Wardens are being deployed across Sussex to deter and disrupt criminals who are targeting businesses.

Six community guards sponsored by Sainsbury’s and Mitie are now being deployed in Brighton and Hove alongside the current Business Improvement District ambassadors.

The wardens take the task of reporting crime away from businesses, securing physical and digital evidence and preparing statements for Police. Their role has been supported by Sussex Police and the Sussex Police & Crime Commissioner Katy Bourne, who praises this partnership approach to reduce crime and anti-social behaviour.

Mrs Bourne said: “The feedback from business communities about the value and impact of wardens has been excellent.

“It is vital that local organisations and the police work together to reduce business crime and help to create a safe and secure county in which to live and work.

“Because wardens are trained to secure the best physical evidence and take statements, they are helping businesses save time and reducing demands on police. They are also able to provide services beyond security like first aid, counter-terror awareness and emergency planning.”

Nationally business crime accounts for up to 25% of all crime. In Sussex that figure is 19% and Mrs Bourne is keen to encourage more firms to report it so this percentage continues to fall.

Sussex sees 28.3 crimes per 1,000 businesses, putting it 12th from the bottom of all 43 forces across England and Wales. Shoplifting accounts for 45% of all business crime in Sussex while criminal damage is just under a fifth; crimes at a convenience store represent 8.7% of the total number of business crimes.

Since 2015 business and community wardens have been introduced in Hastings, Eastbourne, Littlehampton, Bognor Regis and Haywards Heath. They were initially hired for an 18-month pilot jointly funded by the Home Office and the Southern Co-operative.

The existing business wardens in Sussex have powers to seize alcohol thanks to a community safety accreditation scheme which allows organisations and their employees to be given targeted police powers by the Chief Constable. These powers mean wardens can seize alcohol from under-18s or people drinking in designated spots, deal with begging and request the name and address of someone they believe has committed a relevant offence.

You can read more about the PCC’s activity and sign up for her weekly newsletter here.

Last Friday 15 September commuters ran from a homemade bomb on a crowded train at Parson’s Green underground station in London. This is the fifth terrorist attack we have faced in the last six months and the fourth in London.

Three of the attacks involved vehicles mowing down pedestrians by lone terrorists but yesterday an IED bomb failed to detonate correctly and most commuters were spared. The explosion caused life-changing burns and a stampede to leave the underground but no deaths. We should be grateful.

Yesterday Prime Minister Theresa May upgraded the risk of a terror attack to critical suggesting another attack may be imminent. An 18 year-old man has been arrested and held at Dover and another man has been apprehended in London.

Mrs May was right to say we need to carry on as normal: if we overreact, the terrorists win. However, ignoring them also means resolutely avoiding the temptation to introduce more draconian anti-terror legislation.

Terrorists attack free people everywhere including Muslims coming out of a mosque most recently at Finsbury Park in June during Ramadan. On this occasion the attack was motivated by Islamaphobia and carried out by Darren Osborne, a white Welshman.

After the Finsbury Park incident Mrs May said: “There has been far too much tolerance of extremism in our country over many years, and that means extremism of any kind including Islamophobia…”

But if the Prime Minister wants to be the protector of our freedom and democracy as well as law and order, she must be careful.

In the same speech Mrs May said it was diversity that made London great: “This is an extraordinary city of extraordinary people, it is home to a multitude of communities that together make London one of the greatest cities on earth, diverse, welcoming, vibrant, compassionate, confident and determined never to give in to hate.” She must hold onto this conviction.

We live in a liberal democracy, not a surveillance society, and this is what we must protect: freedom from terrorists and freedom to live, work and travel around the United Kingdom safely.

Yesterday a Home Office document leaked to the Guardian revealed proposals that a new immigration system will end the right of EU nationals to settle in Britain (free movement) and restrict their rights to bring in family members. Europeans will need to carry temporary biometric residence permits which are a form of ID card.

According to the Guardian, work visas for EU nationals would be limited to two years if they were considered “low skilled” migrants and three to five years if they were “highly skilled.” You can read the full document here.

At this stage, these are proposals only which will have to be agreed by ministers and the EU but they reveal a worrying trend. They are part of a policy to put British residents first.

Brighton MP Caroline Lucas said: “The Government’s post-Brexit immigration crackdown isn’t just economically illiterate, it’s plainly cruel too.

“Ministers know that ending free movement will damage the British economy – yet they are ploughing ahead regardless. Now they’re also planning draconian rules on family members of EU nationals and harsh income requirements too.

“Britain has benefited from freedom of movement and from the enormous contribution of EU nationals.”

To introduce these harsh new migration rules for people coming from the continent is a profound mistake, and one I will be fighting at every turn.”

Leader of the Lib Dems Vince Cable said:  “When I was Business Secretary there were up to nine studies that we looked at that took in all the academic evidence.

“It showed that immigration had very little impact on wages or employment. But this was suppressed by the Home Office under Theresa May, because the results were inconvenient.

“I remember it vividly. Overwhelmingly it has been the case that overseas workers have been complimentary rather than competitive to British workers.

“The exodus of trades people, NHS staff and tech industry workers shows the potential damage of an extreme Brexit.”

Paul Chandler, agent for the Brighton and Hove Liberal Democrats backed up Mrs Lucas saying: “This leaked proposal just proves how difficult it will be to find a fair, humane and workable alternative to freedom of movement.

“It’s a truly horrible dog’s dinner of a proposal that will be expensive to administer, widely abused and ineffective.”

A man who developed complex regional pain syndrome (CRPS) after a car crash has vowed to beat his disability and complete the Brighton Color Run.

Martin Leppard will lead a team of people with the disabling syndrome – the Brighton CRPS Warriors – as they walk the five kilometres along Brighton seafront in September.

The Color Run – imported from America, complete with the American spelling – claims to be the original, largest and most unique event of its kind.

Thousands of “Color Runners” start the day in a special edition white t-shirt before getting covered from head to toe in a rainbow of colours at the four Color Zones and the new Foam Zone as they run five kilometres to celebrate health, happiness and friendship.

Fundraising for the run is already under way.

Warriors who battle disability suffering from the syndrome will not only walk along the Maeira Drive route to raise money but also to raise awareness of their condition.

Mr Leppard was left with greatly reduced mobility when he developed the syndrome after a car accident in January 2013.

He said: “In the space of two weeks, I went from running 10k a week to being unable to get from one end of my bungalow to the other.”

Brighton’s hospital trust is under threat according to the Health Service Journal. Senior NHS officials have been told by the Conservatives to cut spending by closing wards and services, extending waiting times and stopping some medical treatments.

A controversial “capped expenditure process” is being discussed privately between top officials from NHS England and NHS Improvement and health managers in 14 areas of the country with the highest levels of overspending.

Surrey and Sussex is one of the NHS areas accused of overspending and told to think the “unthinkable.”

According to the Health Service Journal (HSJ) on Monday 05 June: “The principle of the process, introduced this year, is to ‘cap’ NHS spending in the targeted areas so that they meet ‘control total’ budgets in 2017-18.”

“The programme comes amid the longest ever sustained squeeze on the NHS budget, and with lower spending growth in 2017-18 than last year. These areas (14 including Surrey and Sussex) report gaps between plans and targets running into hundreds of millions of pounds, but NHSE and NHSI have not made public the total national gap.”

For this reason, Surrey and Sussex’s Brighton hospital campus could face even more ward closures, operations’ caps, longer waiting times, reductions in medical treatments, downgrading services like maternity and A&E, selling land and stopping prescriptions because of budget cuts.

Brighton and Sussex Universities Hospital Trust was placed in special measures when it declared a financial deficit of £60 million last October and is expected to end the year with a deficit of £60 to £70 billion. On 25 April this year, 42 inspectors from the Care Quality Commission (CQC), the healthcare watchdog, returned to the trust for three days.

Earlier in April Marianne Griffiths took over running the trust along with a team from Western Sussex Hospitals. She was appointed because the challenges that she had overcome merging St Richard’s, in Chichester, with Worthing and Southlands to form Western and dealing with a £21 million deficit meant that she had relevant experience. Western Sussex Hospitals is one of only five acute hospital trusts to be rated outstanding by CQC.

Mrs Griffiths said that she had agreed a breathing space with regulators and one monthly monitoring meeting to assess progress.

If you sign up as a guest member to the Health Service Journal, you can read the full article here.

Added to their financial problems, the Lib Dems warn the NHS in Brighton could lose up to 436 staff from the EU because of Theresa May’s extreme version of Brexit including 61 doctors and 171 nurses.  Over half of all doctors and 42% of nurses from the EU are considering leaving because of Brexit, according to recent research published on Dispatches in March this year.

Channel Four reported that Conservative plans would create a £4.5m bill to re-hire local doctors and nurses and other support workers in the NHS from the EU after 2019. Theresa May plans to double the ‘immigration skills charge’ to £2000 per year for each doctor, nurse and health worker brought into the NHS or any other company from abroad by 2022.

Full figures on the number of EU nationals by local NHS trust and estimates of those considering leaving the UK because of Brexit can be found in the Channel 4 Survey for Dispatches in March this year.

In their manifesto, Lib Dems will immediately guarantee the rights of all EU nationals working in the NHS and social care and commit to add a penny on income tax for the basic, higher and additional rates of income tax. They want to raise enough money to protect the NHS. You can read about the Lib Dem plans for the NHS and social care workforce here.Liberal Democrats have called for an immediate guarantee that all EU nationals in the UK, including those working in the NHS and social care, can stay after Brexit.

Emily Tester, Lib Dem candidate for Brighton Kemptown said: “Hospitals in our city depend on doctors, nurses and other support staff from the EU. But many are now planning to leave because of the uncertainty caused by Brexit.

“We must guarantee their rights to stay here immediately to prevent a damaging exodus of these skilled and hard-working people. Our NHS, and the care we all rely on, would suffer without them.”

Labour will raise £30 billion for the NHS nationally by increasing income tax for the highest 5% of taxpayers earning £80,000 or more per year. (Media presenters have expressed concern about likely tax evasion by high earners and questions whether Labour will manage to raise £30 billion.)

Like the Lib Dems, the Green Party will introduce an “NHS Tax”, earmarked to increase direct funding of the NHS as part of general income and other taxation.

Conservatives have only committed to a ‘real terms’ increase of only £8 billion in their manifesto in the next Parliament until 2022 which was the minimum expenditure recommended by the King’s Fund at the last 2015 election. (See page 66 of the Conservative manifesto.)

Save Our Schools (SOS) Brighton and Hove organised a school assembly rally in the sunshine at the Level yesterday and Brighton MP Caroline Lucas was the first to take to the podium.

She applauded the work of hard-working teachers across Brighton and Hove, thanking them for their hard work, dedication and courage.

However, Mrs Lucas criticised the Conservative government for a real-terms fall in pupil funding because of a projected increase in pupil numbers.

She said: “In real-terms, there is still a three percent per pupil funding cut between now and 2021-22 when you allow for the expected increase in pupil numbers. The schools budget needs to increase, not be cut.

And it needs to increase by between six to seven billion pounds according to the Association of School and College Leaders.”

Save our Schools estimate a cut of £487 or £193,425 per school in Brighton and Hove by the next election in 2022 if cuts continue at the present rate. For secondary schools the national figures is much higher: £378,298 suggesting that cuts to secondary schools are offset by smaller cuts to primary schools.

Mrs Lucas also criticised Conservative plans to scrap free lunches and replace them with (cheaper) free breakfasts which she said, is to give with one hand and take with the other. She said the Conservative manifesto reads like Oliver Twist.

Defending Conservative education policy, Prime Minister Theresa May said the dedicated schools grant: “is at its highest on record at more than £40 billion in 2016 to 2017 and is set to rise to £42 billion in 2019 to 2020, with increasing pupil numbers.”

According to Sandra McNally, Professor in the School of Economics at the University of Surrey, Conservative figures are misleading. This is because the “per pupil figure” was frozen between 2010 and 2011 and again between 2015 and 2016.

She argues that an increase in the core funding for schools is not the same as an increase in the amount per pupil. A freeze in cash terms is likely to result in a reduction in real-terms of 6.5% between 2010 and 2020. This reduction has not happened yet and school funding has doubled in the last 20 years.

If you want to check the figures, you can search for your child’s school on the school cuts website here.

Chair of Governors Marisol Smith said that the cut to funding at Moulsecoomb Primary means 40% of their children can’t go away for five days towards the end of Year 6 because the school can’t subsidise the children anymore.

It also means the school has had to make their counsellor redundant, leaving vulnerable children to join the waiting list for CAMHS while their mental health deteriorates.

Mrs Smith explained that extending free school meals means there is now no easy way to check eligibility for the pupil premium. She said: “We now have an administrative nightmare. A large proportion of our pupils are from deprived areas. Extending free school meals has had a perverse effect on our budgets. We used to have an easy way of checking eligibility.”

She said it was often a challenge to get parents to apply for free school meals but when they did, that provided the evidence for the pupil premium.

Solomon Curtis, Labour Candidate for Brighton Pavilion, said: “We have to seriously make sure we have the right policies: 37.5% of the population is under 30 years old but only 2% of MPs are. No wonder we’ve seen cuts, no-one in Parliament is standing up for us.”

Labour Candidate for Kemptown Lloyd Russell-Moyle said: “I will not sit down, I’ll not wait a second to attack this government. They have cut school funding because this government hates education for all, they only care about education for the richest.

Do not be intimidated by people who tell you we can’t afford to fund education. Keep on with the struggle because failure cannot be an option.”

Lib Dem Candidate Emily Tester who was sitting exams yesterday at LSE said: “Lib Dems would reverse the £3 billion funding cuts and protect per-pupil funding in real-terms. In addition, we’d lift a £4 billion investment to lift the pay freeze on teacher’s salaries, give more free school meals and triple the early years’ pupil premium to £1000 for a fairer start in life.”

This article was first published in Brighton and Hove News.

Brighton MP Caroline Lucas spoke words of comfort at a rally to remember those injured by the Manchester terror attack. In the face of carnage, she described her shock, desperate sadness, anger and heartache and paid tribute to all who had helped those wounded and dying.

Hummingbird, a community of refugee campaigners, organised a rally at St Bartholomew’s House last Wednesday 24 May to remember the 144 people who were killed or injured in Monday’s terrorist attack.

Mrs Lucas said: “Tonight we too are defiant and we are strong.

“In honour of all those who have lost their lives at the hand of terrorists, we will not give in to fear. We will live our lives. We will meet our friends for the evening at Brighton Festival, walk on the beach, check in on our neighbours and play with our children.

“And perhaps most importantly of all, we will not point fingers of blame nor will we retreat behind our differences.

“Thank you to Hummingbird for bringing us together this evening.

“We may struggle to find the words for how we feel right now but we have found one another.

“And thank you all for being the very best of humankind with your love, your light and with your hope.”

Immam Usman from Brighton’s Al Madina Mosque in Bedford Place quoted Persian Poet Saadi saying that human beings come from the same source and are one family who share each other’s pain. In response to the targeted attack, he quoted a blood donor from Manchester who said:

“They want to turn us against our neighbours and it’ll never happen. Not here.”

Like many, Mr Usman said: “I hope and believe that people here in Brighton and Hove would react in the same way, knowing as Jo Cox famously said, that we have more in common than that which divides us.

“We need to stand together and fight the things that might divide us: poverty, isolation, scapegoating.”

Mr Usman encouraged people to follow in the footsteps of Mancunian Poet Tony Walsh and “choose love.”

Labour Councillor Emma Daniels who is lead member for communities and equalities at Brighton & Hove Council said: “Our resolve must be to show defiant love in the face of hate. To refuse to stop loving, to stop dancing, to stop laughing.

“To love defiantly means also to be watchful and help people who may be targeted in the wake of this attack too. People who are Muslim are no more responsible for this attack than I am for the murder of Jo Cox.

“You cannot make sense of a senseless act of murder but we can fight back with love and remember Jo Cox’s words which murder could not silence: ‘We have more in common than that which divides us.’

“I am inspired by the simple yet beautifully radical act of our staff this morning in playing ‘the Stone Roses’ in our library.

“Turn your music up people and love defiantly.”

Elaine Ortiz from Hummingbird and Alex Davidson from the Trade Union Council also spoke.

Monday’s attack took place on the anniversary of the death of soldier Lee Rigby who was hacked to death on a London street four years ago.

After the rally, Brighton and Hove’s Christian community held two reflective vigils at St Luke’s Church on Old Shoreham Road and Hove Methodist Church on Portland Road.

Parliamentary candidates had until yesterday to withdraw from their selection to become MPs if they forged electoral alliances.

Here is the line-up of candidates and those who have stood aside across Sussex in 08 June’s general election.

In Brighton Kemptown, Conservative incumbent Simon Kirby is standing for re-election with a majority of 690 votes. Green Party Candidate Davy Jones stood aside in support of Labour’s candidate, Councillor Lloyd Russell-Moyle (East Brighton.) UKIP has stood aside in Brighton Kemptown to boost Mr Kirby’s chances of retaining his seat. Lib Dems have not and are fielding Emily Tester as their candidate.

In Brighton Pavilion, Lib Dem’s Paul Chandler stood aside because he did not want to split the vote and feared a Conservative gain. Mrs Lucas has a comfortable majority of 7,967 votes. Lib Dems may have had more impact if they had stood aside in Brighton Kemptown because it is marginal. However, Caroline Lucas is arguably the strongest candidate in Brighton and Hove, if not across Sussex, so Lib Dem members decided to support her.

In Hove Labour’s Peter Kyle is defending his seat with a majority of 1,236 votes primarily against the Conservative Party. Mr Kyle enjoyed a swing of +9.3 to win 42% of the vote compared with +3.2% and 40% share for the Conservatives.  Hove is slightly less marginal than other Sussex parliamentary seats.

In Eastbourne, Conservative Caroline Ansell beat Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd by 733 votes. UKIP are not fielding a candidate. Instead they are asking their voters to support Ms Ansell.

UKIP are standing aside in Lewes in support of Maria Caulfield because of the threat posed by Lib Dem Kelly Marie-Blundell who is standing in place of Norman Baker. Mr Baker lost his seat at the last election to Ms Caulfield who was elected with a majority of 1,083.

Green and Labour candidates have formed an alliance to defeat Conservative Amber Rudd who was the sitting MP and is Prime Minister Theresa May’s Home Secretary until the election was called. The Green Party is not fielding a candidate. Mrs Rudd has a majority of 4,796 votes so it is unlikely that the progressive alliance will work there. But Mrs Rudd is a key player in the conservative government and therefore a target seat for opposition parties.

Worthing East and Shoreham is basically a safe Conservative seat held by Tim Loughton with 50% share of the vote but a full slate of candidates are standing against him. Most famous among Mr Loughton’s opponents is Sophie Cook, Latest TV presenter.

Parliamentary candidates have 18 days to battle for election and win the argument on the doorsteps.

As for the technicalities, polls will open at 7am on Thursday 08 June and close at 10pm.

If you are not registered to vote, you will need to register with the electoral roll online by tomorrow, Monday 22 May, to be able to vote in the general election. You can register to vote online here. Please note you can still not cast your vote online.

In England, Scotland and Wales, the deadline to apply t o vote by post at the UK general election on Thursday 8 June is 5pm this Tuesday 23 May.

If you would like to nominate a named person to vote on your behalf, you can vote by proxy here.

Hundreds of Brighton residents gathered to discuss building a progressive alliance to help Labour. Greens and Liberal Democrats said it is the only way to get a fairer electoral system in future.

Sussex Progressives have been campaigning for electoral reform for two years and the meeting at St George’s Church, Kemp Town on Thursday 19 May was the latest, in an uphill struggle for a fairer voting system.

Brighton Kemp Town is one of several conservative-held marginal seats across Sussex. Simon Kirby was re-elected MP with a majority of only 690 votes last year, while in Eastbourne Conservative Caroline Ansell beat Lib Dem Stephen Lloyd by 733 votes.

Green Party Candidate Davy Jones has already stood aside in Brighton Kemp Town in support of Labour’s candidate, Councillor Lloyd Russell-Moyle (East Brighton.) Lib Dem Paul Chandler has stood aside in Brighton Pavilion as a mark of respect for Green Candidate’s Caroline Lucas who has been the MP since 2010. Women’s Equality Party did not field a candidate.

Mr Russell-Moyle explained that Labour Party rules do not currently allow candidates to stand aside. But he conceded that in a few parts of Britain, one could make the case for Labour candidates to withdraw. Brighton Pavilion elected Caroline Lucas as their only Green MP in 2010 and it’s in the Isle of Wight or Bristol where the Green Party think they are most likely to elect their second MP.

In Hove, Labour MP Peter Kyle, has categorically ruled out an alliance with the Green Party and decided to defend his majority of 1236 single-handedly, to give voters maximum choice out of respect for them, he said.

Making his pitch to become Brighton Kemp Town’s next MP, Mr Russell-Moyle said: “It is often a mantra of the Tories that only they can produce a strong stable government and only first part the post can achieve this.

Citing Germany as a country with a stable government and a strong economy, he said: “I believe our current electoral system is not fair or fit for purpose and I support a new kind of politics where single seat constituencies remain but no vote is wasted and all votes are represented.”

Co-convenor of Sussex Progressives Georgia Amson-Bradshaw explained why the current electoral system is unfair and undemocratic. She said: “Our dysfunctional, binary, first past the post system gave us the referendum vote. It meant that the Greens have one seat for one million votes.

“It means that in the recent local elections Lib Dem vote share went up, while their seats went down.

“It is the reason that in Scotland, Labour had 25% of the vote in 2015 and only one seat.”

Ms Amson-Bradshaw criticised the culture of “political tribalism” in the United Kingdom which she said undermines the common cause of progressive people because archaic, rigid party rules prevent candidates standing aside.

She said she is often tempted to despair: “But here in Brighton, I see glimmers of light. I see people on this panel with me, in the audience, who come to our meetings, people who have that courage, that generosity and that foresight.

“Make no mistake, this, here, is the beginning of something big. Here, in Brighton, and in certain other places around the UK, people are rejecting that status quo and are finding a new way.”

Green Party’s Davy Jones, who stood aside in Brighton Kemp Town to help Labour, criticised the national response from Labour and the Liberal Democrats and acknowledged some voters’ frustration when “their party” was not represented.

In his defence, he said: “It’s not the decisions of parties to stand down that restricts choice – it is our antiquated first past the post system. So if we want to change the voting system to a fair one, we have to vote out as many Tory MPs as possible.”

Conservatives were elected to govern the UK with just 37% of the vote. He said: “First past the post is a disaster for the left and centre because our votes are split while those of the right unite behind the Tories.

“With imminent boundary changes likely to give the Tories even more seats, “fair votes” is not just an issue for “sore losers.” It’s a basic issue for democracy and for ending one-party (Tory) rule.

“If we want a system that allows us to campaign against each other safely – without letting the Tories in – we need some form of proportional representation. And Labour needs to back it.”