The Green Party has elected a new leadership team following their election defeat last week.
The local elections in Brighton and Hove saw the party lose 13 council seats, including council leader Phelim Mac Cafferty and deputy leaders Hannah Allbrooke and Siriol Hugh-Jones.
Only seven Green councillors were elected to the city council, down from 20 before the election, while Labour secured their first majority on the council for two decades.
Cllr Steve Davis, who represents Preston Park, has been elected as the group leader and will become leader of the opposition on the council.
He will be joined by Cllr Sue Shanks of West Hill and North Laine and Cllr Pete West of Round Hill, who were elected as deputy leaders.
Local party members met on Monday evening to elect the new leadership team, voting overwhelmingly in favour of all three councillors.
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Cllr Davis said he was proud and excited to be leading the “fantastic team of Greens”.
He said: “Our group contains councillors that have years and decades of experience, as well as new councillors with fresh ideas and perspectives.
“As campaigners and representatives of the city, our responsibility is now to fight for what the people of Brighton and Hove need, whether from the Labour council or the Tory government.
“People across the country are facing unprecedented times, and there is every reason to think that economic and environmental crises will only get worse.
“Our job is to stand with people and champion their opposition to the problems they face, and to work across our communities to find a better path forward.”
Steve Davis featured on the Green Party’s national party political broadcast for the local elections campaign, alongside Phelim Mac Cafferty, Hannah Allbrooke and Zoe John. Cllr Davis was the only one out of the four to be re-elected.
The new Labour administration have elected Wish ward councillor Bella Sankey as their new leader, with Gill Williams serving as the council’s deputy leader.
The Conservatives are yet to announce publicly who their new group leader will be, after Steve Bell lost his seat in Woodingdean to Labour.
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