We’re delighted that Councillor Bruno de Oliveira, representative for Hollingdean & Fiveways, has today joined Brighton & Hove Green Party. Bruno becomes the 10th current Green councillor on Brighton & Hove City Council – following the decisive Green by-election win in Queen’s Park last year.
After 3 years of Labour majority administration, and 2 years of a Labour majority government, one thing above all is becoming clear: people want change. Since September, more than 100,000 new members have joined the Green Party nationally, while each new poll shows the Greens climb higher while Labour drop lower. Locally, our membership has almost trebled, and continues to grow every single day.
Bruno is yet another example that more and more people who believe that change isn’t just possible, but necessary, are finding their political home in the Green Party. With just over a year to go to the 2027 local elections in our city, Labour must take note of the impact of their failure to represent the people of Brighton & Hove.
Councillor de Oliveira was chair of the Health & Wellbeing Board on the City Council from his election as a Labour councillor for Hollingdean & Fiveways in May 2023 to his resignation from the Labour over their cuts to the aid budget, and brings a wealth of experience to the Green Group of councillors on Brighton & Hove City Council.
Bruno de Oliveira, new Green councillor for Hollingdean & Fiveways, said:
“I joined the Green Party because I refuse a politics that tells us we live on an island of strangers. The current system enriches a few while millions struggle, then it blames the most vulnerable in society to distract from rising inequality.
Greens offer a hopeful alternative: a society built on peace, housing, and affordability. The notion of neutrality can be misleading and naive. It is time for a change; it is time for economic justice. The idea that we have to deal with the world as it is, not as we wish it were, aims to prevent us from building a fairer society.
Imagine someone telling Martin Luther King Jr to put his civil rights dreams away. A revolution starts with a mere dream of the world we want to live in, and not as it is, and I, like most of you, have a dream of a fairer society.”
Steve Davis, Green Leader of the Opposition, said:
“It is an absolute pleasure to have a councillor of the calibre of Bruno de Oliveira join our growing number of Green councillors in the chamber as he brings with him not only a wealth of experience but a genuine passion for the city.
As we have seen up and down the country people aren’t leaving Labour, Labour are leaving people, and this is another clear indication that we are the party of real hope and real change.
At full council next week we welcome to the chamber what we hope is one of many more new Green councillors to represent the city, and bring our shared ideas and hope.”