Kent Labour

20/03/2026

Statement from Labour Kent County Councillors

Yesterday, we made the difficult decision to walk out of the Kent County Council chamber. This was not a decision taken lightly. As a Labour group, we have lost trust and confidence in the process that allowed the Reform leadership to force through a politically charged motion during the official preelection period.

Motion: illegal migration emergency in kent

We formally raised concerns with the Monitoring Officer, repeatedly requested sight of the independent legal advice, and were denied every time. The timing of the motion, the way it has been publicised, and the use of council facilities in the middle of an election period made it clear: this process was not fair, not neutral, and not transparent.

We cannot legitimise a process we believe is fundamentally compromised. We did not comment on the abhorrent motion because that would be engaging in the debate. A discussion about immigration is very important but the timing of the discussion during the pre-election period stifles that debate.

We will now be reporting the matter to the Electoral Commission and the Local Government Ombudsman.

At the same time, our community in Canterbury is experiencing an unprecedented meningitis outbreak. Families are grieving, young people are frightened, and over 9,000 students are being urgently reached through a targeted vaccination programme. Public health teams have carried out contact tracing, antibiotics have been widely distributed, and clear guidance is being shared across the district — but this is when leadership should be providing unity and reassurance.

Residents need calm, factual information:
✔ Antibiotics offered after exposure are around 90% effective.
✔ Vaccinations are safe, essential, and must be taken up.
✔ The general risk remains low because meningitis spreads through close personal contact.
✔ Anyone with symptoms such as fever, vomiting, stiff neck, confusion, blotchy skin, rapid breathing, and extreme sensitivity to light must seek immediate medical help.

Instead of focusing on public health, the Reform leadership chose to prioritise political pointscoring.
At a time when our community needs clarity, compassion, and responsibility, Kent was given division.

We walked out because Kent deserves better.
We will continue to stand with residents, support the public health response, and fight for integrity and accountability at County Hall.

Cllr Alister Brady (Canterbury City North)
Cllr Connie Nolan (Canterbury City South)

07/03/2026

It's being touted as a crucial election almost a year after Reform took charge at County Hall

31/07/2025

Please sign and share this petition. It partly focuses on Sheppey to signpost why the system is broken but also highlights the wider issue in the county.

Brief overview below:

We the undersigned demand Kent County Council provides significantly improved help and support for every child in the county to secure an appropriately located Secondary school place, in line with their right to access mainstream education:
- One that is near enough to their home so that their daily travel time and route does not put them to a disadvantage compared to more affluent or more favourably situated parts of the county.
- A place close enough to their community so that they can develop the interpersonal networks of friends that will help them successfully complete school, get the most out of the experience and support them as they progress into adulthood.
- A school that their parents can also readily get to and from when required, especially in emergencies

The children that KCC have no allocation or been given an unreasonable place as far away as Faversham need urgent support from all levels of associated authorities including KCC and the department of education to get them into a secondary placement that is sustainable ready for September 2025.

10/06/2025

Kent County Council Update – Two words perfectly describe how the council is performing now Reform are the decision makers - ‘slowly’ and ‘chaotic’.

It has been just under 6 weeks since I was re-elected as your Kent County Councillor for Canterbury City North. Since then, only one formal meeting has happened - the County Council meeting.
At this meeting I challenged the new administration to be different otherwise they will just be Torys with a different coloured tie – not what they were voted in for – so what are they doing differently? You can hear my speech attached.

The leader responded by saying they ‘cannot wait to get started….it has been a job to hold Cabinet Members back’ ….and they are very eager to come up with policies and plans.

Since then, all the meetings in June have been cancelled and some of Reforms members are asking to re-arrange the meetings in July because they cannot make these either. Remember they cannot wait to get started. Why is it important for these meeting to go ahead? Through these meetings then decisions follow. Decisions are important for service delivery and these services support some of the most vulnerable people in Kent. Without meetings then services are negatively impacted.

Alongside this, the beginning of June saw performative politics at its worst. Following the sending of threating letters to all KCC officers from the unelected Reform UK leadership, the Doge circus rolled into County Hall. We then saw resignations and reversals of the resignations from leading members of the Doge rabble with these individuals’ posting misinformation on social media regarding budgets. A department which is tasked with efficiency which could not look more inefficient if they tried.

So, where are we today at KCC? We are in the midst of a decision and policy free zone. What are they doing differently? I am sure grinding KCC to a halt and turning it into a less efficient body probably wasn’t one of the differences you would have expected. Today we are seeing Tory 2.0 with a different coloured tie surrounded by chaos - I am sure worse will follow.

29/04/2025

By using the latest technology and expanding the NHS app, Labour is bringing down waiting lists, and freeing up time for doctors and nurses to focus on treating patients.

15/04/2025

This Labour government is fixing the NHS - here’s how ➡️

15/03/2025

This week the leader of the Kent Labour Group, Cllr Alister Brady, was interviewed by Kent Online for their Kent Politics Podcast.

You can listen to the interview below or the whole podcast using this link:

https://www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/why-is-it-nothing-gets-built-on-time-and-to-budget-321366/

KentOnline News