Insight - Where in 92 miles is our democratic accountability?

On Wednesday 5 February, the Conservative led East Sussex County Council have got their way to deny local people the right to vote to kick them out of office. Voters across Bexhill and Battle and the wider county will not be able to hold their county councillors to account in May 2025,.

And monstrously the Labour Government seem to have conspired with the Conservatives to allow them to pull the strings on how the shake-up of local government will happen here. Labour themselves know that they cannot win in East Sussex, so simply do not care about this part of the country.

And despite how many times both Labour and Conservative politicians talk about this being devolution, it is no such thing.  There will still be two tiers of local government after the reorganisation, just that the most local tier, our district council, will disappear and we will have a new ‘local’ government covering the whole of Sussex, which is 92 miles from west to east. 
It is shameful that the running-scared Conservative-led East Sussex County Council have succeeded in stopping the elections from taking place in what feels like a desperate attempt to cover up their own abysmal record on everything from potholes, cutting local services, letting down thousands of special needs children and much, much more. 

However Liberal Democrats will continue the fight to represent the whole community in East Sussex, as will our two local MPs, Josh Barbarinde in Eastbourne and James MacCleary in Lewes. Together we will stand up for what matters in our local communities.

Stephen Hardy MBE

Chair Bexhill and Battle Liberal Democrats.