New leader for Labour in Brighton and Hove

Cllr Daniel Yates will lead Labour into the 2019 council elections

Council leader Warren Morgan announced he was stepping down in February, and this evening (April 23) Cllr Daniel Yates was selected unopposed to succeed him.

He is expected to take on the role as leader of Brighton and Hove City Council on May 17, when Cllr Morgan formally stands down at the local authority's Annual Meeting.

Cllr Yates, who represents Moulsecoomb and Bevendean, was first elected to the council in 2015, and was selected as leader at the city's Labour councillors' annual general meeting.

He said: “It is a massive honour to be asked to take on this crucial role for the party and for the city at such a crucial time. I will work hard to repay the trust that my fellow Labour councillors have placed me, as we continue to work as a very close team on behalf of residents right across the city.

"I also want to pay tribute to Warren, who has led the council with vision and determination, and who fully deserves Labour Group’s thanks for all he has helped achieve over the last three years.

"The challenges that this council faces from ongoing Tory government cuts to funding and increasing demand for services for the most vulnerable should not be underestimated, but we have the determination to continue to deliver for local people, to improve our city and make it a place where people want to live and work.

"Over the next few months Labour will begin developing the manifesto that we plan to help us take majority control of the city council next May, for the first time in nearly 20 years.

"We will be fighting to win the hearts, minds and trust of every resident of the city and, given the great Labour results across the city in 2017, it is clear that residents have a growing confidence that Labour are best placed to deliver for them.

"Whether it is our innovative scheme for 1,000 new affordable homes to be delivered through a partnership with Hyde homes, or our dogged determination to raise recycling rates from the depths of Green Party failures, residents have seen that despite Tory austerity we have real ambition for the city, and have backed us time and time again at elections over recent years.

"For May 2019 we will have a new manifesto that every community across the whole city will be able to support and, with our record Party membership, we know we have the talent and the numbers to gain the council majority to help us deliver on it.

"We will take nothing for granted between now and May 2019, and will be talking to as many residents as we can in coming months, so that with your backing we can continue to build a future for the city that all can share in.

"Labour has always been ambitious for the city. And we look to the city to back that ambition.”

Cllr Morgan said: “I’ve known and worked with Dan for very many years and I’m delighted he has been elected by the Labour and Co-operative Group to lead them into the local elections a year from now.

"He’s someone with strong co-operative values and brings a wealth of experience to the role, including chairing the Health and Wellbeing Board for the past three years. I wish him the very best as leader of the Labour and Co-operative Group, one of the best jobs in city politics, and he has my full support in succeeding me as leader of the council on May 17th.”

The meeting also confirmed Cllr Gill Mitchell as deputy leader and Cllr Les Hamilton as the deputy leader (finance).