A man named Marx once said: “Politics is the art of looking everywhere for trouble, finding it, diagnosing it incorrectly and applying the wrong remedies,” and no, I’m not quoting Karl, I am quoting Groucho.

This seems to be the approach of our local and national governing bodies as here in Brighton and Hove, Labour are proposing another £30,000,000 bailout loan from the government after revelations that the monthly budget targets are up the proverbial creek with no paddle. That £30m is double what the Labour administration already borrowed only in February when they took out a £15m loan to get this year’s budget off life support. Despite being dressed up in the phrasing of “Exceptional Financial Support”, these are real loans – with interest – that will take decades to pay back.

So in less than half a year, the administration has lumped our city with extra debt to the tune of £45m, just to keep the lights on. While I understand that the spiralling cost of adult social care and a tsunami of residents presenting as homeless has caused this, surely someone saw this coming? Surely the government thought “hold on, if we decide to scrap Section 21, taking away the 8-week no-fault eviction, won’t there be a massive surge in landlords evicting tenants?” They must have done, right? Clearly not, and this mistake by the government is costing local authorities dearly as these loans come with roughly 6 per cent interest attached. Not exactly mates’ rates, eh?

Where will this local and national financial mismanagement end? For 2025-6, Exceptional Financial Support (EFS) has been granted to 30 English councils to help them balance budgets. Of those authorities, six are already in Section 114, which is just another phrase for completely bankrupt. EFS this year is costing the government £1.9 billion, and I am beginning to think that that other Marx fella, Karl, might have had a point.

Councils have been encouraged to become investment vehicles because of dwindling national funding and are now being kept on life support with loans, which is not a sustainable model as inequality grows. An ageing population is a great thing and something we should celebrate, but we must have adequate funding to look after our vintage citizens. Housing is a basic human right, and we need an absolute revolution in the way we shelter people.

This year “your” Labour government has allowed private equity firms to purchase over £3 BILLION worth of single-family housing in the UK, and that number will only increase. And as that transfer of assets increases, private businesses and their shareholders, will be lining up to buy public property in this city, and we will see the inequality gap widen to a chasm.

Now, I am aware that there is a pole on the seafront with a doughnut that goes up and down it, which has produced a similar amount of debt to what Labour are borrowing, but at least we got some concrete, lasting improvements in return. The most incredible seafront in the country, bar none, and all of the extra investment that followed, e.g. Shelter Hall, arches renovation, Black Rock, Hove Lawns etc. Investments are a gamble, but at least we have assets we can now see, which importantly contribute to the local economy. I’d pick £32m of debt to reinvigorate our seafront over borrowing £45m just to keep the lights on. Take a walk from Hove Lagoon to the Marina and remember what that seafront looked like 20 years ago, no comparison.

But what can we do about this financial path Labour are carving out? On a local level, the removal of the committee system by the Labour government gives opposition councillors a minuscule amount of opportunity to scrutinise decisions made, and the Targeted Budget Management (TBM) report coming to Cabinet next week is no exception – almost like the goalposts were moved on purpose.

This is the report that has details on the EFS loan. Given that we are six months away from the next city budget, we can only assume there will be more begging bowls heading up to Westminster. Also included in the report is the Asset Strategy, which tables options of what Labour are prepared to sell off to keep the wolves from the door. Currently New England House, Hove Park School, and worse still, parts of the Downland Estate.

This is not a sustainable business model as eventually they will run out of things to sell and when all the assets are gone, what we as a city have lost isn’t ever coming back.

The real problem lies in the fact that we have a Labour administration too scared to put its head above the parapet and chastise the government over its abandonment of local councils. Given that we’re probably not that far away from a General Election, I bet nobody wants to damage their chances of a safe seat somewhere or even a cosy little chair in the Lords.

Steve Davis is Leader of the Opposition and Green Group Convenor.