Maidstone independent councillor joins UKIP

An independent borough councillor in Maidstone has joined UKIP.

Cllr Gordon Newton has joined the UKIP group based on their local policies after his former colleagues in the independents group refused to oppose a number of large housing developments or support his efforts to protect greenfield sites.

UKIP win Shepway South by-election

Yesterday saw a big win for UKIP in the by-election to fill the vacancy for Shepway South on Maidstone Borough Council left by the death of another UKIP councillor, David Sargeant, in May.

John Barned took an impressive 45.2% of the vote, increasing UKIP's vote share to win the election. He had more than double the votes of the second placed Conservative.

Candidate	Party	Votes	%	+/-
John Barned	UKIP	432	45.2%	+1.3%
Bob Hinder	Conservative	215	22.5%	+0.2%
Dan Wilkinson	Labour	183	19.2%	-8.3%
Jon Hicks	Independent	88	9.2%	+9.2%
Milden Choongo	Lib Dem	41	3.9%	-2.4%

RIP Cllr David Sargeant

UKIP Maidstone councillor, Dave Sargeant, has passed away.

Cllr Sargeant represented Shepway South and fought hard to improve youth facilities in the borough and opposed over-development of surrounding villages. He was leader of the UKIP group on Maidstone Borough Council.

Swale borough councillors refuse to resign despite moving 150 miles away from their ward

Husband and wife councillors, Jean and Alan Willicombe, have attracted criticism from residents and some of their fellow councillors for refusing the give up their seats on Swale Borough Council after moving 150 miles away from Sittingbourne where they were elected to Lincolnshire.

The Willicombe's claim that they can still represent the interests of the people in Woodstock ward despite having no daily exposure to the problems and needs of the people they were elected to represent and that it would be unfair to make the taxpayer pay for a by-election when the seat is disappearing in 2015 due to boundary changes.

This sort of thing is quite rare but sadly not an isolated occurrence or even the most extreme example. In 2003 a councillor refused to resign after she moved to Bermuda just 3 weeks after being elected to Maidstone Borough Council. In 2010 a Telford & Wrekin borough councillor refused to resign after moving to Spain. A UKIP councillor in London tells us that at least three councillors in Merton have moved out of London but still sit on Merton Council.

This sort of behaviour, whilst legal, is morally wrong and the legislation covering the eligibility of councillors needs to be changed so that the criteria must be met continuously to remain a councillor. All too often the LibLabCon political parties will field candidates that don't want to be councillors and don't intend to stick around for a full term just to keep up the numbers. It deprives residents of effective representation and is just inexcusable.

Brighton and Maidstone by-elections

Sabiha Choudhury came fourth yesterday in the East Brighton by-election, behind the Greens who control the council and the Lib Dems who ... well, they're Lib Dems.  This is a ward that UKIP has never contested before, they couldn't start campaigning before the postal votes went out and Brighton produces unusual election results because of the Greens.  More at UKIP Brighton & Hove.

Labour	1596	56%
Conservative	531	19%
Green	456	16%
UKIP	148	5%
Liberal Democrats	59	2%
Trade Union Socialists	55	2%

John Stanford also came fourth in the Maidstone Central by-election, behind the LibLabCon but ahead of the Greens and the English Democrats.

Liberal Democrats	2169	40%
Conservative	1301	24%
Labour	943	17%
UKIP	510	9%
Green	393	7%
English Democrats	89	2%