Live results from #MedwayElects19

The polls have closed in Medway’s local elections, and we are settled in at Medway Park. We’ll be bringing you the results as they come in throughout the night.

For up to the minute coverage, we recommend you follow us on Twitter. The latest tweets are embedded below, but if you click through to Twitter where you can see everything.

Results will start trickling in sometime after midnight, with final results due sometime around 7am. It’ll be a long night, so feel free to buy us a coffee.

Live results (55 seats of 55 declared / 28 needed for a majority)
Conservative: 33 seats (-3)

Labour: 20 seats (+5)
Independents: 2 seats (+2)
UKIP: 0 seats (-4)
Liberal Democrats: 0 seats (-)
Green: 0 seats (-)
Christian People’s Alliance: 0 seats (-)
Animal Welfare Party: 0 seats (-)

Councillors elected by ward
Cuxton and Halling – Matt Fearn (Con)
Rainham North – Kirstine Carr (Con), Martin Potter (Con)
Hempstead and Wigmore – Diane Chambers (Con), Rodney Chambers (Con)
Rochester East – Nick Bowler (Lab), Teresa Murray (Lab)
Princes Park – Tashi Bhutia (Con), Gloria Opara (Con)
Twydall – Hazel Browne (Lab), John Lloyd (Lab), Mark Prenter (Lab)
River – Habib Tejan (Con), Piers Thompson (Con)
Luton and Wayfield: Simon Curry (Lab), Joanne Howcroft-Scott (Lab), Tristan Osborne (Lab)
Lordswood and Capstone: Alan Jarrett (Con), David Wildey (Con)
Watling: Wendy Purdy (Con), Chrissy Stamp (Lab)
Rochester West: Alex Paterson (Lab), Stuart Tranter (Con)
Walderslade: David Brake (Con), Adrian Gulvin (Con)
Gillingham North: Pat Cooper (Lab), Adam Price (Lab), Andy Stamp (Lab)
Chatham Central: Siju Adeoye (Lab), Harinder Mahil (Lab), Vince Maple (Lab)
Rochester South and Horsted: Trevor Clarke (Con), Sylvia Griffin (Con), Rupert Turpin (Con)
Strood Rural: Gary Etheridge (Con), Elizabeth Turpin (Con), John Williams (Con)
Strood North: Jane Chitty (Con), Stephen Hubbard (Lab), Steve Iles (Con)
Peninsula: Phil Filmer (Con), Mick Pendergast (Ind), Ron Sands (Ind)
Gillingham South: Clive Johnson (Lab), Naushabah Khan (Lab), Dan McDonald (Lab)
Strood South: Chris Buckwell (Con), Josie Iles (Con), Richard Thorne (Con)
Rainham South: Roger Barrett (Con), Howard Doe (Con), Gary Hackwell (Con)
Rainham Central: Nurat Ahmed (Con), Jan Aldous (Con), Barry Kemp (Con)

#MedwayElects19 is today!

It’s local election day Medway.

Across the authority, voters have the chance to elect the 55 councillors that will represent us for the next four years.

Polling stations are now open and remain open until 10pm.

If you have received your polling card, you will know where you need to go to vote. If you are registered to vote but have not received your card, you do not need it to vote. Just go to your polling station, confirm your name and address, and you will be allowed to vote. No ID is required.

If you have a postal vote, but did not remember to return it in time, you can drop it in to your polling station up until polls close at 10pm.

To find a list of your candidates, Medway Elects have a handy tool where you enter your postcode and it brings up their details.

Once the polls close at 10pm, we will begin our #MedwayElects19 coverage through the night as the results come in, so be sure to check back later for that.

#MedwayPredicts19

You may have heard that we’ve got a local election tomorrow in Medway. As such, today we’re going to publish our predictions for how we think things will shake out across each ward and in Medway as a whole.

One caveat: We did this in 2015 and we were wrong on a lot of fronts. But maybe we’ve learnt something four years on? We’ll find out on Friday.

We’d love to hear your own predictions. Drop yours into the comments at the bottom of this post, on our Facebook page, or tweet us using the hashtag #MedwayPredicts19.

Continue reading “#MedwayPredicts19”

The slow, slow march for gender equality in local politics

Back in 2015 I wrote an article shortly before the local elections of that year on how well the parties were doing on a quest for gender equality. The results were, to put it mildly, not happy reading. Women were a minority on the candidate lists from most parties, and made up little more than a quarter of councillors in the chamber. So four years on, are we doing any better?

To begin, here is an infographic showing the current composition of the council by gender:

Continue reading “The slow, slow march for gender equality in local politics”

Recap: #MedwayDebates19

Last night, The Political Medway held our first live event, a debate between the future leaders of Medway Council as we approach the local elections. We were delighted to have Cllr Jarrett of Medway Conservatives and Cllr Maple from Medway Labour both came and set out their vision for Medway in front of an audience of approximately 200 people at Midkent College.

If you couldn’t make it along, you can catch up on all of the action from the evening below through medium of tweets:

Continue reading “Recap: #MedwayDebates19”

Tonight! The Medway Leaders’ Debate

Tonight is the night!

The Political Medway is hosting a debate between the potential future leaders of Medway Council, Cllr Alan Jarrett of Medway Conservatives and Cllr Vince Maple of Medway Labour.

We are immensely grateful that so many have taken an interest in this event and look forwarding to welcoming you to the Midkent College theatre tonight.

If you’re interested in attending and haven’t yet booked a ticket, you can do so here via Eventbrite.

Some final, practical information ahead of the event:

– You don’t need to print your tickets. You can if you like, but showing us your ticket on your phone is fine, as is just bringing ID so we can tick you off the list.

– The doors will open at 7pm for a prompt 7.30pm start. We are aiming to be done by 9pm.

– The Midkent College car park will be available. Upon passing the car park barriers (they will be open), proceed straight up the road to the main car park. Those with disabled blue badges can take the first left after the barriers, where disabled bays nearer the doors are located.

– From the disabled car parking spaces, the college is fully accessible, with step free access right into the theatre. If you have any specific accessibility requirements, please send us a message and will seek to accommodate them.

– Unfortunately we do not have a way of providing refreshments at this event, and we believe the Costa within the college will be closed. The restaurant may be open ahead of the event, and there are vending machines outside of the theatre.

– We have selected a broad range of questions from those submitted as you booked tickets. We received so many good questions that unfortunately we aren’t able to use them all, but we will get through as many as we can.

– There are a small number of tickets still left, so if you haven’t booked or know someone who might be interested, please get booked in! They will remain available until roughly 4pm today. You can book them here: https://www.eventbrite.co.uk/e/59291249724/

Phew! Think that’s it. We look forward to seeing you tonight!

Political Figures: Can independents win?

Once a month we are going to hand over to Alan Collins from Medway Elects who is going to dig into the Medway electoral data, and try to tell us what it all means..

This week marks Medway Elects’ fourth anniversary and, in that time, like this very blog, it has gone from strength to strength. I am incredibly grateful to everyone who has helped and supported the project – and will continue to be open to ideas for new features over the coming months and years.

But given this important milestone, it is, perhaps, fitting that this is the week I post my last article in this series, on the very blog I launched Medway Elects four years ago. If you thought Jennings’ analysis of the candidates in each of Medway’s 22 wards was long, strap in tight: you ain’t seen nothing yet…

Continue reading “Political Figures: Can independents win?”

State of the candidates 2019

So following months of campaigns getting underway, two days ago the final list of candidates was released for our upcoming local elections in Medway. 199 candidates spread across seven different parties and a record number of independents will compete for 55 council seats on May 2. Let’s take a look at the options in each of our 22 wards.

Strap in.

Read more

The Medway Leaders’ Debate

We are pleased to present a head to head debate between the potential future leaders of Medway Council ahead of the local elections in May.

On April 18 at Midkent College, we’ll be asking Alan Jarrett of the Conservatives and Vince Maple of Labour a range of questions covering the important issues in Medway – housing, education, health, the environment, and so much more.

This is about the future of Medway, and we would love for you to join us.

By booking a ticket – either free or with an optional donation – you will have the ability to submit a question for the leaders. We can’t guarantee we’ll ask them all, but we will be selecting as broad a cross-section of them possible ahead of the event.

Booking a ticket also ensures entry to the event. Those without tickets will likely be able to attend on the night, space permitting, but will not be eligible to submit questions for the leaders.

Tickets are free, but you do have the option of contributing an optional donation when booking. This helps us cover the costs of putting on the event, and all donations are gratefully received.

Doors at 7pm, event start at 7.30pm, close at 9pm.

We hope to see you there!