A Labour councillor has resigned from the party over national cuts to the aid budget but will continue to sit as an Independent on Brighton and Hove City Council.
Bruno De Oliveira, who represents Hollingdean and Fiveways, said in his resignation letter that his decision was nothing to do with the local Labour group. He called them decent, hard-working councillors.
Councillor De Oliveira said that he joined the party to fight inequality and poverty and in “disgust” at austerity policies.
He sent his resignation letter to Labour leader Bella Sankey and party whip Amanda Grimshaw, setting out his opposition to Chancellor Rachel Reeves’s financial policies which, he said, would extend austerity and hurt public services.
Councillor De Oliveira resigned yesterday (Tuesday 25 February) after the government said that it would cut aid budgets to fund an increase in defence spending.
He said that he was aware of the potential threat to European security, not least having spoken with a Finnish family in his ward. But he said that the cuts would have consequences.
He said: “The wake-up call to Europe is very real but taking money from people who are being bombed to make bombs is utterly inadequate and awful.
“The decision to slash its aid budget is not just an economic recalibration, it’s a humanitarian backslide with serious consequences for the health and wellbeing of people fleeing war.
“The narrative of ‘tough choices’ and ‘fiscal responsibility’ sounds reasonable until you remember that these ‘choices’ are being made over human lives, not spreadsheets.
“People fleeing war often arrive with acute healthcare needs, from physical injuries to chronic conditions worsened by displacement.
“The aid cuts mean fewer medical supplies, more children dying of preventable diseases, reduced funding for field hospitals and understaffed clinics, leaving vulnerable populations with limited access to basic healthcare.
“War trauma is profound but the loss of support services compounds the damage.”
He questioned whether the modern Labour Party was the same party of Tony Benn who said: “If we can find the money to kill people, we can find the money to help people.”
Councillor De Oliveira said that he would sit as an Independent and complete his term in May 2027.
Since his election in May 2023, Councillor De Oliveira has chaired the council’s Health and Wellbeing Board and represented the council on the Sussex Health and Care Assembly.
He has also represented the council on the Combating Drugs Partnership and the Brighton Fund.
Labour’s aid budget decision is shameful, but the timing of this councillor stepping down ahead of a controversial decision on school admissions and the council’s budget tomorrow where his colleagues will pass local cuts seems like a massive coincidence.
Seems like a bit of a stretch to me, but we will know for certain tomorrow.
Perhaps he should remember the local people who voted for him and not confuse national politics with local politics.
I agree. Ward Councillors are minor league when it comes to politics. The local people should come first. I’m…dubious that being an independent helps that local goal, but I respect the decision.
Absolutely, our people come first, that’s who he is suppose to represent. We are better off without these uncommitted councillors.
It’s a tricky job that’s done for peanuts. I can understand why one wouldn’t, or couldn’t, commit fully to it, even more so when you sit on the cabinet and take on extra roles. £16k for 70 hour weeks? Yeah, I will always hold respect for anyone who takes on the job.
Still; guess we are agreed, councillors come with all sorts of motivations, and with that comes varying quality.
Too simple, a chunk of the defence MOD budget is spent on UN forces and equipment, also in high demand and also expensive.
Conveniently, he can now vote against the secondary school admissions vanity project being driven through by Bella Sankey and Jacob Taylor, and actually represent families in his ward.
By having less ability to influence decisions, it likely does the opposite Helen. Still, I respect the decision.
The councillor has obviously given a lot of thought to this and is standing up for his principles, which is laudable.
His principles of sending our tax money overseas instead of funding our armed forces? How incredibly noble of him.
They often go hand-in-hand, Terry. Someone has to ensure security, sure, but it is also true that someone needs to pick up the pieces after the dust has settled, no?
As a local councillor he has been much quieter than his colleagues and hasn’t been good at replying to emails that I have sent him. It now seems he is more interested in national and international issues. Fair enough, but being a councillor is the wrong forum for him. He should resign and let others deal with the day-to-day, often non-political, work of being a councillor.
Unfortunately this labour government has betrayed decent socialist values since before being elected and has destroyed the values we held dear. Im not surprised that so many councillors have become independants.
Pretty sure there are only two independents in the council, and they switched from Green and Conservative respectively.
There are two independents who switched from Labour & Conservatives. There are also two people who are members of the Independent Party.
Another Woke lefty who is more interested in putting Britain last. Winter Fuel Payments cut, heating bills put up by Milliband, jobs being cut daily and the Socialists groan about Foreign aid cuts. Never vote Liebour.
I do agree that we should, as a country, ensure our own internal challenges are addressed before looking outward. I guess the challenge there is would we see significant difference of we didn’t give aid at all, and how would that effect international relationships and big picture strategy?
Good riddance. He is welcome to give away his money but the rest of us are struggling with our high taxes to pay for UK PLC to borrow money to give away.
Married for many years to a Finn whose family have lived on the Russian border for years I can assure you that your Finnish constituents have precious little to worry about as to the best of my knowledge Finland does not run Hitler youth camps brainwashing children that the only good Russian is a dead one nor is the Finnish president bankrolled by billionaires gangsta mafia capitalist nor does he depend on his income from the worlds largest traffickers of young women for prostitution at least 3 Ukranian mafia run massage parlors / brothlels here just in Brigjton. We have 250.000 Ukranian refugees here housed and with free access to NHS we have given billions in aid to Ukraine yet we can’t afford to pay pensioners their heating allowance . I worked in Ukraine and trust me all is not what it seems and history will rightly show the part Nufhoon Boris had in warmongering and advising his comedian best friend not to accept any peace proposals from Russia … half a million young lives lost Ukraine’s infrastructure devastated whilst the comedians off shore fiscal paradise accounts get fuller and fuller !
This is so unhinged and bounces all over the place, it’s hard to take it seriously.
I don’t think it’s meant to be taken seriously
I respect the decision, it can’t have been an easy one to make. My thoughts on aid relief is that it is obviously a good thing, but it shouldn’t be at the cost of our domestic challenges. Help ourselves, before we can help others.
Labour have lied and betrayed the country. Labour Brighton rode the wave of the local rejection of The Green Party after years of neglect and arrogance whilst a disastrous infighting Tory government who were out of ideas. Cllr Oliveira’s “independence” is hardly that, an act of virtue signalling and an attempt to raise his own profile. Let’s see if he votes against Labour or challenges them in chamber. Why doesn’t her join Cllr Fishleigh if he is “independent” to underline his new found principles.
As a former 7th place candidate yourself I’m disappointed in your personal attack. It also completely misses the point. You do yourself and your own party a detrimental disservice, Gary.
Overseas aid, apart from being unaffordable (we borrow money to give it away) is really a form of colonialism where we suppress poorer nations ability to progress, and often help prop up corruption and anti-democratic systems. Aid for emergency relief is another matter but should not take the form of cash.
Well, Starmer’s politics has been quite clear for a while so why choose now to resign?
Unfortunately, this does all seem like a ‘Johnny come lately’ to local politics being unable to separate his political principles from his duty to the electorate who voted for him. Parliamentary politics are a world away from being a local councillor. There would appear to be too many local politicians like this man, prioritising their political ambitions over the service of the local community. It’s not exactly a shining example of mental fortitude when confronted with a mildly adverse situation is it? What happened to the commitment to his objectives on a local level?
Huge thanks to this COuncillor for taking a stand. Defence spending is of course important, now more than ever, but it is cowardly and short-sighted to target the smallest line in the Government’s expenditure for cuts. Why not crack down on tax avoidance instead? Aid money saves lives and makes the world a safer place. Making these cuts so soon after the dismantling of USAID by Musk means that many disillusioned people and governments in developing countries will instead look to Russia and China as more reliable partners – not what we need in the current geopolitical moment.
LP trying to appease Trump by increasing the defence budget at the expense of the most vunerable people around the world.
Defence ??? have you seen the equipment supplied to our Army ?? About as low grade as can be at top Dollar, Well motivated Army let down by. politicians and budgets, I served ’68 – ’82, got first hand experience of what the Government thinks, budget hikes are long overdue, also for ex service.
I think you’re both right. You hear horror stories of second rate gear, and I agree that Trump respects arming our military, and I also think we should be humanitarian as well. Tricky balance.
I’m surprised more Labour supporters haven’t left as they continue to arm Israel and from a factory in Brighton.
But I suppose they threw everyone out who was left of Blair and won an election
Meh, we are a drop in the ocean in the grand scheme of things on the weapons front.
Cuts to the aid budget don’t go far or deep enough. One fewer Labour nutjobs can only be a good thing.
It’s a bold opinion, that one. You’re not a fan of humanitarian efforts and vaccination programmes to prevent unnecessary death and disease?