It followed a year after the election of the UK's only Green Member of Parliament, Caroline Lucas, who represents the Brighton Pavilion constituency.
[9] In 2013, an unsuccessful attempt was made to oust council leader Jason Kitcat and replace him with Mac Cafferty.
He stood unsuccessfully for the Green Party in the Hove Parliamentary Constituency at the 2017 UK general election, where incumbent Peter Kyle was re-elected.
In November 2021, Mac Cafferty was criticised for flying to the COP26 climate change summit in Glasgow and later apologised, blaming "the unreliability of the rail network"; he described his decision to do so as a "major failure of my judgement" and admitted that it went against his party's principles.
During the COVID-19 pandemic in January 2021, Brighton and Hove City Council advised its primary schools to not re-open following the winter holidays, against Government advice.
[21] The council's decision was put to Prime Minister Boris Johnson on the Andrew Marr Show[22] just one day before the UK Government later issued advice for primary schools to close.