Labour resignations make Greens largest party on the council

Nichole Brennan (East Brighton) and Kate Knight (Moulsecoomb and Bevendean) have both quit the party,

In a statement the council said it understood several complaints had been made to the national Labour Party based mainly on alleged anti-Semitic posts Cllr Knight made on Facebook between 2016 and 2019.

Nancy Platts, Labour leader of the council, said she was truly sorry to the Jewish community for the hurt the posts had caused.

She added: “I reached out to a leading member of the local Jewish community last week. Following that conversation I have re-circulated information to my Group, stressing the importance of checking the reliability of sources before sharing on social media.

“Anti-Semitism is a poison that must be challenged wherever it raises its head. Hatred towards Jewish people has no place in our society.

“I have agreed with the Labour Group that we will establish a Code of Conduct for all Labour councillors. This will have an emphasis on social media and the absolute necessity of ensuring people know that what they’re sharing comes from trusted sources of information, and the importance of recognising ant-Semitic tropes.

“Councillor Knight has taken the right action in resigning from the Labour Group and the Labour Party.

“We will continue to take steps to address anti-Semitism, and actively challenge racism in our city.”

Last week Anne Pissaridou resigned as chair of the environment, transport & sustainability committee.

This was after she was suspended by the Labour Party pending an investigation following two social media posts dating from 2016 and 2018 which are alleged to contain anti-Semitic content.

Yesterday, Peter Kyle, Labour’s MP for Hove, said on Twitter: “Once again I am sorry for those we have failed, disappointed, and caused hurt to in the past. I‘m sorry that people driven by malevolent forces were allowed to ascend our local party and even get elected.

“I‘m also sorry that the process of ridding our party of people who don’t share our true, historic values is destabilising for our local authority and citywide politics at an important time. But there is only one correct time to tackle racism of any kind: NOW!

“Your local Labour Party will swiftly rebound and rebuild. Each and every day, despite the turmoil, we grow closer to the communities we exist to serve and more reflective of our shared values. We know there’s more to do, but we’re getting there - with words *and* action!”

Discussions are now expected to take place to see whether the current arrangements will continue, if Labour and the Greens agree to power share or if the Greens will take over the administration of the council.

A handful of Labour members have already come out against any power sharing arrangement.

The letter from seven councillors suggested that while they share some of the Greens’ aspirations and want to work with them where we can, anything beyond cooperation would be ‘inexplicable to residents who still associate the Greens with administrative incompetence’.

Labour took over the running of the council from the Greens following the 2015 election and maintained that control after the 2019 election.

It added: “We are dismayed at the anti-Semitic material that serving councillors have shared on social media. We entirely support the party leadership in refusing to tolerate anti-Semitism. We must right the wrongs that have been done to the Jewish community and work hard to regain the trust of the public. This will be a difficult process but we must be guided at all times by our values regardless of the cost.”

The letter was signed by Carmen Appich, Peter Atkinson, Les Hamilton, Chris Henry, Tracey Hill, Jackie O’Quinn and Alan Robins.