Elections to Brighton and Hove City Council election took place on 2 May 2019, electing all 54 members of the council, alongside other local elections in England and Northern Ireland. The Labour Party lost 3 seats compared to the last election in 2015 but recovered its place as the largest party on the council, having seen its numbers reduced from 23 to 19 over the four years following 2015, while the strength of the Conservative group had been increased by one member in 2019, as a Labour councillor had changed allegiance shortly before the election. In addition to Labour and the Conservatives, the Green Party, which was in minority control from 2011 to 2015, fielded candidates for every seat on the council at this election. Other parties contesting were the Liberal Democrats, the Women's Equality Party and United Kingdom Independence Party, together with a number of independent candidates.
Background and campaigning
The Green Party lost their minority control of the council after the 2015 election, following internal disputes. Labour became the largest party on the council, winning 23 seats. This was reduced in 2017 to 22 after a Labour councillor, Michael Inkpin-Leissner, for Hollingdean and Stanmer became an independent. There have been two council by-elections since the last election: the first in 2016 in the East Brighton ward was won by Lloyd Russell-Moyle, and the second, 18 months later and for the same seat, when Russell-Moyle resigned as a councillor having been elected as MP for Brighton Kemptown. Warren Morgan, Labour leader of the council, resigned from the position in February 2018, some attributing it to internal party conflicts related to the rise of Momentum, a left-wing campaigning group within the Labour Party, who supported many of the candidates selected for seats in the city. In February 2019 Morgan resigned his Labour membership, to form a bloc supporting The Independent Group with Inkpin-Leissner. Anne Meadows, a Labour councillor, defected to the Conservatives, making the Conservatives the largest party on the council. Fifteen councilors were reported to be standing down at this election. Labour published its manifesto in late March, with key policies such as building 800 new council homes over the next four years, making the city carbon neutral by 2030 and auditing outsourced services and bringing them back into council services should they fail in value. Controversy came when a provisional version of the document was leaked to the local media titled the "many-fest", a 210-page document that brought together ideas from consultation of local labour members. The Green party also posted their manifesto and coordinated their campaigning with Young Greens of England and Wales, who organised their activists from around the countryto go to Brighton in April. The Liberal Democrats released a manifesto focusing on five major themes, including housing and homelessness, with a flagship proposal of developing 1,500 new homes on part of the council-owned Hollingbury golf course. The Conservatives announced their proposal to use money in the city council's reserves to fund projects, as well as the establishment of a local lottery programme to invest in sports and cultural facilities. A Conservative candidate standing in the Westbourne ward was forced to resign during the local campaigning period due to him posting islamophobic and other offensive jokes online. A hustings for the elections – which focused on community housing in the city – was hosted on 27 March with councillors from Labour, the Conservatives, the Green party and a Liberal Democrat candidate.
Results of election
Wards and candidates
Details of the candidates for the 21 wards of the authority were published by the council after nominations closed on 3 April.
