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Lynch mobs and slave traders, or the worst Medway Council meeting we’ve ever covered

The first fully virtual Medway Council meeting took place last night, with councillors all contributing remotely to proceedings. Somehow this managed to make the meeting even longer than usual, clocking in at over seven hours, but also saw some of the most unseemly debates ever held at a Medway Council meeting. If you weren’t able to watch the whole thing live, we’ve got your back with our Twitter coverage from last night. Strap in, it’s going to be a bumpy ride.

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Recap: Socially distanced live streamed Medway Council!

Quite a novelty for Medway Council last night. In light of the ongoing situation, Medway Council conducted a socially distanced full council meeting last night, and live streamed the proceedings online. For years they said this wasn’t financially viable, yet here we are. If you had a better use for your Thursday night than watching three hours of a council getting used to new technology, we’ve got your back with the recap below:

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iFAQ: Councillor allowances

So it’s a bit of a weird time, but we’re all sitting at home, so what better time to start publishing some local politics articles again? They won’t be about the current situation, as most were already in the can before this kicked off. That being said, if anyone fancies writing something with a local angle on the current situation, hit us up.

Before we all locked ourselves away from the outside world, Medway had been facing some debate about the appropriate level of allowance for councillors. While most council staff received a 1% pay increase, councillor allowances increased by 14%. How much councillors receive is a complicated question, so we decided to ask every Medway councillor the following:

Do you feel the current allowance of £10,421 for councillors represents fair remuneration for the time spent carrying out your duties?

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

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iFAQ: So, farewell then, MEPs

With the UK now officially Brexited, and a golden new age of milk and honey upon, we decided to ponder the poor souls suffering most in this process: that’s right, our beloved MEPs. As such, we wrote to each of our region’s MEPs to ask them if they had any parting words for the voters of Medway as they exit their roles.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

Do you have any final words for the voters of Medway as the UK departs the EU?

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iFAQ: The first positive of Brexit

With the UK set to depart the EU this Friday, and in the spirit of not coming across as remoaner snowflakes, we decided to ask each Medway political party about the sunlit uplands on the Brexit horizon.

As usual, we told all of them that we would publish their responses unedited. You can find them below in the order they were received.

With the UK now scheduled to leave the EU on January 31, what will be first major positive to come out of our departure?

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