Catch up on the latest political news from across Kent with Sofia Akin joined by Conservative Councillor for Thanet John Davis and Green Councillor from Kent County Council Paul Stepto.
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00:00 Today welcome to the Kent Politics show live on KMTV. These are our guests for
00:04 tonight. Before we get into the chat I'll tell you a little bit about what's to
00:07 come tonight. Well it's fair to say the phrase a week is a long time in politics
00:13 certainly applies this week not only in Kent but across the country. A general
00:17 election's been called as you may have heard. South Dannet MP Craig McKinley has
00:22 returned to Parliament after his battle with sepsis and since announced that he
00:26 will not be running in the in the general election along with Tambridge
00:31 Wells MP Greg Clark they both won't be running and of course the leader of the
00:37 Labour Party Sakia Starmer's been at Gillingham FC's stadium not to watch a
00:41 game but actually to launch his party's campaign and also on tonight's show
00:45 we'll be unpacking so much more than that. So where do we begin? Well let's
00:50 start with the news that shocked most that a general election will be held on
00:54 the 4th of July. There were originally talks it'll be held in the latter half
00:58 of the year technically it is in July but Rishi Sunak announced on Wednesday
01:03 it's going to be a summer election. The last July election was in 1945 after the
01:09 Second World War. Along with this some Kent MPs have announced they won't be
01:13 running in the summer election. So we will now introduce my guests for today
01:18 so thank you to both of you for joining us today. We've got Conservative
01:22 Councillor for Thanet John Davis and Green Councillor from Kent County
01:26 Council Paul Steptoe. Welcome to you both. So been a lot happening this
01:31 week hasn't there? First I wanted to start by talking about the fact
01:35 that we've now seen four Conservative MPs announcing in Kent that they won't
01:39 be running in the general election. We also saw a few weeks ago Natalie Elphick
01:43 defecting to the Labour Party. So first of all how does that feel to know that
01:47 so many Conservatives aren't running? Are they jumping ship or what are they doing?
01:51 I think there's a variety of reasons and obviously I wouldn't
01:56 want to speak for any individual. Let's not go too deep into what went on in
02:00 Dover because that was absolutely bizarre and as I say I don't even want
02:06 to dwell on that but pure virtue signalling in terms of somebody hopping
02:11 ship when they were leaving anyway so absolute meaningless gesture. In terms of
02:17 Greg Clark and others as I said I can't comment for their final
02:24 decision however it doesn't mean to say that you've seen the end of any of them
02:28 basically because a man with a valid opinion whose time has come will be
02:32 heard. With regard to Craig of course a completely separate
02:39 set of circumstances. The man is an inspiration to anybody I think and to be
02:46 as recovered and fully active and to have kept the constituency running
02:51 business as usual whilst he has gone through what he has is beyond
02:56 credibility to be honest. Let's watch that clip actually of when Craig did
03:00 return for his first Prime Minister's questions for about eight months since
03:05 his sepsis battle. We can watch that video now.
03:09 [Applause]
03:37 So I'm sure that we've all seen that clip by now and I think what's even
03:41 more remarkable is usually clapping isn't allowed in the House of Commons
03:44 isn't it? I'll stick with you for now John. I wanted to ask if we saw
03:48 Craig taking to Facebook and X today to say that unfortunately he would have
03:54 to be standing down he was sad to kind of announce it. So do you think that the
03:58 Prime Minister shouldn't have called the general election so soon or at
04:01 least should have let his party know he was going to be calling it? I am be as
04:06 candid as I always am. The Prime Minister has his own reasons for calling the
04:11 election and it wouldn't be wrong of me to be in any way critical or judgmental
04:16 without a lot more information in front of me. There is no doubt that it may well
04:23 have informed Craig's position and again I'm not speaking for Craig but he has
04:28 done incredibly well to get to this point. However as his statement says
04:34 and I believe he would hold his seat but 70 to 80 hour weeks when you're in a
04:42 condition that most people would have folded in, is that realistic and is it
04:45 fair on him and on his family indeed I have to say who you know I think they
04:51 need that time and will benefit from that time and Craig's made a brave
04:55 decision of having announced his comeback. It's a very brave decision but
05:00 I think it's his decision and it's certainly for his and his
05:03 family's best. I would like to say I would put and I'm not a gambling man in
05:08 any way I'd put money down that we haven't heard the last of Craig
05:12 McKinley and he will campaign on the issues that he said he will. How he goes
05:17 about that obviously maybe it will be different so in the past but I think all
05:23 of us as indeed the respect shown in the house yesterday showed a round of applause and
05:27 jackets off. Let's bring you in Paul. I wanted to say actually you could see
05:31 kind of politics aside you saw Sakiya Starmer shaking Craig's hand and you
05:36 kind of saw how much unity there was in the House of Commons perhaps the most
05:40 maybe there may have ever been and so yeah I wanted to ask you now that we
05:45 know that Craig won't be running what do you think this kind of means I mean do
05:49 you kind of have any ideas of what could happen there or what this could mean as
05:52 well? Well first of all respects to Craig because he's been very brave and
05:57 really determined to overcome his illness and his subsequent disabilities
06:02 so hats off to him there and interestingly he and I share an
06:06 alma mater we both went to Birmingham University. Oh wow. Small world. But I don't think we share
06:11 political views he's a bit of a climate change denier. Yeah well as to what will
06:16 happen in South Fennet I don't know I don't know what the electorate is like.
06:21 Well the thing I wanted to bring up as well actually is the fact that actually
06:25 the polls there's a poll in particular currently suggesting that it's actually
06:30 a seat that Labour has a 98% chance of winning so do you think that may I mean
06:35 I know Craig's reasons for stepping down are because of his health but that...
06:40 Craig's decision will be nothing to do with any poll like that and... Yeah I don't
06:43 necessarily mean Craig's but looking at the polls kind of across the country
06:47 this is a a county that's always been very blue but it is looking like it's
06:52 going to change I'm sure it's something you would want to talk about Paul
06:54 yourself as a Green councillor. Yeah I don't think well in
06:59 Tunbridge we've got a very good candidate called Anna Cope who's a
07:02 teacher and who's very intelligent and also very emotionally intelligent I
07:06 would say and although the Conservative MP Tom Tugendhat his last majority was
07:14 over 20,000 but you know because we've done well locally we think and the
07:19 boundaries have changed we think Anna does stand a good chance of eating into
07:24 Tom's results. I don't know how much you pay attention to polls but in
07:29 Tunbridge in particular it's actually one of the few seats that it's
07:33 saying likely Conservatives could still hold on to 69% chance at the moment on
07:39 one of the polls. Yeah we'll see we'll see but yeah starting campaign well we've
07:45 already started campaigning but in Tunbridge Wells the Liberal Democrats
07:50 have taken control of the council and I think they have their eye on they
07:55 already had their eye on that seat before Greg Clark stood down. We'll be
08:00 hearing from the the candidate the Lib Dem candidate in Tunbridge, Mike Martin
08:04 in our show later on but yeah I wanted to ask about actually the local elections
08:10 we've had local elections this year and last year and we did see Kent's
08:13 political map changing drastically it was a county as I said before that many
08:18 many of the councils were Conservatives either in overall control or a minority
08:23 control but we did see the Greens making gains last year and this year as well we
08:27 know Folkestone is green controlled and also now Maidstone has a green
08:32 leader so do you think the results of local elections could be reflected in
08:37 the general election or are people voting for completely different things? I
08:40 would hope so some people tell us on the doorstep oh we vote green locally but we
08:44 don't vote green nationally and we're trying to turn that round we're hoping
08:48 that our record of what we do locally will inspire people to vote for us
08:52 nationally. Last year in Tunbridge we started off with three councillors we
08:57 kept those seats and we got five new councillors and we were within a
09:02 whisker of getting three more seats we were five or six votes in each case and
09:07 had an independent not decided to side with the Conservatives they wouldn't
09:12 have retained control of Tunbridge and Morley. We saw how many seats
09:20 the Conservatives did lose at those local elections does it make you
09:23 concerned for the general election? Well Fanwick as usual bucks the trend and this is where
09:28 never ever write any of us on Fanwick I have to say because we went from a minority
09:36 Conservative administration across to a majority Labour administration who
09:41 are currently still hanging in there. Were this election to follow that
09:47 pattern obviously then there would be a big red swing but that's not the
09:51 information we're getting when we're talking to residents it's not the
09:55 information and it's not the feedback there's a very vociferous red element in
10:01 certain parts of South Fanwick because of course although we're Fanwick within the
10:05 district we straddle two parliamentary constituencies. We've seen the
10:11 boundaries changing as well which will come into that. Fanwick is changing massively.
10:15 Which you know has taken traditional blue wards, moved them across and
10:22 we now have town centre wards which have flipped every which way we've held them
10:27 the Reds have held them I wouldn't like to say that any fluctuating town centre
10:32 ward you can actually guarantee an outcome at any time because of the
10:35 turnover of residents and the change in dynamics. Yeah that's been
10:40 something in Tunbridge as well that the boundaries have changed and so I think
10:43 some of the the areas that we've got will possibly be less favourable to...
10:48 It's gone from Tunbridge and mooring to Tunbridge now hasn't it because of the boundary changes.
10:52 I think it's important we drive a car looking forward but we also have to look
10:57 at where we are at the moment and again we're uniquely advantaged in some ways
11:02 particularly in South Fanwick because under the levelling up scheme and a
11:07 combination of levelling up town centre but government sponsored regeneration
11:12 grants Ramsgate's sitting on a pot of 50 million at the moment. We're gonna have
11:16 to continue this because it's time for our ad break so we'll carry this
11:20 conversation on straight after the break. See you in just a few minutes.
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14:26 [Music]
14:42 Hello and welcome back to the Kent
14:46 Politics Show live on KNTV.
14:48 Well today we've been talking all about
14:50 the general election with news that
14:52 two of Kent's MPs have stepped down
14:54 today, meaning four in total
14:56 now aren't contesting seats.
14:58 We've also, we've seen the Labour leader
15:00 Sikir Starmer in Medway launching
15:02 his campaign this week too. Well let's
15:04 take a look at Starmer in Medway yesterday
15:06 and why he chose to launch his campaign
15:08 in Kent. With
15:10 Kent such a historically conservative
15:12 county, why are you launching
15:14 here in Medway today?
15:16 Well Kent is very
15:18 important to us, it's very
15:20 important to me. I grew up on the Surrey-Kent
15:22 border, I know this area very very
15:24 well. What we're doing is
15:26 signalling how
15:28 big the challenge is that we face.
15:30 Not a single vote
15:32 has been cast, we have to earn
15:34 every vote. We had good election
15:36 results in Kent
15:38 in recent years. We
15:40 wouldn't want to build on that
15:42 but we will take our arguments
15:44 with confidence
15:46 to Kent and to other parts
15:48 of the country.
15:50 Well still joining me tonight is Conservative
15:52 Councillor for Thanet, John Davis and Green Councillor
15:54 from Kent County Council, Paul Steptoe.
15:56 Welcome back to you both. I wanted
15:58 to start with you
16:00 John, to ask you how does it feel
16:02 to have Starmer in Medway
16:04 in three seats that are currently held by
16:06 Conservatives, is it a threat to the party?
16:08 I think it's more
16:10 a tribute to how concerned they'd be
16:12 that they like to come on and
16:14 grandstand and virtue signal on our turf.
16:16 The polls are currently
16:18 looking pretty good for Labour in Medway though.
16:20 It's an election campaign. I mean look, everybody
16:22 is entitled to say their piece.
16:24 I'd be highly surprised
16:26 I mean, at the end of the day if you only
16:28 go and talk to the converted then you're
16:30 not really taking your message
16:32 out there are you? So
16:34 it is probably quite right that they
16:36 come and speak to people in Kent
16:38 because again, you know, the electorate's entitled
16:40 to an opinion and
16:42 Conservatives do respect other opinions
16:44 unlike other parties that rely on
16:46 groupthink.
16:48 At the end of the day
16:50 what is important
16:52 forget the national platitudes
16:54 you know, six pledges may as well
16:56 be tins of polish lined up on a desk.
16:58 Some of Labour's pledges while we're talking about those
17:02 actually are quite reflective of the Conservatives
17:04 I mean things like rebuilding
17:06 the NHS, sort of cutting
17:08 NHS waiting times and
17:10 their talks about border security
17:12 some would argue that's because
17:14 the Conservatives haven't fulfilled those pledges.
17:16 We have to have those overarching
17:18 policies because you know
17:20 those who stand for nothing fall for anything
17:22 so you need to make it clear what you stand for.
17:24 The reality is
17:26 a worthwhile goal is
17:28 always out of reach
17:30 and in no way excuses
17:32 underperformance and some of the things
17:34 that need addressing but
17:36 if we look at the reality at the moment
17:38 again and the Prime Minister has been saying it
17:40 in the last couple of days
17:42 inflation's back down to a little over 2%.
17:44 Okay, there was much crowing
17:46 it's not 2%. That's the control of the Bank of England
17:48 though. It may be
17:50 but on the other hand
17:52 it's still reactive and it's still
17:54 policies that have helped drive that.
17:56 The
17:58 immigration
18:00 situation is confounded
18:02 at every turn by left wing
18:04 opposition and I'm sorry
18:06 that's yourself included
18:08 and exercising
18:10 every vexatious
18:12 reason they can to hold up a process
18:14 and then saying "Oh, you haven't got rid
18:16 of this problem." Well
18:18 what I believe a good election
18:20 is based on is
18:22 constituencies. Every
18:24 MP needs to be connected
18:26 with their constituency to be aware
18:28 of the issues, not
18:30 parachuted in because we
18:32 have a Labour
18:34 wannabe in Thanet who
18:36 will not answer questions,
18:38 still won't be drawn on a position on the airport
18:40 even though that fortunately was approved
18:42 to be reopened this week
18:44 and we can get on with the job of
18:46 creating jobs in Thanet
18:48 because that's what's needed.
18:50 Craig McKinley, I was saying, his
18:52 legacy as an MP
18:54 is to have been the MP in an area that's
18:56 had phenomenal financial
18:58 help given the scale and the size
19:00 of it. There is over
19:02 £20 million in levelling up
19:04 and town centre funding.
19:06 Michael Gove's just announced
19:08 an additional £20 million to be spent
19:10 over five years supporting community
19:12 initiatives and everything and
19:14 in the current scenario we actually
19:16 have a very
19:18 rosy future
19:20 so long as the local administration
19:22 continue and deliver the opportunities
19:24 that have been given to them by the
19:26 Conservatives and the Conservative legacy
19:28 from our administration.
19:30 I think the electorate are wise enough to
19:32 see that but whoever stands
19:34 in any ward, it's about their
19:36 engagement with the community
19:38 and being
19:40 on top of those things and being
19:42 accessible. Let's talk
19:44 about, so the Green Party co-leader
19:46 Carla Denyer
19:48 has also said this week
19:50 that she thinks people aren't inspired by
19:52 Labour either, I mean she would say
19:54 that as sort of an opposition party
19:56 but I wanted to ask
19:58 I mean currently as
20:00 it has been historically, it's look at
20:02 you know Conservative and Labour are kind
20:04 of at the top so why
20:06 aren't people as convinced by Green
20:08 policies?
20:10 I'm not sure really. I know
20:12 we're hoping, there are four seats
20:14 we're hoping to win which is Carla's going
20:16 for Bristol Central, we want to keep Brighton
20:18 Pavilion, Hereford
20:20 North and Waverney Valley
20:22 and I think we feel that we've got a really
20:24 good chance there. And Tunbridge
20:26 of course as well.
20:28 But I wanted to go back to something John said
20:30 I agree with your point about
20:32 people being parachuted in, I mean is it something
20:34 the Conservative Party does as well?
20:36 When we need to.
20:38 And it's not
20:40 an ideal scenario but
20:42 we don't do it as a matter of habit let's say.
20:44 And I also wanted to ask you about
20:46 inflation, when you're on the doorstep
20:48 do people say "Oh, inflation's
20:50 worrying me"?
20:52 Actually, yes
20:54 in that they often refer
20:56 to cost of living
20:58 rather than it as
21:00 just inflation in itself.
21:02 And that, what's a big issue again
21:04 and I've been talking a lot recently
21:06 about the Airbnb situation
21:08 and the rental market. Cost
21:10 of living, everybody looks at supermarket
21:12 baskets and all these sort of
21:14 parameters. What they need
21:16 to look at is the housing market
21:18 and the rentals market because an overheated
21:20 housing market along
21:22 with the debacle of
21:24 I think it was well known
21:26 there are hundreds of Airbnbs
21:28 available for rent and less than
21:30 a dozen at times long term
21:32 rentals in the Ramsgate area.
21:34 That's not sustainable and it
21:36 means that because of the lack of supply
21:38 caused by
21:40 empire builders
21:42 the community is at risk
21:44 because of that. And talking about housing
21:46 These are the issues we have to address and the answer
21:48 by the way is not to build loads more
21:50 houses on green fields which is what our
21:52 Labour administration would like to do.
21:54 But looking at councils have local plans to meet and have
21:56 a number of houses to build
21:58 perhaps are the right houses
22:00 being built? People are crying out
22:02 for things like social housing and
22:04 more affordable housing and houses for different
22:06 types of people with different needs.
22:08 I'm really glad you've asked that because it's such a key thing.
22:10 We need social housing. Now I'm going to
22:12 speak as a Conservative and I do believe
22:14 that mistakes are made but again
22:16 no one's perfect. The
22:18 loss of the housing stock has got
22:20 to be replaced because
22:22 even if the great dream works and everybody
22:24 in the rising tide raises all ships
22:26 people will always do those
22:28 service jobs that are not
22:30 rewarded any more than they can be.
22:32 They're entitled to secure a roof over
22:34 their head and a decent standard of living
22:36 the same as anybody.
22:38 So I think we've got two markets really. You've got a
22:40 social market and then you've got the free
22:42 market.
22:44 So we must protect that social market
22:46 but in a way
22:48 and in a sustainable way.
22:50 Too much is made of it. At the moment
22:52 we've got an administration claiming to
22:54 have bought over 200 houses
22:56 in the last year for social
22:58 housing which would be marvellous if we
23:00 had. But out of that
23:02 23 people have actually been moved into them
23:04 and the rest have still got
23:06 even spades to go in the ground in the next
23:08 year or two. So I think it's important
23:10 that there's, and again with the election
23:12 it's even more important that people don't fall for
23:14 political spin and fine words because fine
23:16 words butter no parsnips. We
23:18 need to take action and give the
23:20 housing to the people that need it.
23:22 The problem with a lot of the developments
23:24 in Thanet, and I don't know your area
23:26 but in Thanet in particular
23:28 is who are they for? We have a fairly
23:30 static population if you look at
23:32 the, according to the census
23:34 and yet we have a local
23:36 plan which has granted
23:38 again government algorithm
23:40 numbers. But it's now been
23:42 accepted that's wrong.
23:44 And I and many others think we need to
23:46 rip up our local plan and re-address
23:48 the whole thing. I mean of Labour and
23:50 Conservatives there's not been a lot of talk around
23:52 housing but Greens have been
23:54 talking about housing haven't they?
23:56 So I agree with John that we need more
23:58 social housing. I think the elephant in the room
24:00 there is right to buy.
24:02 Because why shouldn't an authority or
24:04 a housing association build more properties or buy
24:06 more properties if the tenants are going to be able
24:08 to flog them, to buy them
24:10 at a discount so many years down the line.
24:12 And the other
24:14 thing is
24:16 affordable. Because affordable is
24:18 80% of market rate
24:20 if you're buying or if you're renting.
24:22 So in Tunbridge, you know, affordable
24:24 is still a lot of money.
24:26 That's a really good point and I would
24:28 bring in here that one of the good things that's
24:30 going on in Thanet is
24:32 when affordable housing is
24:34 described it comes
24:36 within the local housing
24:38 allowance rate. And that
24:40 I think is a very fair parameter
24:42 in that that has its own
24:44 calculation as the percentile of the
24:46 market. But it
24:48 does mean that for something to be
24:50 described as affordable
24:52 it's accessible as well
24:54 at whatever your financial status.
24:56 And that
24:58 is something that's changed in the last 12
25:00 months or over the last 12
25:02 months and will continue to improve.
25:04 I wanted to quickly ask you both
25:06 before we... Oh no, don't worry.
25:08 If I could just, right to buy
25:10 is vital because it
25:12 gives people a hand
25:14 up, not a hand out.
25:16 But the
25:18 issue that you raise I agree with.
25:20 The money has to be reinvested
25:22 into replacing that stock
25:24 so that then you get this organic growth
25:26 which benefits all.
25:28 We really don't have long left now. I wanted to quickly
25:30 ask you both. No, don't apologise. In about
25:32 nine, do you think that the general election
25:34 was called at the right point?
25:36 For the Conservatives
25:38 probably not.
25:40 But I presume that Mr.
25:42 Sunak was hoping that
25:44 or was perhaps thinking things will get worse
25:46 before the autumn so
25:48 he'd be in a worse position if he
25:50 left it. And quickly the same
25:52 from you. Was it called at the right time? I think it
25:54 probably suits other parties more than
25:56 some of our MPs and they've expressed
25:58 that sentiment publicly.
26:00 It is what it is. We've got
26:02 six weeks of hard campaigning
26:04 and job to get done.
26:06 Let's put it
26:08 out there and let's allow democracy to do
26:10 its job. Thank you for having
26:12 us today. Thank you both for coming in.
26:14 I'm sure it's not the last we'll hear from you in a busy
26:16 six weeks we're going to have. Thank you to both
26:18 of you. That's all from us here at the
26:20 Kent Politics Show. Straight after the break
26:22 we'll have a brand new episode of Kent Tonight. All the latest
26:24 news across Kent. See you soon.
26:26 [Music]
26:38 [Music]