

For the Hoveconstituency there are nine relevant wards. Four of these returned a full Conservative ticket. One was an Independent/Conservative split - with Labour way behind. One was a Lib Dem ward and three were Conservative/Labour split wards. So Labour didn't win a single ward outright in a constituency they currently hold.

In the Brighton Kemptown there are nine relevant wards (including four that come under Lewes District Council.) Six of these returned a full Conservative ticket. One was a Conservative/Labour split Ward. One was Green and one was Labour.

So a prospects in both those seats look pretty encouraging. The great excitement really comes in the bigger challenge of Brighton Pavillion. The seven wards that make up that seat consist of two Conservative wards, one Labour ward, one split Lab/Green ward and three wards where the Greens got their full ticket elected. So we can see why the Green Party are throwing the kitchen sink into this constituency in the General Election. Although they were in third place last time they were less than a thousand votes behind us.

This means our candidate Charlotte Vere has to fight on two fronts. She is helped that the Green Party are increasingly admitting to being on the far left. Charlotte detailed some of their policies in this piece in February.

On the council Green Party councillors join with Labour and the Lib Dems to propose amendments deleting the word "choice" whenever it appears in policy papers. Their manifesto is a grim demand for authoritarian Socialism. They want to "rehabilitate" support for high tax as a good thing in itself. Their distinct message among political parties is that the deficit should be tackled almost entirely with tax increases. They don't see a problem with their being too much Government spending. Of course their tax increases would choke off economic growth and s failed to tackle the deficitt - but then this wouldn't bother them as they are against economic growth anyway.

The manifesto complains that Brighton and Hove Council charges too high a rent to seafront businesses. What is the Council doing owning such premises in the first place?

Anyone who believes that socialism is the way to fight pollution is unaware of the environmental record of the Soviet bloc. Anyone who thinks the Green Party are credible about seeking carbon reductions should know they oppose nuclear power - the single most important way to achieve this.