The Greens have retained the St Peter and North Laine seat in the Brighton and Hove City Council by-election. It must have been their 'Gardens before supermarkets' banner that did it. Or their frenzied campaign to stop a Wetherspoons pub opening in the area. Lizzie Deane [no, not that one] took 1816 votes in the by-election on Thursday, beating Labour’s 24-year-old student Tom French into second place with 880 votes. Conservative candidate Rob Buckwell won 365 votes, Liberal Democrat candidate Trefor Hunter got 103 and independent candidate Gerald O’Brien recorded 32 votes. Turn-out for the by-election was a pitiful 24% but then what do you expect, given the candidates.
The result means that the Greens have held onto the seat vacated by Keith Taylor and maintained their position as joint second largest party on the council. The by-election was called when Taylor resigned after 11 years on the council to take up a seat as an MEP - the position vacated by Brighton Pavilion MP Caroline Lucas. Very nice too - £350k package per annum here we come. Talk about landing on your feet.
