The Fortnight in Medway Politics: Referendum Special

Well.

That was something, wasn’t it?

We haven’t written an actual post about the referendum, because what can you say, really? We try and remain impartial with this site, yet this was a decision we cared greatly about, and impacts our futures in a big way.

In the next couple of days, we’ll get something up on the exact results from Medway and what it might mean, but for now, let’s do what we always do: snark mercilessly about what each of the parties have been up to in the past couple of weeks.

Medway MPs in Parliament

Neverendum
When it all came down it, our three Medway MPs managed to provide three different stances for where they stood on the referendum. Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst decided to focus on her career by endorsing remain, which will have seemed like a horrible mistake by Friday. Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti went for leave, which probably sets himself up nicely for this post-Brexit world. Finally, Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch decided to vote, but not tell us how. Which is absolutely her right, but we wonder how that might go down with her constituents down the line.

Also in Parliament
Unusually, Kelly Tolhurst asked a half arsed question about the balance of privacy and security in the Investigatory Powers Bill, and asked what turned out to be her final question to David Cameron in Prime Minister’s Questions.

Medway Council

Oh, the humanity
The EU referendum saw a Medway turnout of 72.1%, and a split of 64.1% for leave to 35.9% for remain. Special shout out to the 27 Medway voters that managed to vote to both leave and remain in the EU. Various councillors and other folks weighed in on the referendum results here.

Political Parties

Medway Conservatives
The referendum bitterness reached the local Conservatives with Cllr Andrew Mackness, who acted as the election agent for Kelly Tolhurst, questioning the mandate of any MPs that supported remain. MPs like Kelly Tolhurst, for example.

Medway Labour
Utterly incredibly, it’s now been 17 weeks since the Medway Labour website was hacked, proving a security risk to user’s visiting, and they still haven’t managed to fix it. And yes, we are going to mention this every single time until they do something about it.
It’s hard to keep track of all of the animosity between Labour councillors and activists on Twitter at this point, but it’s worth noting that three councillors – Tristan Osborne, Naushabah Khan, and Andy Stamp – all called for Corbyn to step down this week. Which went down with certain activists like a cup of warm sick.

Medway UKIP
Still missing, because.. wait, why the hell would they be missing at this point?

Medway Liberal Democrats
Unsurprisingly, they aren’t thrilled about the referendum result, and dealt with it the best way they know how: a 60,000 word essay about it on their website.

Medway Green Party
The Greens are now jumpy about what the consequences are for the environment once the EU is out of the picture.
They’re also focussing on trivial issues like local homelessness too. We don’t know what’s got into them.

The Week in Medway Politics: Sell offs, Saudi, snooping

Medway MPs in Parliament

Rehman probed..
It’s from the Daily Mail, so probably best you treat it with a supersize pinch of salt, but Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti is facing a formal complaint in relation to his work for a Saudi think tank. Tom Brake, a Liberal Democrat MP, has written to parliamentary authorities asking them to investigate the matter, suggesting Rehman’s often pro-Saudi comments in the Commons may be influenced by his £2,000 per month paydays from the Kingdom.

They’re listening
Unsurprisingly, the Investigatory Powers Bill swept through the Commons this week, after Labour decided to support the Conservatives on the mass collection of everyone’s communications data. Equally unsurprisingly, both Rehman Chishti and Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst voted in favour of the plans. It’s rather tempting to cc our MPs on every email that we send, given they’re so interested in reading the content.

Medway Council

Get your surplus council resources here! part II
As expected, the Cabinet met this week to decide whether or not to sell seven sites around Medway for development. These range from the only disabled car park in Rochester to a building used by a charity in Gillingham to the library and community centre in Hook Meadow. Unsurprisingly, they began the process of disposal of these sites, in a move that looks to be hugely unpopular with many residents.

Political Parties

Medway Conservatives
An action packed week for local Conservatives as both Health Secretary Jeremy Hunt and Defence Minister Michael Fallon came to visit.

Medway Labour
Utterly incredibly, it’s now been 15 weeks since the Medway Labour website was hacked, proving a security risk to user’s visiting, and they still haven’t managed to fix it. Yet they’d like the voters to hand them the keys to Gun Wharf.

Medway UKIP
Still missing, because there’s nothing coming up that UKIP might be interested in, is there?

Medway Liberal Democrats
A busy week ahead for the Medway Lib Dems as this week they’re be out both leafletting and with a street stall in Gillingham on Saturday! We can’t remember the last time they were so active.

Medway Green Party
A rare quiet week for Medway Greens, but they were apparently out on Rochester High Street campaigning yesterday. Anyone see ’em?

The Fortnight in Medway Politics: Decisions, swimming, sell offs

Medway MPs in Parliament

Rehmain Rehmout
Following weeks of excitemen.. mild interest, Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti finally declared that he would be campaigning for a leave vote in the upcoming European referendum. It was a slightly surprising stance for Chishti to take, as he’ll usually do exactly what his government expects of him, but he seems to think this position more fairly represents the views of his constituents.

Meanwhile, in Rochester..
On the opposite end of the spectrum, Rochester and Strood MP Kelly Tolhurst shocked absolutely no one by declaring that she’ll be supporting the remain campaign in the referendum. This is despite the fact her constituency will be one of the most euroskeptic in the country, and that she was clearly advocating for leave during her campaigns. Of course, now she’s elected she needs to do what she can for her own career, so she’s going for remain, and has issued a statement roughly the same length as War and Peace to justify her decision.

Medway Council

Get your surplus council resources here!
This week, the Cabinet will meet and decide whether or not to sell seven sites around Medway for development. These range from the only disabled car park in Rochester to a building used by a charity in Gillingham to the library and community centre in Hook Meadow. Most of these sales are likely to be highly controversial, but if the council is set on disposing these sites, not much will be able to stop them.

Political Parties

Medway Conservatives
After months of silence, the Rochester and Strood Conservatives have declared that they will soon be launching a new website. Hooray!

Medway Labour
Utterly incredibly, it’s now been 14 weeks since the Medway Labour website was hacked, proving a security risk to user’s visiting, and they still haven’t managed to fix it. Yet they’d like the voters to hand them the keys to Gun Wharf.
Unsurprisingly, they’re grumpy about the above proposals to sell off various council sites across Medway.
That pales in comparison to their grumpiness over the reduced opening hours at the Strand Lido though.

Medway UKIP
Still missing, because there’s nothing coming up that UKIP might be interested in, is there?

Medway Liberal Democrats
After five street stalls in as many weeks, with a grand finale in Rochester, we can’t wait to see where the Lib Dems pop up next. Or are they all tuckered out for a while after so much hard campaigning?

Medway Green Party
Along with Medway Labour, they aren’t happy about the reduction of opening hours at the Strand Lido.
Perhaps it should be expected, but they’re also a little antsy about the 30,000 homes that Medway are going to have to build somewhere.
A rare sighting of the Medway Greens out campaigning too, as they pitched up in Rochester High Street. Right next to the Lib Dems.

Other News

REGISTER TO VOTE
In case you didn’t notice, there is a referendum thing coming up in a few weeks, and it could have pretty big consequences. To vote, you need to be registered by this Tuesday (7 June), so if you’re not registered, or even unsure if you are, head over and sort yourself out. It only takes five minutes.