Talk:2023 Brighton and Hove City Council election

Government or administration

User @Marchino61 has now twice changed the term "administration" to "government" on this article. I believe they are incorrect and would like to change it back to "administration", but as it has been changed twice before I will raise the point here first.

Their reasoning for using "government" is given as: In the UK a government is not an "administration" as the separation of powers between the legislature and executive is incomplete. The government does not just "administer" laws passed by the legislature. It actively influences the legislature. Therefore replaced this term with "government".

This is an article about a local authority. Whilst here in the UK we use the term "local government" to collectively refer to such local authorities, we do not refer to each individual council or the faction running it as a "government". We use "government" to refer to the national government at Westminster or the devolved bodies for Scotland, Wales and Northern Ireland. When discussing local authorities, it is common practice to describe the party or coalition running the authority as an "administration". Marchino61's reasoning about separation of powers is also more pertinent to national level government. Stortford (talk) 12:03, 22 May 2023 (UTC)

I agree we do not usually call local councils "governments" but nor do we normally call them "administrations". To me, neither term sounds exactly right here. They are often referred to as "councils", but this would more accurately refer to all councillors, not just those belonging to the majority party.

Also, note that councillors take no part in the administration of councils. They are generally part-time. The administration is done by full-time employees.

I've checked some other Wikipedia articles. It seems from those that "executive" may be the correct term. The "executive" will often consist of the mayor/leader and a cabinet made up of members of the majority party. Here's one article on this:

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Executive_arrangements

However, Brighton and Hove uses the committee system, where the council is run by committees specialised to different areas of government. Each committee consists of councillors in proportion to the overall representation of each party.

Even "executive" is slightly confusing, as councils generally have a chief executive, who is an employee.

What are others' opinions on this? I think it might require a complete rewording, since it is clear that the majority party does not formally control the "administration" or "government" (because there are opposition councillors on every committee, even though they will generally be outvoted by the majority).

Marchino61 (talk) 10:50, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Sorry, I forgot this link:

https://www.brighton-hove.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/councillors-and-committees/committees-council-meetings-and-decision

Marchino61 (talk) 10:51, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Thanks for the reply. I'm afraid I have to disagree with your claim that we do not normally call the political group(s) in charge of councils "administrations". The term is widely used in media coverage, by councils themselves and in official guidance for councillors - by way of examples please see:

• Welwyn Hatfield Borough Council announcing its new Liberal Democrat / Labour "joint administration".
• BBC News reporting Herefordshire's new "minority adminstration".
• Local Government Association guidance for councillors referring to "minority administrations" and political groups which form "part of the administration".
• Local Government Information Unit guidance referring to "minority adminstrations", "new administrations" and "majority administrations".
• The Guardian reporting the Greens' victory in Mid Suffolk, which specifically mentions Brighton and Hove as having previously been a Green "minority administration".

"Executive" is also the wrong term - that refers to a specific committee in authorities with a Leader and Executive (or Cabinet) model of governance, which Brighton and Hove doesn't have, being instead a committee system as you've correctly noted.

Yes, the vast majority of the day to day work is done by employed officers rather than the elected councillors, and the work officers do can be described as "administration" in terms of the dictionary definition. However, that doesn't alter the fact that the term "administration" (and not "government" or anything else) is by long-standing convention used for the political group or groups which hold the leadership positions on the council. Stortford (talk) 16:45, 23 May 2023 (UTC)

Thought I'd throw in an additional voice that no would would describe a local council as having a "government", always "administration". Local government is a formal term to describe the local/municipal structure, but never used to describe the running of a council. Great sources to back it up too. Jonjonjohny (talk) 00:33, 24 May 2023 (UTC)

Thank you - in absence of any further comments supporting "government" I have now changed it to "administration". Stortford (talk) 07:23, 28 May 2023 (UTC)