Controversy over Council Cabinet – Carr Quits
On Monday (29 January) new Hastings Borough Council leader Julia Hilton presided over her first cabinet meeting since being voted in by the full council a fortnight ago. As reported in HIP 243, the cabinet includes three councillors from the Hastings Independents group – see adjacent column – but only two from her own Green party. A third, Cllr Claire Carr is understood to have been earmarked for the Culture portfolio, but told Cllr Hilton that she could not support the decision to ally with the Independents, and was resigning from the party.
Cllr Carr has subsequently issued a statement complaining that Cllr Hilton had made her deal “without any Green group discussion, moving away from what the group had previously agreed to”. She was particularly concerned that Cllr Paul Barnett has been retained as holder of the finance portfolio despite the criticisms levelled at him and his administration by recent external reports.
Other party leaders, Cllr Heather Bishop for the loyalist Labour group and Cllr Andy Patmore for the Conservatives, have made similar criticisms. Cllr Bishop was quoted by the BBC as commenting: “Despite their record of failure bringing the council to the brink of bankruptcy, Cllr Hilton has put the Independents back in charge of the council finances”. Cllr Patmore pointed to a track record “of successive Labour cabinets failing to take the necessary decisions in order to keep the council afloat”. The Conservatives, he said, preferred “to stay out of a cabinet with members who have presided over failed policies”.
By contrast, Cllr Hilton has told HIP that, notwithstanding the stated positions of Cllrs Bishop and Patmore, “all political parties agreed that, for the sake of continuity and stability until the May elections, it would make sense to keep the responsibility for Finance and Housing portfolios with the same people, i.e. Cllrs Barnett and Simon Willis”.
There was some confirmation of this in the leadership ballot. Only one Conservative, Cllr Matthew Beaver, and the Reform UK councillor Lucien Fernando voted against Cllr Hilton’s appointment. The rest of the Conservative group, the whole of the Labour loyalist group and Cllr Carr herself abstained.
Cllr Carr says that she will retain her Castle ward seat until May, “sitting as an Independent and serving residents as I always have”, but will not seek re-election then.
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