Catch up on all the latest news across your county with Abby Hook.
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00:00Good evening and welcome to Kent Tonight live on KMTV from the Universities at Medway ahead
00:19of our very own Hustings event and as you can see people are starting to come in behind
00:24us.
00:25I'm Abbey Hook.
00:26Here are your top stories on Monday the 17th of June.
00:29The big questions, what does Medway want to know ahead of polling day?
00:35I don't feel safe, Canterbury's Labour candidate withdraws from Hustings over security concerns.
00:43Migration demonstration, Gravesend residents protest after council creates new youth refugee
00:49centre.
00:52It's coming to his home, superfan from Canterbury decks out driveway with England flags for
00:57the Euros.
00:58But first tonight, Medway voters and businesses have been outlining their big issues and what
01:04they want to know from the candidates ahead of the general election.
01:08With issues like social care, local government funding and mental health all coming up on
01:12the high street.
01:13Ahead of the Medway Hustings tonight, our reporter Oliver Leader de Sacks has been speaking
01:17to people in the town.
01:20With just two and a half weeks to go until Kent goes to the polls on July 4th, I've been
01:25going around asking people here in Medway what are the big issues to them and what questions
01:31do they have for the local candidates that haven't been answered so far at the halfway
01:35mark of the campaign.
01:37It's what you're going to do to our community, you know, that's going to affect us face to
01:42face.
01:43You've got coastal areas going downhill, town centres going downhill, homelessness is growing,
01:48people begging in the streets, setting tents up in the park.
01:51They can't claim benefits because they haven't got an address.
01:53So who's going to employ them?
01:55What will they be doing about these concerns about the amount of vulnerable people and
02:01the amount of people with mental health issues within the local area?
02:05One of them is infrastructure, the roads need to be done without fail.
02:10Social care, schooling, there's a lot of kids nowadays that haven't really got a good education.
02:16The biggest question would be how are you going to improve Medway?
02:20But it's not just voters on the high street that have questions for the candidates.
02:25The owner of City Wall says they want to know how their next MP will support their industry.
02:31What are you going to do to help the hospitality trade?
02:33We suffered hugely through COVID and we've still not had help to help us get through
02:38the process of coming back.
02:40We're now suffering with utility bills just as much as domestic bills are everywhere.
02:45Commercial rates have gone up, our business rates are still high, VAT is still at the
02:50top rate.
02:51So all of those factors do affect our business and how we run a business and obviously dictate
02:56what prices we're having to charge the consumer, which seems to be going up and up all the
03:00time and making it harder and harder to survive in the business.
03:04Tool shop Johnstones has been established in Medway since 1951.
03:09They say the big issue for them is the local economy.
03:13Over the last couple of years, it has been improving.
03:20The whole business situation has been improving in this last year.
03:27We need it to continue and the fear I have is that it will go out the window and a lot
03:34of money will be spent and we won't get the real benefit of it because whatever money
03:41is spent, we have to replace.
03:44We're the only ones that can fund the country.
03:48With all three Medway seats highly marginal, clear answers on these issues could make the
03:54difference to who our next MPs in the area will be.
03:59Oliver Leader of the Saks for KMTV in Medway.
04:04This hustings in Medway is just one of dozens planned right across Kent in the lead up to
04:08that all important election day.
04:10Here in Canterbury, the Labour candidate has withdrawn from all hustings events over safety
04:14concerns.
04:15Rosie Duffield has been blaming constant trolling despite a misrepresentation.
04:20Our local democracy reporter Gabriel Morris joins me now with more.
04:23Gabriel, what can you tell us about why she's made this decision?
04:26Well, I was speaking to Rosie Duffield a week ago today last Monday.
04:29I was talking to her about the hustings and her plans for them and she was saying she's
04:33looking forward to attending the many which are planned for her constituency.
04:36Now, that decision has seemingly changed.
04:38She has now withdrawn from all hustings ahead of the general election.
04:42She posted this to ex-formerly known as Twitter last Friday.
04:45She said the constant trolling despite a misrepresentation from certain people having built up over a
04:50number of years and being pursued with a new figure during the election is now affecting
04:54my sense of security and well-being.
04:56Now, she has made remarks in the past which have been seen to be controversial and she
05:01cites this as the reason for this trolling.
05:03She has even received death threats because of this.
05:05She says her views on women's rights and her advocation for safe spaces for people
05:13who are born a man are some of the reasons for this.
05:17Now, this has continued to be controversial over the weekend.
05:20A Labour peer has been suspended from the party after calling Rosie Duffield lazy for
05:25withdrawing.
05:26Lord Cashman, who is a former EastEnders actor, will now sit on the crossbenches because of
05:32this in the House of Lords.
05:33Now, for very different reasons, but she's not the only Kent candidate that's refusing
05:38or not coming to Hustings.
05:39Well, we're here at the Medway Hustings.
05:41It starts in about 15 minutes.
05:42Now, at the moment, there are going to be no Conservative candidates coming here tonight.
05:47They say they are not planning.
05:49I can say that the invitation is still open for them to come, but we understand that they
05:53won't be here and that is a decision that the Conservative candidates for Medway have
05:56made for all Hustings in the area.
05:58Well, Gabriel, thank you for those details.
06:02Now, next this evening, footage has emerged of the moment pro-Palestine protesters stormed
06:06a weapons factory in Kent.
06:09Palestine action broke into the Instra Precision factory at Sandwich Discovery Park in the
06:13early hours of this morning, seeking to cause damage to the business it believes is aiding
06:18Israel in its war in Gaza.
06:20Kent police says it was called to a report of a protest before 3.30am and that seven
06:25people have been arrested on suspicion of aggravated burglary.
06:28They have been taken into custody and a police investigation into the incident is underway.
06:33Now, residents in Gravesend held a protest this morning against Kent County Council's
06:38decision to build a youth migrant centre on Trinity Road, a choice they say could hurt
06:42their local community.
06:44KCC says that it's necessary to stop them being housed in hotels and say it's fully
06:48financed by central government, so won't place the burden on Kent taxpayers.
06:53Finn MacDermid has more.
06:54Residents and locals of Gravesend's Trinity Road gathered this morning in a peaceful demonstration
06:59outside Edward Moore House.
07:01This follows Kent County Council's decision to turn the out-of-use care home into a centre
07:05for unaccompanied, asylum-seeking children, following a ruling from the High Court in
07:10July 2023 that meant the Home Office could no longer use hotels to house them.
07:15Some of the protesting residents were concerned for the impact on their community and seemed
07:19to think that the migrants might not be as young as they said they were.
07:23Yeah, all this area is a very community-orientated place, you know, all the kids and people here,
07:29the parents, all orientated with the school, the Sikh temple, sports club, sports football
07:36club, everything.
07:37So, you have a lot of young kids who travel from different places, who walk up here.
07:43So, we don't really want a place like this where they've got young kids.
07:48The organisers of the protest stated they were afraid that it might negatively impact
07:51the local businesses and economy, and could pose risk to children attending the nearby
07:56primary school and vulnerable adults in assisted living.
07:59The main reason is, as he said, is that people, half of the people, when we did this petition,
08:06getting signatures and everything else, half of the people didn't even know it was happening.
08:12The government never asked us, all they did was send a letter to a few people on a couple
08:21of roads saying that this will happen.
08:26We reached out for an interview from Kent County Council, but they provided us with
08:30this statement.
08:31The High Court ruled that regardless of limited capacity and resources, Kent County Council
08:35must accommodate and look after all unaccompanied asylum-seeking children arriving in Kent to
08:40comply with its statutory Children Act 1989 duties, and end the unlawful use of hotels
08:46managed by the Home Office.
08:48They also said they have been in regular communication with local residents and stakeholders
08:52for each new building, and will continue to update them on progress.
08:55According to the council, they have had record numbers of arrivals of UAS children, and that
09:00the finances they are using would come from central government funding, so as to not impact
09:05Kent taxpayers.
09:07Under the National Transfer Scheme, the children would stay in the reception centre for up
09:10to 10 days before being transferred to another UK authority.
09:14The protest may spark others across the county, with seven buildings being identified as suitable
09:19as reception centres or children's homes.
09:21Finn McDermott for KMTV.
09:24And finally, before we hand over to our Hustings event, England fans across Kent are still
09:28of course celebrating that 1-0 win against Serbia last night in their first game of the
09:32Championship.
09:33Southgate's side go to the top of their group after a nail-biting game that saw Serbia fight
09:38back in that second half, but for one fan in Canterbury it was the start of England's
09:43campaign for gold.
09:44Martin Baker says it's written on the walls, and painted on his driveway.
09:49The Three Lions superfan has covered his house in St George's flags, and says he'll be supporting
09:53the favourites right through to the final.
09:55These up every time there's a major competition on, I welcome all the Euros, this year I'll
10:02come one step further, I've obviously done the drive, the neighbours love it, the whole
10:07estate, people have come round, people have taken photos, I do this for fun, because I
10:13love it.
10:14English through and through, I'll follow England, and to be honest, all them nasty comments,
10:21I'm not on Facebook anyway, I just don't worry about things like that.
10:27Apologies for some sound issues there, and it's time for a break now, but coming up we'll
10:30of course be live streaming our very own Medway Hustings, brought to you by the KM Media Group,
10:36Universities at Medway, and supported by our event partner Maxim.
10:40We'll be joined by candidates standing in the general election from the three Medway
10:43constituencies.
10:44See you in a few minutes.