Brighton: Labour and Greens in £3m budget black hole bust-up

Brighton and Hove City Council, now led by Labour, claimed that the former Green-led administration overspent the council’s budget by more than £3 million - equivalent to around £11 for every person who lives in the city.

The council is so concerned by the budget black hole that they have called for external auditors to investigate the decisions made by the Green administration.

However, in a joint letter to The Argus, former finance leads Tom Druitt and David Gibson described the claims as “at best ill-informed and at worst intentionally misleading”.

The former Green councillors also claimed that the last Labour administration left a large projected overspend when the Greens took control of the council in 2020.

​The pair said: “When the Labour administration collapsed in July 2020, they left the Greens with a projected in-year overspend of £30 million for the year 2020-21.

“With careful financial stewardship and a huge amount of work by council officers, the Green administration turned this eye-watering projected deficit into a surplus of £9.7 million by the end of the financial year.”

Mr Druitt and Mr Gibson pointed to high inflation, rising costs for energy due to the war in Ukraine, supply chain failures following Brexit and the effects of Liz Truss’s mini-budget as factors for the council’s “small overspend of £3 million”.

Former Green councillor David Gibson (Image: Brighton and Hove City Council)

They said: “The Green administration, working with council finance officers, managed to bring the overspend down from a projected £11.6 million to just £3 million while protecting jobs and services for the most vulnerable in our city.

“What Labour won’t want anyone to remember is that the Green administration was a minority administration, which meant that all this was discussed and agreed, not in secret behind closed doors, but in collaboration with all political groups on the council - including, of course, Labour.”

'Greens didn't take responsibility when in office'

Cllr Jacob Taylor slammed the Green administration's record while in office (Image: Brighton and Hove City Council)

Labour councillor and current joint finance lead Jacob Taylor dismissed the claims made by the former Green councillors and said “Labour has never overspent a budget. In fact, council officers cannot remember the budget ever being overspent until this example.”

He said: “Brighton and Hove residents will likely be aghast to read two former Green councillors describe themselves as delivering ‘careful financial stewardship’ in relation to their Green administration.

“This from the party that gave the city the i360 and the huge associated debts that the council is now stuck with.

“The language in the letter reveals what we’ve long known to be true: the Greens didn’t take responsibility when in office and never really considered themselves an administration.

“I note that neither Tom Druitt nor David Gibson sought re-election in May. 

“We thank them for their public service and wish them well in their future endeavours, but it is Labour who have been left to clean up the council budget mess they have left behind.”

Tom Druitt and his wife Alex Phillips announced they would step down as councillors for Regency ward after Ms Philips was found to have overclaimed for 55 of her 74 childcare expenses from taxpayers between October 2019 and March 2021.

She later apologised and repaid £490 to the council.

Independent councillors call for urgent inquiry

Brighton and Hove Independents councillors Mark Earthey and Bridget Fishleigh have backed Labour’s call for an investigation into the budget black hole.

Cllr Fishleigh said: “What matters are the facts. This issue must not be allowed to degenerate into a political slanging match of accusation, blame and counter-accusation.

“We call for a rapid conduct of the audit and for its findings to be made public so they can be debated in full council and taxpayers.

“If there is evidence of mismanagement, we shall call out those who are responsible.

“Brighton and Hove Independents have always called for council committees to be staffed by a contingent of local experts to offer sound management based on skills and experience, especially around budgets and financial risk management.

“The results of the external audit may well lead many more taxpayers to agree with us.”