#Bristol's Green Future: A Cautionary Tale of Elected Rubbish and Uncollected Rubbish.
What Brighton Can Teach Bristol About Green Party Governance (Spoiler: They're Both Piling Up).
When the Green Party takes control, the bins don’t get collected, the recycling rates plummet, and everyone pretends it’s progress
Bristol, meet your future. It’s sitting in black bags on Brighton’s streets, uncollected for weeks, attracting seagulls and rats whilst the Green Party council explains that this is actually what “collaborative politics” looks like.
The recent extraordinary council meeting where Bristol’s Greens grabbed effective control through casting votes isn’t an aberration—it’s the pattern. And we know it’s the pattern because Brighton already lived this nightmare for over a decade.
Let me take you on a tour of Bristol’s Green future, as helpfully demonstrated by Brighton and Hove City Council’s spectacular journey from hope to humiliation between 2011 and 2023.
Brighton: The Green Party’s Proof of Concept (That They Can’t Actually Govern)
In 2011, Brighton elected the Green Party as the largest party on the council with 23 seats, making history as the UK’s first Green-controlled council WikipediaWikipedia. The promise was beautiful: collaborative politics, environmental leadership, transparent decision-making, an end to the old confrontational ways.
By 2015, the Greens lost more than half their seats, finishing with just 11 Bright GreenBrightonandhoveindependent. In 2023, Labour won 38 seats whilst the Greens were reduced to just seven Brighton and Hove NewsBrighton and Hove News—a “massive and humiliating” rejection Andy Winter’s Blog.
What happened in between? Everything Bristol is about to experience.
The Bin Strikes: A Green Party Tradition
Brighton has had bin strikes in 2001, 2004, 2013, 2014, and 2021 Wikipedia. Under Green administration, there have been numerous ‘wildcat’ strikes and unofficial industrial action Wikipedia over the past 25 years.
The 2013 strike was particularly instructive. Binmen and street sweepers voted 96% in favour of industrial action against pay cuts of up to £4000 per year libcom.org. Streets filled with rubbish. Residents posted pictures of overflowing bins and blocked pavements. Broken glass and dirty nappies piled up in residential streets. Sound in any way familiar?
And what did Caroline Lucas—Brighton’s Green MP and national Green Party icon—do? She broke the strike. Lucas tweeted proudly about picking up litter during the strike, essentially scabbing whilst claiming to support the workers libcom.org. One Brighton council worker stated she was “worse than Mick Philpotts.”
When your environmental party’s MP is crossing picket lines to undermine bin workers striking against £4,000 pay cuts, you might not actually be the progressive force you claim to be.
The 2021 strike followed the same pattern: 54 HGV drivers walked out for 14 days over the Green council’s refusal to follow proper procedures for route changes, with management making changes “by whim” without process WikipediaGMB Union. Former Labour council leader Nancy Platts noted residents were emailing about uncollected recycling for months, with some areas seeing no collections at all BrightonandhoveindependentBrighton and Hove News.
Bristol: this is your future. The Greens promise environmental leadership, then preside over industrial chaos because they fundamentally can’t manage basic services. They’re toddlers with bright ideas and little more, meddling in adult politics with predictable results.
The Environmental Record: Ranked Near Bottom for Climate Action
Here’s the delicious irony: Friends of the Earth ranked Brighton and Hove City Council’s performance on climate change in the bottom quarter of 339 local authorities in England and Wales Brighton and Hove News.
Let that sink in. The Green Party council—the party whose entire identity is environmental—performed worse on climate change than 76% of councils in England and Wales Brighton and Hove News.
Brighton and Hove has a recycling rate almost half that of neighbouring West Sussex County Council Brighton and Hove News. In 2013/14, the council’s recycling rate stood at 25%—below the percentage achieved in 2006/07 letsrecycle.com. The Greens made recycling worse.
The Green council leader had to apologise for flying to a COP conference in Glasgow on the same day he criticised the government for ‘lack of action’ over climate change The Spectator. Rules for thee, carbon footprints for me.
The “Green Wall” They Destroyed
The most perfect metaphor for Green governance in Brighton: In spring 2021, during nesting season, the Green council destroyed a large part of the oldest and longest ‘green wall’ in Europe—a vertically built structure covered by vegetation that housed hundreds of birds. The Spectator.
The structure had been established by the Victorians, The Spectator. The Greens ripped it down during bird nesting season. Because apparently when you’re the Green Party, actual green things and actual living creatures are less important than... well, nobody’s quite sure what was more important, but the wall is gone.
Dutch elm disease ran riot because the council refused to properly treat affected trees, which were then chopped down, The Spectator. Hedges, bushes, and even a bowling green that had been standing for years were “eviscerated”, The Spectator.
Meanwhile, weeds took over to the point of being a health hazard, with elderly ladies hospitalised from falls, The Spectator. The council blamed Brexit for the weeds they had “lovingly nurtured” by cracking down on herbicides, The Spectator.
You can’t make this up. The Green Party destroyed historic green spaces, let disease kill trees, allowed weeds to hospitalise elderly residents, and blamed Brexit.
The Secret Coalition: “Collaborative Politics” in Practice.
Sound familiar, Bristol?
After the 2019 election, Labour and the Greens entered into a secret agreement to jointly run the council, Brighton and Hove News. When the Green leader was asked to confirm publicly the contents of this agreement, he failed to do so, Brighton and Hove News. The contents were eventually leaked.
A Conservative councillor noted that a petition of no confidence in the council attracted more than 4,400 signatures, Brighton and Hove News, with residents asking why they bothered having elections if the parties were just going to form secret coalitions regardless.
In Bristol, at least, the coalition arrangement was initially public. Brighton’s Greens didn’t even manage that level of transparency whilst preaching about “collaborative politics.”
The Electoral Verdict.
In May 2023, Labour secured 38 seats—the largest-ever majority in Brighton and Hove Brighton and Hove News, Brighton and Hove News. The Greens were reduced to seven seats Brighton and Hove News—described as a “massive and humiliating” rejection by voters, Andy Winter’s Blog.
One observer noted the Greens “were poor communicators, poor administrators, and exceptionally poor politicians” Andy Winter’s Blog. Even in the days before polling, some Greens thought they would remain the largest party Andy Winter’s Blog—completely “out-of-touch, arrogant and tone-deaf to the mood in the city.”
The new Labour leader, Bella Sankey, described the Greens as “a disaster for our city. An unmitigated disaster,” LabourList, issuing a “damning verdict of the uselessness & hypocrisy of the Green record.”
Uselessness and hypocrisy. That’s the verdict after over a decade of Green governance in Britain’s greenest, most progressive city.
What Bristol Can Learn (But Won’t)
Here’s what Brighton teaches Bristol:
1. The Greens Can’t Do Basic Services.
Brighton residents experienced months of uncollected rubbish and recycling Brightonandhoveindependent Brighton and Hove News. Former council leader Nancy Platts observed: “Somewhere there is a solution to this because every other city collects rubbish and recycling. When I go to other cities, I’m not seeing this problem,” Brighton and Hove News.
Bristol already knows this is coming—the Greens have been planning fortnightly or three-weekly bin collections. Brighton tried it. Rubbish piled up. Strikes happened repeatedly. The city became a laughingstock.
2. “Collaborative Politics” Means Secret Deals and Power Grabs.
Brighton’s secret Labour-Green coalition. Bristol’s casting vote power grab. Same party, same methods, same lies about collaboration.
The Greens talk collaboration, practise opportunism. When they have 50% of seats, they don’t build consensus—they seize control through procedural mechanics.
3. Environmental Performance Gets Worse, Not Better.
76% of English and Welsh councils outperformed Brighton’s Green administration on climate change, Brighton and Hove News. Recycling rates declined. Trees died. Historic green infrastructure was destroyed.
Bristol’s Clean Air Zone charges and transport schemes won’t be about environment—they’ll be about revenue generation whilst environmental metrics decline.
4. They Will Blame Everyone Else.
The Brighton Greens blamed Brexit for weeds, The Spectator. Caroline Lucas said the bin strikes were Labour’s “poisoned chalice”, letsrecycle.com. When taking power in 2020, the Greens announced they were inheriting “the worst finances we have ever known,” Brightonhovegreens, despite having been in various coalition arrangements for years.
Bristol’s Greens are already following the script. Every failure will be Marvin Rees’ fault, Labour’s fault, the Tories’ fault, Tory austerity’s fault, Brexit’s fault, the committee system’s fault—anyone’s fault except theirs.
5. The Greens Morphed Into Something Unrecognisable.
Conservative councillor Steve Bell observed: “The Green Party, which used to be an environmental party, has now morphed into an unrecognisable entity, focused on an extreme social ideology over everything else” Brighton and Hove News.
Journalist Julie Burchill noted the Greens’ “pronoun-ed puritans” tried to turn Brighton—”the louchest city in Britain”—into “Gilead-on-Sea,” even attempting to ban the traditional Christmas Day charity swim for “health and safety” reasons The Spectator.
Bristol should watch closely: your Green Party talks environment but governs on social ideology, procedural obsession, and catastrophic administrative incompetence.
6. They Will Get Booted Out Eventually.
Brighton voters delivered a “damning verdict” in 2023, reducing the Greens from controlling the council to just seven seats, Brighton and Hove News, Brighton and Hove News. It took over a decade of failure, but eventually, residents had had enough.
Bristol will reach the same conclusion. The question is how much damage gets done first.
Bristol’s Green Cesspit: Brighton Edition.
Every criticism Labour’s Tom Renhard levels at Bristol’s Greens—cuts to bin collections, Clean Air Zone charges, asset sales, cultural programme cuts—mirrors exactly what happened in Brighton.
Every Green promise about “collaborative politics” and “working across parties” is contradicted by Brighton’s record of secret coalitions, Brighton and Hove News, repeated industrial disputes, Wikipedia, and spectacular electoral rejection, Brighton and Hove News.
Every claim about environmental leadership is undermined by bottom-quartile climate performance, Brighton and Hove News, declining recycling rates, letsrecycle.com, and destroyed historical green infrastructure, The Spectator.
The Bristol Timeline (Predicted Based on Brighton’s Record).
Year 1 (2024-2025): Greens promise collaboration whilst seizing control through procedural mechanics. Check.
Year 2 (2025-2026): First bin collection disputes. Service quality declines. Greens blame “inherited problems.”
Year 3 (2026-2027): Major bin strikes. Streets are filled with rubbish. Greens negotiate badly, blame unions, blame predecessors.
Year 4 (2027-2028): Environmental metrics reveal Bristol performing worse than comparable cities despite Green governance. The party claims the data is misleading.
Year 5 (2028-2029): Internal divisions emerge. Attempted leadership challenges. Green MP (Carla Denyer?) distances herself from the council record.
Year 6-8 (2029-2032): Gradual realisation amongst voters that “collaborative politics” meant power grabs, environmental leadership meant worse environmental performance, and competent administration meant... well, the opposite.
Year 9+ (2032+): Electoral wipeout. The new administration inherits genuine wreckage. Greens blame everyone else.
The Fundamental Problem
A Brighton observer captured it perfectly: “Those are policy positions; probe further and ask for the strategic vision, and you will, for the most part, be met by silence. Or, more likely, ridicule and anger” Wordpress.
“Like Liberal Democrat community politicians—whom in method and approach they often resemble—they have discovered the hard way that Government is hard and testing, and requires something more than pure oppositionism” Wordpress.
The Greens are brilliant protesters. They’re spectacular at pointing out what’s wrong. They’re completely useless at actually governing because governing requires competence, compromise, and strategic vision beyond slogans.
A Labour environmental campaigner in Brighton noted: “Green Party initiatives, however well-intentioned, come across as worthy aims of an urban elite not necessarily in touch with the real pressures and concerns of ordinary people” Nationbuilder.
That’s Bristol in one sentence. The Greens represent a particular demographic—educated, professional, urban progressives who can afford ideological purity because they’re insulated from its consequences. Everyone else pays the price.
They’re toddlers with bright ideas, earnest about their vision but utterly incapable of adult governance. And like toddlers left unsupervised with finger paints, they make a spectacular mess whilst insisting they’re creating masterpieces.
Conclusion: Bristol, You’ve Been Warned.
Brighton spent over a decade learning what Bristol is about to discover: the Green Party talks a better game than it governs.
They promise collaboration, but practise power-grabbing. They promise environmental leadership, but deliver bottom-quartile performance. They promise competent services, but preside over repeated crises. They promise transparency, but operate through secret deals. They promise to fix inherited problems and blame predecessors for their own failures.
Brighton’s new Labour leader described the Greens as “a disaster for our city. An unmitigated disaster,” LabourList. The Greens were reduced from controlling the council to just seven seats—a humiliating collapse, Brighton and Hove News, Brighton and Hove News.
Bristol will reach the same conclusion. The only variable is how long it takes and how much damage accumulates first.
The casting vote power grab isn’t the beginning of Bristol’s Green governance problems. It’s the opening scene of a play Brighton already watched, with terrible reviews and a predictable, tragic ending.
The bins won’t get collected. The environmental performance will decline. The promises won’t be kept. The excuses will be endless. And eventually, Bristol voters will do what Brighton voters did: deliver a damning verdict on Green Party governance.
The cesspit doesn’t deepen—it’s just revealed to be exactly as deep as Brighton’s was. Bristol is about to find out how deep that actually is.
Welcome to your Green future, Bristol. Brighton says hello from the other side, and the rubbish is still piling up.
The Almighty Gob observes from the detached sanctuary of pattern recognition, where Brighton’s past is Bristol’s prologue, and the Greens’ promises are reliably contradicted by their record. The only surprise is that anyone’s still surprised.