All change in May's local elections

Liberal Democrat Parliamentary candidate James MacCleary says:

Thanks to the efforts of our growing team of volunteers, we had some excellent election results in May. On Lewes District Council we nearly doubled our number of councillors to 15, gaining 7, and on Wealden District Council we are now leading the council in partnership with the Green Party. The agreement in Wealden, which includes rotating leadership of the council, is largely based on the agreement that we reached in Lewes with the Green Party in 2019. On top of all that we took overall control of Seaford Town Council and retained control of Newhaven as well as electing a councillor in Polegate for the first time in some years. 

The Conservatives, by contrast, lost all 19 of their seats in Lewes District and lost control of Wealden District. The first time either of those things has happened. 

The new make up of the council meant that a number of potential alliances were possible. We entered into talks to form a three party alliance to run the council but that failed after Labour's National Executive Committee vetoed an outline deal. Talks between the Lib Dems and Green Party then took place to form a two party administration. To our disappointment and surprise, the Green Party were unwilling to continue with the rotating leadership that worked so well in the previous council which made an agreement impossible.

On Monday, we had the annual meeting of the District Council in Lewes with the understanding that the Green Party would form a minority administration working co-operatively with opposition Lib Dem and Labour groups. However, it became clear as the meeting started that Labour and the Green Party had done a deal in secret and excluded us. As a result, the Liberal Democrats will be holding the new Green Party/Labour coalition to account on the District Council as the opposition group. 

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.

We want to ensure that key Lib Dem-backed projects such as refurbishing the council's play areas, regeneration in Newhaven, and getting the scaffolding down at Talland Parade are seen through to the end. We will also continue to strongly oppose the so-called 'Eton New Town' proposal as part of the new Local Plan process.

My personal priority is clearly to win the Lewes parliamentary seat back from the Conservatives at the next election and we will be very visible over the summer with the expectation that the General Election will be in May 2024.