Greens and Labour join forces to run Lewes District Council

The alliance was formally announced at a full council meeting on Monday (May 22) — the first meeting to be held since this month’s local elections saw the council remain in no overall control for a second term running.

During the meeting, Green Party leader Zoe Nicholson was unanimously elected as leader of the council. She then went on to name Labour’s Christine Robinson as deputy leader.

In a statement released after the meeting, Cllr Nicholson said: “Residents have clearly told through the recent election results that they like our cooperative way of working, with a complete wipe out of Conservative councillors, now down to zero having held eighteen seats.

“I am very much looking forward to continuing to work collaboratively with all parties. Our Co-operative Alliance will continue the ground breaking work of the previous administration with energy and commitment to all the people we serve across the district, and will have the benefit of a constructive critical friend from Liberal Democrat colleagues.

“I am also really delighted that we are breaking the mould with the only all-female leadership team in East Sussex.”

Cllr Robinson added: “Collaboration has been one of the hallmarks of our last four years in alliance. We’ve worked together and we’ve found new ways to support our residents though some unprecedented times.

“Building on this, I’m certain that we can continue to deliver for all our residents from East Saltdean to Wivelsfield and repay the trust they put in us all on May 4th.”

The Greens will hold five cabinet seats, with Labour taking the remaining three.

While Liberal Democrats had joined the unanimous vote in support of Cllr Nicholson becoming leader, it was clear that the Green-Labour alliance came as a surprise to the group.

Speaking after the meeting, Lib Dem leader James MacCleary said: “After a fantastic set of local election results we will now be looking forward to the general election in Lewes constituency where the Lib Dems are the challengers to the Conservatives. We aim to be a constructive opposition to the new Green Party coalition with Labour.

“There are a lot of challenges coming down the line this year for the council including the new local plan and we will be holding the administration to account.

“It is clearly a disappointment that the Green Party were not prepared to form an alliance with us as they did last time round, but we intend to continue to work cooperatively for the best interests of all of our residents.”

As previously reported by the LDRS, there were initially plans for all three political parties to run the council together — continuing the previous administration in a new form.

While details of this potential arrangement were sparse, it is understood the plans fell apart as Labour’s national executive would not give its sign-off.

With Labour unable to join a three-way coalition, Lib Dems sought to reopen negotiations on what a Green-Lib Dem alliance would look like.

The LDRS understands that the Lib Dems had been seeking a return to a rotating leadership model as part of these negotiations, but the Greens (as the council’s largest single party) had been unwilling to run the council on these terms.

As negotiations continued, Greens and Labour came to an agreement for a two-way partnership which had the support of the national Labour party.

The meeting also saw the elections of Labour’s Ian Alexander as the council’s chairman and Liberal Democrat Lesley Boniface as vice-chair. Both were elected unanimously.

All the Cabinet councillors and their portfolios are listed below:

Councillor Zoe Nicholson, Finance, Assets and Community Wealth Building

Councillor Christine Robinson, Community Wellbeing

Councillor Laurence O’Connor, Planning and Infrastructure

Councillor Wendy Maples, Neighbourhood Wellbeing

Councillor Emily O’Brien, Climate, Nature and Food Systems

Councillor Mark Slater, Tenants and those in housing need

Councillor Johnny Denis, Arts, Culture and Tourism & Leisure

Councillor Chris Collier, Innovation, Delivery and People