Green to Blue? How Brighton Green Party have changed their tune now they’re in power

Back in 2009 – when they were in opposition – Brighton Green Party opposed Tory plans to cut the wages of some of the council’s lowest paid staff by £95 per week. And yet now, four years later with the Greens running the council, they have…introduced plans to cut the take home pay of some of the lowest paid Council staff by up to £95 a week.

From Green to Blue in just four years.

The Greens went on to further sour their relationship with council workers by ramping up the rhetoric. After negotiations between the council and the local GMB broke down – understandably, as the Greens are trying to cut pay for some of the union’s poorest members -one leading Green councillor tried to compare possible strike action with the “Winter of Discontent”, saying:

“Industrial action will help no-one except the enemies of the unions, as in the winter of 78/79”

The same councillor – Rob Jarrett – also said in his email to the GMB that he has “supported unions all my life and continue to do so”. Which rather begs the question – why is he attacking potential industrial action with the kind of rhetoric that’s normally reserved for right-wing headbangers?