Posted on

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!

Posted on

Voice of the Opposition: April

Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics.

Today we hear from Vince Maple, leader of Medway Labour, the official opposition on Medway Council.


They often say that a week is a long time in politics – that can certainly be true, but if a week is a long time then seven years is almost a lifetime!

Seven years ago, back in 2012, was the first time I raised concerns around Fixed Odds Betting Terminals or FOBTs at overview and scrutiny.

What then followed was a long campaign which I was proud to play a part in. That campaigning has led this week to the change in law taking place, removing the ability for people to gamble £100 every 20 seconds in our high streets and town centres. It was the high stakes, quick speed of the product which led many to calling it the “crack cocaine of gambling”. I’ve heard from many individuals who have lost their home, their job, and their family as a result of these machines.

Continue reading “Voice of the Opposition: April”
Posted on

iFAQ: Whose leaflet isn’t it anyway?

The local election campaign in Medway is now properly underway, with a surge in activity across Medway from a wide range of candidates and parties. One of the most striking things early in the campaign was this leaflet being distributed throughout Watling ward, not in favour of any one party, but solely against Conservative candidate Andrew Lawrence.

Andrew Lawrence has since responded to the leaflet via his blog. We reached out to all Medway parties that took part in the 2015 elections and those taking part in this one to get their views on the leaflet, and if they fancied admitting being behind it. Well, it was worth a shot.

As usual, we told all parties that we would publish their responses entirely unedited. They are published below in the order they were received.

Continue reading “iFAQ: Whose leaflet isn’t it anyway?”
Posted on

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!

Posted on

Voice of the Opposition: March

Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics.

Today we hear from Vince Maple, leader of Medway Labour, the official opposition on Medway Council.

With a little over 50 days to go until May 2nd, the focus now is firmly on the pledges which each main party is putting forward.

I’m proud of the manifesto launch held this past weekend at Dragon Co-Working in the heart of Medway.  A packed room heard outstanding speeches from our administration in waiting on the key pledges to the residents of Medway.  We were also joined by the Shadow Treasury Minister Lyn Brown MP who gave an inspiring speech, in particular highlighting how austerity has impacted on the community she represents.

Continue reading “Voice of the Opposition: March”
Posted on

Medway Tories suspend councillor three years late

In January 2016, we published an article on Luton and Wayfield Conservative councillor Michael Franklin’s offensive tweeting. Throughout 2015, Cllr Franklin published and shared a number of Islamophobic, transphobic, and racist tweets on his personal Twitter account. Following our article, the issue was raised at a full council meeting, and gained some wider media attention, and a new social media policy for councillors was introduced.

Crucially though, no action was taken against Cllr Franklin for his actions.

Until he found himself suspended from the Conservative party, three years later.

So what changed to make the party take action now when they didn’t in the previous three years?

Continue reading “Medway Tories suspend councillor three years late”
Posted on

Voice of the Opposition: February

Once a month we will be offering the Leaders of both Medway Council and the official opposition the opportunity to talk unedited about.. well, Medway politics.

Despite the excellent efforts of the Political Medway website and our own Medway Labour Facebook Live feeds, it is difficult for those who are interested to see everything that is going on at Medway Council. I want to highlight a few issues which Medway Labour councillors have been raising over the past few weeks:

Continue reading “Voice of the Opposition: February”
Posted on

iFAQ: A more accessible Cabinet?

We’re not going to lie. It’s a fairly short iFAQ this week. We sent the below question to the leaders of both the Conservative and Labour council groups, being the most likely to hold power in Medway following the upcoming elections.

For many of us engaged in local politics who also have full time jobs, attending Medway Council Cabinet meetings is impossible much of the time. Would you consider moving Cabinet to a more accessible time for the public to attend, in line with other local authorities?

Continue reading “iFAQ: A more accessible Cabinet?”
Posted on

iFAQ: So predictable?

For this week’s iFAQ, we decided to ask all councillors a question about the state of democracy in Medway. Given the predictability of the ebb and flow of council meetings, and how it’s usually fairly easy to guess the outcome to any given question, concerns have been raised about how democratic our local structures are. As such, all councillors received the following question:

If it’s possible to accurately predict the response to every question and motion at Medway Council meetings, what does this say about the state of democracy in Medway?

As usual, all councillors were told that their responses would be printed entirely unedited, with the results presented below in the order they were received:

Continue reading “iFAQ: So predictable?”