The threat of a '˜hard-left' Momentum takeover

This year, however, things are somewhat different. Nationally, stalwart MP Frank Field has resigned from the Parliamentary Labour Party and a former Labour Home Secretary has called for a rethink of the so-called ‘Corbyn project’. Locally, over half of the current Labour councillors won’t be standing again: some via unwarranted ‘pressures’ and others thrown onto the scrapheap after long years of service, care of deselection via the hard left. The former Labour leader of the council Warren Morgan has had enough, and has called for the Labour Party to split. Wow!

With a reputation for ‘plain speaking’, I won’t try to kid you. Nationally, the Conservatives have a few problems, but locally we are united and focussing on the real reason local political parties exist: to provide efficient local councils.

With the Brighton and Hove Labour Party now pretty much controlled by a hard-left Momentum caucus, my mind drifted back to the Liverpool of the 1980s, when Militant, a Trotskyist group, took control of the local Labour Party and in 1985 set an illegal ‘deficit’ council budget. With plans for an all-out strike, and bankruptcy looming, councillors were advised that the council would soon not be able to pay wages to its staff. The Labour Group on the council decided to issue redundancy notices to the workforce.

Labour leader Neil Kinnock attacked Militant saying, ‘I tell you – you can’t play politics with people’s jobs and people’s homes and people’s services.’ Wow!

The threat of a hard-left Momentum takeover of Brighton and Hove next May is very real, and the lives of our families and loved ones across the city, through failing service delivery, would suffer. Redundancies may follow. Liverpool was, and still is, a great city, but was almost brought to its knees by the hard left.

Should you gamble that the hard left will be different this time in Brighton and Hove? For me, the risk is too great. No, the only sensible choice at the next local election will be to vote Conservative.

Cllr Tony Janio is the leader of the Conservatives on Brighton & Hove City Council.