Labour bluster over Medway LibDems

Some years ago I saw the last Deutsche wöchenschau, the Third Reich's newsreel dated March 1945. Whilst Messerschmitt fighters took off from waterlogged agricultural fields and streams of exhausted boys and old men in a mixture of uniforms marched past the camera the narrator pronounced ultimate victory would be theres. The Luftwaffe were blasting American planes from the air and the Russians were being turned back at the Oder. Whether the German people took anything from it is debatable but we know it was just noise.

Medway Labour have a lot riding on this election. The Coalition has not always been popular in low income areas where Tory led cuts have injured local services. The normally unassailable Medway Conservatives suddenly look vulnerable, especially as the locals are on the same day as the General election. These marginal seats could swing red again and I believe Gillingham & Rainham will.

Ever since tuition fees Medway Labour have been predicting the death of the Medway Libdems with an alarming frequency but I can assure you that there is still life in them. There are regular Focus deliveries, canvassing, street letters and campaigning just in a smaller area than Labour. Our membership is up and hardly flocking to Labour as they have suggested - I'm aware of only one in the last two years.

That is their weakness. They are pressing on all fronts to get the Tories out locally and in Westminster. Across Gillingham & Rainham, Rochester & Strood and Chatham & Aylesford. Even with Union funding their resources are not endless and they are stretching themselves thin. Although an all out offensive in Gillingham South may turn it red (I'll be moving) they will not get Watling ward. An all out offensive in Gillingham south would come at a cost of taking other fronts like Chatham & Aylesford where a strong MP might do enoug on personal performance over the popularity of Coalition policy.

The other problem Labour are facing is UKIP.

The common opinion is that UKIP are the bane electoral bane of the Tories but we've found that Labour are losing just as much support where as LibDem supporters are less likely to go Purple. Farrage is seen to be more in touch with the common person and their concerns rather than the Tory lite esq Milibamd led Labour. Seats in urban areas like Chatham central, Luton and Wayfield and even Gillingham North are fairly undecided and require shoring up before the election - further blunting their offensive capability. They also have to worry about their own seats from the weirdly popular Medway Tories. Rumour has it that Chris Irvine is on the offensive to take Labour's bulwark Cllr Murray's seat!

Labour, although set to gain ground along with UKIP who are becoming rapid favourites following unparalleled support across the estuary but it may be tempered and not the sure victory they are hoping and predicting. They'll also find the last bastions of LibDem seats a hard nut to crack and the red tide may be halted.

Let's just hope that come May I don't look like King Canute!!!

Rehman Chishti MP MIA for two months!

Last November I wrote a series of posts asking Where is Rehman Chishti? and ultimately had to withdraw from my salient point (here) as his record in Parliament showed how hard he was indeed working for the people of Gillingham & Rainham.

I was happy to leave it at that. Even more so when I received a letter from his office dated 16th July. To explain; I signed the online petition regarding "Lords reform" *mutter mutter discontent...* and it sent a generic email to my local MP. I was expecting nothing from it or any communication just a fools hope that my MP might listen or be swayed by a plea from an interested party.

A few days later a Westminster headed envelope arrived and in confused apprehension I opened it and read the following;

Dear Mr Sams,

Thank you for your recent email regarding House of Lords reform.

As you are aware, all three major parties committed to reform of the House of Lords in their 2010 manifestos. This was reflected in the coalition programme for Government, which said that we would "establish a committee to bring forward proposals for a wholly or mainly elected upper chamber on the basis of proportional representation."

The House of Lords has many qualities that are worth preserving. It values the ability of Peers to take the long view, to provide an alternative perspective and to ensure legislation is of the highest standard. The reforms will ensure that the Government keeps what is good whilst allowing the people to decide who gets to act in their name.

You will therefore be pleased to know that I support the Government's proposals.

Thank you again for taking the time to contact me.

Yours sincerely

Rehman Chishti MP

I was shocked. It had been a generic email and hadn't expected a response.

I was disappointed (to say the least!) when the reform didn't go through but I felt buoyed up that my MP had voted for it.

Then I received an email from a friend who sent me the following link... go on have a look, I'll wait here...

It appears that Rehman didn't vote for Lords reform. In fact he hasn't been active in Parliament since 23rd May with a while off in April!!!

In fact his last question in the house was on Lords reform at Deputy Prime Minister's Questions on 22nd May;

Can the Deputy Prime Minister confirm that House of Lords reform was in the manifestos of all three main political parties, and does he agree that it is absolutely right and proper that politicians should now keep to their promise and enact this much-needed reform?

Which begs the question of what is he doing instead? After all that appears to be two months MIA.If I stopped going to work for two months they'd fire me and with good reason. The electorate would feel the same way. The primary function of an MP is to represent us, their electorate. That's what they're paid to do, that is what they are elected to do. Its not publicised that heavily now but you can bet your bottom Euro that Labour will pull it out of the bag in 2015.

I don't want to get all preachy and vindictive, after all there may be a very good reason for this massive absence, but I feel a little betrayed that I've been personally assured of support but yet when it was needed it was not there.

2015 is going to be a Very tough election for Rehman, especially if the boundary reforms go through and he loses typically Tory voters to a pro-Labour marginal seat with, if rumours are to believed, a fairly popular local former MP Paul Clarke waiting in the wings to stand again. He is NOT doing himself any favours by just failing to turn up to work for almost two months, right before recess!

I'm sure I don't have to reiterate that political opponents will be watching his record with interest.

Dear Nick... Letter of protest over Medway City status bid

RE Request to reject the City Status bid by the Medway Towns.

                                                                                                                        17^th January 2012

Dear Deputy Prime Minister,

We write to you in your capacity as final arbiter regarding the City-status bids to plead the case for not granting Medway City Status. The reasons for this are three-fold: 

Firstly, the cost: Medway Council has played down the cost saying it will only cost 8 pence per resident. We do not believe this is a fair reflection of the cost when considering changes to signage alone, in all its forms and applications, which would be numerous. This comes at a time when the Council is trying to save £15m by 2015, having already overspent by £2m on the unpopular new Bus station’s original budget and wasted a further £2.3m as a result of other examples of poor planning.

Additionally, with the Council’s proposed selling off and closure of day care centres for the elderly, along with residential care homes; making redundancies; cutting other services, we believe that the City-Status bid is another unnecessary burden for the Medway Town’s council-tax-payer.

Secondly, there is no evidence to suggest that City Status would be of any benefit to the towns. We understand that Brighton and Hove believe the only thing that city status brought them was a great deal of debt. We are concerned that city status would only add to the financial squeeze in Medway with no benefits. The Medway towns already has great potential with plenty of space for new business; a large work force; good transport connections to London, the rest of the country and Europe. City Status will not change that.

Thirdly, this is not something the people of the Medway Towns want or even care about, not that Medway Council would know, as the consultation process has been woeful. Our activists reported that on the doorstep, very few people expressed support; many more expressed their rejection, but most were apathetic towards the whole concept.

The Leader of the Council, Rodney Chambers OBE, admitted after the second failed attempt, a third bid would not be in the best interests of the Conservative group or the people  of the Medway Towns, yet here they are doing it all again.

Each one of the Medway Towns has a rich heritage of its’ own and historically, they have achieved much by themselves. Labelling the towns as one, i.e. the City of Medway, will see each town slowly lose its' individuality. They each have their own cultures, their own communities and a City of Medway would be an artificial construct. Most residents are proud that they live in Gillingham, Rainham, Chatham, Rochester or Strood…. we all live in the unitary authority of Medway Council, but none would say they live in Medway.

The whole bid for City status for the Medway towns is undemocratic, unwanted and unaffordable. Please consider our petition accordingly.

Yours faithfully,          

Chris Sams (Secretary)

Tony Jeacock (Chairman)

(On behalf of the Medway LibDems Executive Committee)

An Appeal to Reason - No to City Status

Five towns, not One city.

Before I start this I should make clear that I am not writing this as a Liberal Democrat party member or on behalf of the party. I know as a group the Medway Lib Dems are opposed to city status but I have arrived at this position by myself and just happen to agree with them. I am instead writing this Appeal to Reason as a citizen of Gillingham who was born here, lived the first few years of my life here and the last four years, whose family lived here for at least a century, the Great grandson of Cpl G W Bone whose death is commemorated on the Boer war memorial in Brompton Barracks and Grandson of  (the then) Corp A J Pullen who helped build the defences in Chatham town centre and along the Great Lines in 1940-41 to stave off invasion.

I am writing to urge Medway Council to rethink their plans and bid for uniting the Medway towns into one Medway City.

The Medway towns, as I'm sure many know have long historic Individual identities and have slowly, since the Second World War, been pulled together until eventually formed a Unitary authority but maintained their individual names. This bid would see the last buttresses collapse and see their amalgamation and eventual disappearance.

The five towns have their own individual character, communities and up until the twentieth century boarders. With the growth of the towns the villages of Brompton, Luton, Horsted, Borstal, Wayfield, Hempstead... I could go on! These villages now exist as nothing more than names on a map if not borough's within the larger Chatham, Rainham and Gillingham areas. Is there not a danger that within fifty, sixty years the same would happen to the other Medway towns? How long before I'm supporting Medway City FC instead of Gillingham?

Any city that was created out of the towns would be an artificial construct like the formation of Great Britain from the four original states with their own separate identities and community and that has begun the slow unwind to separation. History shows us artificial unions cannot stay together.

Unlike other City contenders there is a NO campaign based on this. I cannot imagine the people of Reading saying;

"No thanks, we'd rather stay as a town."

I am saying; "No thanks I'd rather be a town rather than several towns masquerading as a city."

So what of Rochester? That was a city and that was OK.

Yes, it was part of the Medway towns, a cooperative group.

But the area is known as Medway anyway.

Yeah, but as a short name. I live in Gillingham, my Grandfather in Chatham, I have a friend who lives in Strood and ministers the Rochester baptist Church. Medway is the umbrella term, a shorthand if you will but we live in individual areas that should remain thus.

It is a glorious waste of money. Medway Council have to save £5 million over the next five years, they have overspent on their original budget for the new bus station, spent an extra 500k on a straight path into Medway park, other finances have been mismanaged and now they want to pay for the City of Medway?

I know we've been promised that it costs no more than 8p each but on a quick stats check;

Rochester pop. 27,000

Gillingham Pop. 99,773
Chatham pop. 70,540
Strood Pop.33,182
Rainham pop.6,394

= 236889 X 8 = 18,952.12 (on 2001's figures.)

This cannot be accurate. I've been through three Company rebrandings in my working life and all of them have vast amounts of hidden costs.

Uniforms, signs, advertisement, leaflets, maps, stationary, motifs, sponsorship etc all need replacing.
Sure some will continue to be used until they need replacement which is fine and relatively inexpensive.

BUT you can't tell me that the road signs, office stationary at Gunwharf and the Council's vehicles won't immediately get re branded? How many man hours will have to go into this? Time is money and wages for someone. Is this an expense that the people of Medway can afford to take on?

I'm all for the betterment of Medway which is why I would love see this money put into the regeneration of Chatham and Gillingham town centres and make them nicer than the current Eastern Bloc-esq ruins they seem to have become rather than pump the money into a massive White elephant. There have been No concrete bonuses for being a city. There is the promise of better business opportunities and investment but there is nothing yet on the books. Also why are these companies not already investing in the Medway Towns? What is truly in the name and is it not the same area? The only plus that I have seen so far is that Councillors will get to call themselves City councillors.

The people of the Medway towns haven't been consulted about this and I sincerely doubt they want it, or are even that bothered.

Yes I know there was a phone survey that spoke to all of 0.01%  of the Medway population (and only found 65% of them were in favour!) but what about the rest of us?
The people of the towns have followed blindly as the Council has taken us by the hand and led us or even dragged us into things we've not agreed to or wanted in the past, like the tunnel purchase, the Medway test, etc.. but now the people need to stand up and say "NO".

Of course if I am wrong and I am the minority I will shut up, stop my campaigning and sit silently in the corner keeping my opinions to myself and let the democracy rule as it should. But who knows if I am the minority?

I know referendum's are expensive, and although it is one option, a cheaper one would be a survey through the door or ask councillors to as their constituents at their surgeries over the upcoming months? That's almost free - a price Medway Council can afford!

So please consult the people and think long and hard about this! It is a big issue, something that needs addressing and local Conservative and Labour Groups to think about... Stop- Listen and think again.

As I said, if it is truly the will of the people then yeah I'll be quiet and go away but until the Council can turn around and demonstrate that I will continue to fight and kick up a stink about this.

Where is Rehman Chishti MP?

Am seriously worried about Reh?

Last week a fake Twitter account for the Gillingham and Rainham MP Rehman Chishti appeared and began tweeting on all sort of topics. It was annoying for two reasons. One was that I had half written a blog (which is salvaged in this one) which I then had to scrap and eat a certain amount of Humble pie. The other was that within a week it was proved to be false and deleted and I was one of the 100 suckers who had signed up to follow him and had even tweeted to him on policy.

So, to resurrect my original blog post!

The Gillingham and Rainham MP, Rehman Chishti has almost ceased to exist in local memory since his election last year.

I'm not casting aspersions on his work in Parliament AND Medway Councillor where he represents Gillingham and Rainham in Parliament and Rainham Central. He also sits on the Parliamentary Committees for Protection of Freedoms bill, The Draft Defamation Bill and the Joint committee on Human Rights!

However his footprint in Medway is quite small. The Medway Media have often mentioned Tracey Crouch MP for Chatham and Aylesford and Mark Reckless the MP for Rochester and Strood but Rehman has only had one notable mention recently.

Indeed on this Blog, which sometimes commentates on the local news and the comings and goings of  Medway's MP's has mentioned Mark Reckless 8 times, Rehman Chishti 7 times and Tracey Crouch 10 times.
Also the other MPs have a Twitter feed. Mark Reckless (@MarkReckless- who coincidentally follows me.)  has a feed that generally tweets news and says that he cannot always respond to individual tweets.
Tracey Crouch's (@Tracey_crouch) is a lot more personal, she tweets updates on her parliamnetary work, daily life and even the U14 girls football team. In fact as a comparison I have tweeted and emailed and received replies from Miss Crouch about a local issue (mainly because I found it difficult to contact Rehman Chishti that contacted Miss Crouch in the first place. I was not expecting a reply and was most grateful that she did respond even though I am not one of her constituents!!!).  A former Libdem Councillor told me that he had no problems dealing with her office and would also receive Emails from her personally.
They found Rehman Chishti's office a little harder, only ever getting interns or no replies. The same must be true for members of the press as I have seen on a few occasions that the local press have been unable to gain a response from him on certain issues including the creation of a false twitter account.

I have also heard that personal appearances have petered out since the election, I obviously can't personally vouch for that though. It is rumoured that he will turn up to a venue for half an hour and then slope off if the crowd is not responsive or indeed hostile. I have noted that in his letter to me regarding Southeastern trains that he appears at Gillingham and Rainham station during peak times to speak to commuters. I travel at peak times and haven't seen him yet...

Could this be down to a heavy workload? As a Councillor and an MP he must find it quite stressful trying to carry out so much work.
Then there is a cross over of interests. The last time I saw him in the press (before this week.) he was proposing to complain in Council about the Boundary Commission which has proposed the moving of Wigmore and Hempstead ( a strong Conservative area) to Tracey Crouch's Chatham and Aylesford constituency. His motivation was clearly because he, like the local Lib Dems, doesn't want to see communities rendered by arbitrary dividing lines. Not of course, by the fact that Gillingham and Rainham would instead cede Luton and Wayfield, a more Labour leading area, which will dent his majority and, as some commentators have suggested, force him to work for his re-election.

Who is to say?

If anything is Rehman suffering in the same way as the Lib Dems in the Coalition - beavering away and achieving things but getting no credit?
Maybe he should cut his workload and drop his Councillor duties, join Twitter or hire a decent press officer. His constituents would at least kno what he's up to and gain confidence from that, and would be more prone to re-elect him if he is being a good constituent MP rather than possibly cull him in an anti-Cuts/Tory swing in 2015.

Boundary Changes and its affect on Medway.

Rehman Chishti, Tracey Crouch, Mark Reckless MPs for Medway

One of the many progressive policies we as a party have brought in is to trim Parliament to a more efficient 600 MPs representing 72,000 to 77,000 voters.

At the moment there are people working diligently pouring over maps and drawing lines and marking up new or re sized constituencies. In Kent we are set to lose one MP.

But... This arbitrary cut and slice may be a touch too arbitrary.

For example one proposal for Medway was to cut the Hoo peninsula and Isle of Grain away and put them into Gravesend and Gravesham, combine Rochester and Chatham town with Cuxton and Halling passing to Maidstone. Gillingham would swallow up the river ward and Brompton but Rainham would be joined with Lenham ward in Maidstone!!!

With our current MP's (pictured above) it would look like Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch would lose her seat to a more Labour leaning Chatham but then again the loss of Conservative rural areas may be replaced with the Cathedral city of Rochester's conservative voters. OR she could lose out altogether as Mark Reckless is already holding the seat of Rochester for the Conservatives and thus she may face redundancy.

As for Gillingham, Rehman Chishti will lose support from Conservative stronghold Rainham but instead gain those down in Brompton but it would negatively affect his majority.
There is also the consideration that the heart of Gillingham remains Liberal Democrat/ Independent group consisting of ex- Liberal Democrats.

This could severely eat into his majority and could tip the scales in favour of Labour or he could get in again on the split left vote.

Another suggestion could be, if there is a swing against the Conservatives and Austerity cuts that could lead to Vince Maple or Tristan Osborne as MP for Chatham and Rochester and Me (yeah right!!!) or an esteemed Libdem colleague, or Andy Stamp or even the very talented Jacqui Berry for the TUSC party in Gillingham.

In short, I doubt it!

A plan has been put forward by the Medway Liberal Democrats- which I am not allowed to discuss unfortunately. However we I can say that it readdresses the harmony of Medway and keeps Rainham and Gillingham together. I can tell you that Kent Lib Dems have accepted the proposal. It would be a ridiculous decision to separate a chunk of the community from Medway especially when Rainham councillors would still sit on Medway council.


On the 8th of August the Medway KM ran a story on the commission and their academic sources suggested that again Hoo will go to Gravesend, Cuxton, Halling and Aylesford will go to a new constituency MidKent and Gillingham and Rainham swallow up the river wards. According to their projections Labour will take Rochester and the Conservatives will hold Gillingham.

Stuart Wilks-Heeg, director of the Boundary commission said that they wouldn't be deliberately partisan and that the lines would be drawn in as balanced a way as possible.

Also; "As far as we know this is the most detailed attempt to map out how it could look."
(Of course this is up for review every five years.)

Despite all the conjecture and suggestions, yes even my ill informed predictions, it will not be visiting until November to get residents views on the matter. Hopefully they will size up the communities and see that lines on a map do affect people and their representation. Hopefully they will also listen to the local parties suggestions, not in a partisan way - which is difficult- but to their constructive arguments and criticism.

As for Tracey Crouch...

 "I will be disappointed if Chatham and Aylesford is the seat that is abolished.
 
"We won't know the outcome of the Commission's review until early September, but we do know one seat in Kent will go."

I know I'm on on dodgy ground by saying this but... I like Tracey as an MP, she was on the streets of the Chatham the day after the riots and she was there all day. She gets involved in local issues. More importantly as a Lib dem I admire the fact that she voted against Tuition fees, something that half our party cannot say, she also stood up to the Home Secretary to combat the Government closure of Social Networking at a time of civil disorder whilst Nick had looked on earlier as David Cameron had spoken the same words. I know that elections see a lot of good MPs lose their seats due to the knee jerk reactions of the electorate who don't think of good constituent MPs but who will be PM, but I can honestly say that it will be a massive shame for her to go out like that.

Back to the point though. The commission will of course make its suggestions to parliament and it will be debated. I agree that the constituencies do need to be made uniform and that parliament's constituent parts need to be examined for the first time in a long time. However I hope that they do talk to the residents and listen to the concerns and thoughts on the shift. I really hope that Rainham isn't separated from Medway, it is a part of these towns and an MP from Maidstone may not represent their needs as much as someone who represents that town and Gillingham solely.