Over and Out

It’s pretty old news now, but worth summarising yesterday’s Kent County Council election results. The pace of events yesterday left no time to post.

So, firstly, the executive summary: the Conservatives are out, and I’m out. 

Here is the result for Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley:

Marc Logen (Reform UK)                  2,133 (37%)

Roger Gough (Conservative)            1,945 (33%)

Adam Durbaba (Liberal Democrat)  1,103 (19%)

Michael Barker (Green Party)              387 (7%)

Ben Davies (Labour)                             283 (5%)

My warm congratulations to Marc Logen on his election. We had a good conversation at yesterday’s count and I wish him very well. He has, as I have had for 20 years, the great good fortune to represent a truly wonderful part of Kent.

The result is a huge reversal from 2021, and from previous elections. Yet it was just part of a wider rout for the Conservatives across Kent, and the country. (The elections were also very poor for Labour, but they had many fewer seats to defend). At KCC, the Conservatives now have just 5 seats out of 81 (we won 62 in 2021). Reform UK took 57 seats and will form the new administration; the Liberal Democrats, with 12 seats, will be the opposition. Across the country, we lost 676 of the 993 council seats that we were defending.

I have given a lot of interviews since the results were announced, including one for the Today Programme this morning (there is a clip at around 8:33). My view is that the Conservatives are still paying the price for aspects of our record in government, especially in 2021-22, and have to fight hard for a right to be heard, even as any goodwill towards the Labour government is rapidly dissipated. 

I also wish the new Reform administration well as they take over at County Hall. Too much - for the council and for the county - rides on their success for anyone to wish otherwise. I did not, though, see anything in the campaign to suggest serious engagement on their part with the big challenges and pressures that face the council (such as adult social care, children’s services and SEND). It is up to them to surprise us.

Vote Conservative on Thursday 1 May

Vote for your local Conservative candidate in tomorrow (Thursday’s) election to Kent County Council. There’s a lot at stake. 

FACT: Across the country, councils are failing or on the financial brink. Eight have gone bust (‘a Section 114 notice’). Thirty are on life support from central government. Conservative Kent County Council is not among them

FACT: We deliver sound budgets, even under intense pressure, and our financial management is strong (it’s not us saying that, it’s our external auditors). We have saved approaching £1 billion over the last decade, cut debt costs from 13% of our budget to 8% and brought many areas of big spending pressure under control. We are making our services secure for the future

FACT: We stand up for Kent. We have made sure that Kent council tax payers are not on the hook for the costs of asylum. We took the government to the High Court – and won – so that unaccompanied minors are moved rapidly to other parts of the country 

FACT: We are there when you need us. We have helped residents through tough financial times, including pensioners targeted by Labour’s withdrawal of the Winter Fuel Payment. We provide some of the best and lowest-cost services to protect vulnerable children in the country

Money will stay tight, and we can’t expect help from a cash-strapped Labour government. Local government reorganisation, driven by Labour, means there’s a huge job in safely transferring our vital services – for some people, a matter of life and death - to new councils.

These challenges need serious, dedicated councillors who care about our communities, not those who offer only slogans and treat them as a vehicle for protest about national politics.

For a council that cares about Kent and our communities; that will keep Kent financially secure; and that will always stand up for Kent – vote Conservative on Thursday 1 May.

A new (renewed) Environment Cabinet Member

At the County Council elections on 6 May, 80 out of 81 Divisions elected County Councillors. The exception was Elham Valley, where the election was delayed as a result of the death of one of the candidates early in the campaign. The special election for Elham Valley took place last Thursday, 17 June.

Since 2005 Elham Valley has been represented by Susan Carey (pictured with me during the campaign in Hawkinge) who has also held a number of posts in the KCC Cabinet, in the last eighteen months as Cabinet Member for Environment. However, with the delay to the Elham Valley election, she ceased to be a Member of the County Council in May and so for that period was unable to serve as a Cabinet Member either. The count for Elham Valley took place on Friday and Susan was re-elected with just over 50% of the vote - a richly deserved outcome, since she has not only made a significant contribution County-wide but has been a dedicated local Member (characteristically, after her re-election, she was out on a community litter-pick yesterday). 

I was delighted to reappoint Susan to her Environment role as soon as her re-election was confirmed. She had a strong and committed Deputy Cabinet Member in Tony Hills, and Tony did an excellent job standing in as Cabinet Member in the weeks between the County elections and Susan's return. Tony continues as Deputy Cabinet Member. He and Susan are a very strong team; I created a dedicated Environment portfolio when I became Leader to reinforce our commitment to addressing issues of climate change, biodiversity, environmental enhancement and resilience, and they have taken it forward with great energy and commitment. It is very good for Kent that they will continue to do so.

You can find KCC’s press release on the election result and Susan’s reappointment here.

A new Cabinet

As reported in my previous post, in spite of the Conservative group achieving a big victory in the County elections, we lost a number of valued colleagues, including three Cabinet Members - Richard Long (Education), Michael Payne (Highways and Transport) and Mike Whiting (Economic Development). All three had made a strong contribution to the Cabinet and to the Council and will be very much missed.

I therefore spent part of last week - in addition to, among other things, meeting almost all of the 23 new Conservative Members of the Council - assembling a new Cabinet. Shellina Prendergast, already a Cabinet Member, has moved to take on the Education portfolio, and three new Cabinet Members (David Brazier, Bryan Sweetland and Derek Murphy) have taken up posts. The full Cabinet is:

Roger Gough - Leader

Peter Oakford – Deputy Leader, Cabinet Member for Finance, Corporate and Traded Services

Clair Bell – Cabinet Member for Adult Social Care and Public Health

David Brazier – Cabinet Member for Highways and Transport

Sue Chandler – Cabinet Member for Integrated Children’s Services

Mike Hill – Cabinet Member for Community and Regulatory Services

Tony Hills* – Cabinet Member for Environment

Derek Murphy – Cabinet Member for Economic Development

Shellina Prendergast – Cabinet Member for Education and Skills

Bryan Sweetland – Cabinet Member for Communications, Engagement, People and Partnerships

* Tony Hills, previously Deputy Cabinet Member for Environment, is appointed until 18 June, the day after the special election in Elham Valley, the Division held by Susan Carey, Cabinet Member for Environment in the previous Cabinet. The election was postponed because of the death of one of the candidates during the campaign. A further decision will be made once the result of that election is known

You can find KCC’s press release about the new Cabinet here.

Election results

Thank you to the voters of Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley who returned me for another term as County Councillor last Thursday. The result was declared at the conclusion of the count on Friday afternoon. Here are the figures:

Roger Gough (Conservative)      3,491 (64.3%)

Michael Barker (Green)                   691 (12.7%)

David Griffiths (Labour)                  625 (11.5%)

Tristan Ward (Lib Dem)                   619 (11.4%)

Turnout, at 34.0%, was up a little on four years ago. 

I was delighted with this result; my share of the vote was almost exactly the same as four years ago, and I am proud to go on representing the area that I love to live in. 

Similarly, the overall County Council election results were a big success for the Conservative Group which I lead. The Conservatives secured 61 out of the 80 seats being contested (the 81st, Elham Valley, will have a special election on 17 June because of the death of the Labour candidate during the campaign); this is a net reduction of 5 from the high water mark of 2017.  The Conservative share of the vote was similarly almost in line with four years ago (49% compared with 50%) and the county saw fewer Conservative losses than most other parts of the south east.

You can find full details of the election results on the excellent page on the County Council’s website. A video of my immediate reaction to the results is here.

There was more movement in seats and voting patterns than the headline figures indicate. The Conservatives gained four seats not held in 2017 (in Ashford, Gravesend, Hythe and Maidstone) but lost nine. These losses included three Cabinet Members: Michael Payne (Highways) and Richard Long (Education) lost to the Greens in Tonbridge, and Mike Whiting (Economic Development) to the Swale Independents in Swale West. Other losses included Margaret Crabtree (Deputy Cabinet Member for Finance) in Sevenoaks Town and Michael Northey (Vice-Chairman of the Council) in Canterbury South, both to the Liberal Democrats. A number of those who lost were friends as well as colleagues. 

The results in Kent partly reflect local factors; we certainly stood proudly on our record and our plans for the County.  However, they also match some of the trends seen nationally from ‘Super Thursday’, including the Conservative ‘bounce’ from the successful vaccination programme; the continuing change in composition of Conservative support; the travails that the Labour Party, like so many European centre left parties is undergoing; and the rise of Greens and Independents.

My first task now is to assemble a new Cabinet, and I will make an announcement on that in the coming days. After that, the policy and decisions in tray - relating to post-Covid recovery, the quality of life in the county and major national policy initiatives - is huge. Watch this space.

Out and about 2021

In previous election years - such as 2013 and 2017 - I have recorded something of the campaign. As in the past, one of the really positive features of this is to get around the Division in all its beauty amid spring weather. Perhaps best is the views that you get from high points such as Well Hill, the top of South Darenth or (not quite so high up) roads such as Sparepenny Lane between Farningham and Eynsford. I have put a couple of pictures of this attached to this post.

The big difference this time is that as Leader of the Council and of its Conservative Group, I have a much bigger responsibility to support other candidates, and so Out and About has also meant different parts of the county (this morning, for example, I was in Dover). You can find videos with local candidates bin various parts of the County on my Facebook page. 

You can also find there a video about the Conservative administration’s plans for economic, social and environmental recovery in Kent, and my video on why I am standing in Darent Valley. 

Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley

I was delighted to be elected at last Thursday's County Council elections as the Member for the new Division of Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley. The results were:

Roger Gough (Conservative)         3,289 (64.4%)
Theo Michael (Labour)                     502 (9.8%)
Krish Shanmuganathan (Lib Dem)   476 (9.3%)
Philip Dodd (Green).                         463 (9.1%)
Graham Cushway (UKIP).                374 (7.3%)

Turnout was 32.3% of a large electorate of almost 16,000 voters.

This was a clear and emphatic result. It is not possible to make a comparison with the 2013 results because of boundary changes, but there has clearly been a strong move towards the Conservatives, as was seen across much of the rest of the county and indeed the country. And while there was some variation between polling districts, it was clear that my support came from across the Division.

My twelve years representing the Darent Valley Division expire tomorrow. I will carry forward into the new Division many of the villages and communities that I have represented, but will sadly lose Swanley Christchurch, Swanley High Firs and Badgers Mount. The new communities in the Division (making up around half the electorate) will be the parishes of Otford, Kemsing and Seal (including Seal Chart and Underriver).

As an electoral map of Kent shows, Sevenoaks North and Darent Valley is a large and rather oddly-shaped Division. It borders London, and runs from the North of the District southwards, snaking round to the East and (despite its name) slightly to the South of Sevenoaks Town. I look forward to representing residents from all communities, old and new.

The outcome in the Division reflected the overall picture in Kent. The Conservatives have been returned with 67 out of 81 County Councillors. The Liberal Democrats, with 6 Councillors, are now the opposition party. UKIP, who made up the official opposition in the 2013-17 Council, have been obliterated from the electoral map of Kent (again, this was reflected locally; while they were runners up in Darent Valley in 2013, they came bottom of the poll in the new Division).

Thank you to everyone who voted, and above all to those who gave me their confidence and support. Tomorrow it is back to County Hall for the start of a new Council term.