‘A Disgrace’ – Party Politicians Wade In
Views of what happened at the council meeting last Wednesday have divided sharply on party political lines
Labour leader in the council Heather Bishop, who is also Deputy Mayor, has strongly supported the actions of the Mayor, her party colleague. She said that the scenes in the council chamber were a “disgrace” which “undermined democracy” and left those present feeling “unsafe and threatened.” She said “the right of individuals to protest was a vital part of our democracy, but when such protests prevent the ability of democratically elected councillors to meet to discuss and make decisions on important issues that matter to local residents, they move beyond legitimate protest and into mob rule.”
Labour candidate for the Hastings & Rye constituency at the next general election, Helena Dollimore, was not present at the meeting but tweeted on the social platform X: “On Wednesday night, Hastings Council meeting had to be abandoned after a small number of people sought to undermine our local democracy. We cannot allow that to happen. Democracy is the most fundamental of British values. The right to protest is at the heart of that. But when those protests descend into bullying and intimidation then a line has been crossed.
Labour will continue to stand up for those who want their politicians to be able to represent them without fear or intimidation.”
By contrast, Becca Horn, prospective parliamentary candidate for the Green Party, was present in the council chambers throughout, and said that the decision to adjourn the meeting altogether was “ridiculous” and “unnecessary”. The majority of the councillors wanted to continue, she said, adding that the Mayor didn’t give a reason at the time for refusing to restart it.
The Leader of the Hastings Independent Group of councillors, Paul Barnett, said that in his almost 40 years in local government he had “never seen a meeting abandoned like this before. The lifeblood of local democracy is engaging residents who we are there to represent. When I became council leader, I introduced open public questions at Cabinet meetings and believe that, if the public care enough to attend council meetings, they should be listened to. What happened was unacceptable and Hastings Independents will campaign for changes to ensure that Hastings Council doesn’t behave like this again.”
His fellow Hastings Independent, Cllr Batsford, agreed, branding the events of the evening as a “disgrace”. He said the motion on Gaza “needed to be heard”, adding that “the rest of the business needed to be heard as well.” He blamed the “Labour Mayor” for adjourning the meeting. He said the “people that came and made their points clearly but succinctly should be commended, and the meeting should have carried on.”
Green party leader of the council, Julia Hilton, who has since her appointment in January sought to adopt a more collaborative approach between the parties spoke more in sorrow than in anger. “I am disappointed”, she said. “The protestors had agreed to leave so as to allow the meeting to continue. An amendment to the constitution would have allowed the motion calling for a ceasefire in Gaza to come to a later meeting…The Mayor removed any possibility of that happening.
“There were a number of important items on the agenda for tonight, including debating a motion to support the Climate and Ecological Emergency Bill and a change to our constitution to embed opposition chairs and vice chairs in our scrutiny committee. These will now have to wait until the next full council in June.”
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