Claire Carr Defects to Greens
Cllr Claire Carr, who was newly elected as Labour councillor for Castle ward at the borough council election in May, announced last week that she had left the party and joined the Greens. That doubles the Green party representation but…
Pride and Prejudice
Why Town Mayor was barred from LGBT+ event Last Sunday’s Hastings Pride festival was billed as a major event in the town’s calendar – the more so because of cancellation not only of the 2020 event but also of the…
Local Labour Party Addresses Transgender Issue
Ten years on from its original adoption (see side panel), Hastings Borough Council has indicated that it plans to refresh the town’s Equality and Human Rights Charter, and last week the Hastings & Rye constituency Labour party (CLP) issued a…
Free food for kids
On 21st October a parliamentary motion to provide around disadvantaged children in England with £15-a-week food vouchers during school holidays until Easter 2021 was voted down by the Conservative government majority at ; Hastings & Rye MP Sally-Ann Hart was…
Antisemitism: Local and national
On 21st October Hastings Borough Council adopted the working definition of antisemitism developed by the International Holocaust Remembrance Alliance (IHRA). The working definition comes with eleven examples that are intended to clarify its application, such as: “Accusing Jews as a…
Kim Forward Becomes Leader Elect of Hastings Council
At a meeting of Labour party councillors on 17th February Cllr Kim Forward was elected by them to take over as their leader in the wake of Peter Chowney’s resignation. Former mayor, deputy leader of Hastings Borough Council (HBC) since…
Disability And The Minimum Wage
What Was Actually Said The following exchanges – extracted and distorted across the national media – took place at the HIP Hastings Hustings at East Sussex College last Thursday evening when the four electoral candidates in the constituency of Hastings…
GE2019: Question Time
Many weeks of national as well as local focus on voters in the marginal constituency of Hastings & Rye (Conservative majority 346 in 2017) should come to a head next Thursday 5th December when all four candidates will enter an…
GE2019
As the General Election approaches, the hustings are bustling, sleigh-bells ring in the distance, and spectres of Christmas past, present and future loom long over the upcoming winter - the time has come to place a vote and elect a…
GE2019: Under Starter’s Orders
Tory Candidate Named As Campaign Rother councillor Sally-Ann Hart has been selected by the Hastings & Rye Conservative Association to represent them in the general election scheduled for 12th December. She replaces outgoing MP Amber Rudd, who lost the Conservative…