In todays Argus, there is a report of a disagreement between some of the Councillors in Brighton & Hove regarding the opening elements of the Council Meeting on 13th December. The agenda for the meeting itself was far from insignificant and it is not hard to imagine significant disagreement between the 54 elected members arising. According to earlier reports in the Argus and twitter there certainly were differences between the Green group and the opposition parties on matters such as the forthcoming budget.

However the issue that surfaced in today’s paper as being of concern to Councillor Summers and Barnett was that of the opening Prayers. The decision regarding prayers and how they will be conducted is a matter for the Chair of the Council, which in the case of Brighton and Hove is our Mayor. The Mayor is prevented from engaging in party politics during their year of office but does get to decide how to conduct prayers and on chaplaincy arrangements for the year. The decision to invite leaders of a number of faiths to conduct prayers was announced at the Civic Service on 27th May by Mayor Bill Randall. Had Cllr Summers or Barnett been there they would have heard this for themselves and indeed Cllr Barnett did comment in the Argus a few days later.

It is vital for Brighton & Hove not to presume that this approach is really all that radical, although it may be the first time in the city that the prayers have not been assigned to one Chaplain for the year. The chaplains have usually been a member of the Church of England as the Argus points out, although not in the year when Jenny Langston was Mayor. At nearby East Sussex County Council the Chair has invited leaders from a number of different faiths to say prayers before their Council meetings on several occasions over the last decade.

On the day when Eric Pickles has announced a decision by the coalition to significantly reduce the funding for the city for next year, I think that we need to have all of our politically active Councillors focused on the running of the city. Perhaps  Cllrs Summers and Barnett can discuss their views on the prayers with the Mayor in private. I suspect that the inclusion of a local Imam in this aspect of civic life will have sent a very positive message to many of the 6000 Muslims in Brighton & Hove which is something all Councillors should welcome, whatever their grasp of Arabic.