This week, KentOnline spoke to Rosie Duffield about her seven years as Kent’s only Labour MP and her plans for Canterbury and Whitstable should she – as the polls predict – keep her seat.

Ms Duffield told how she never expected to make national headlines through her controversial stance on women’s rights – and that now she is unable to lead a normal life because of concerns over her personal safety.

She also pushed back on claims she was a single-issue MP and had not been visible enough in her constituency since her shock win over Conservative Julian Brazier in 2017.

Here is the full interview...

Q: The latest polls overwhelmingly have you keeping your seat. I imagine you're feeling pretty confident about your chances going into Thursday?

A: Yeah, I mean, I haven't looked at any polls. I don't tend to. I think the first election I did look at them quite a lot, and that was quite exciting because they were getting more in my favour as we got on. But this time around, the polls have been so wild I just thought I wouldn't look.

And you also can’t be complacent when you’re the candidate. You have to work for every single vote, and I don't want to just assume I'm going to win.

I'm trying to knock on as many doors as I can and just talk to people. And lots of people are very fed up with politics generally, so it's a really good time to engage with people and talk about these things.

And from speaking to your constituents, what do you sense are the issues that people in Canterbury care most about, and what are your plans to improve the area?

I think there's an awful lot of worry about the local plan [of Canterbury City Council, run by a Labour-Lib Dem coalition], and that's been going on for some months. I've been getting quite a lot of emails on that. People are just really worried that we've got these top-down imposed housing targets that overwhelm an area like Canterbury.

We are really pushed for room in Kent compared to other areas like up north, and we feel that we're unfairly being targeted by these huge numbers that we're supposed to find space for. I think everyone shares that feeling, and we really have to try and do something about that.

It's not just a local issue. I think councils are really feeling the strain, where they are being told that they have to build a particular number of houses, and we feel here that it's disproportionate. That's a big issue.

There's always issues like the state of the roads, and people are all fed up with the cost-of-living crisis. So I get a mixture, like I always do, of local issues and national issues. But it's really good to talk to people, because sometimes, you know, politicians can just assume what people's priorities are, and actually it's sometimes a really different picture when you talk to them.

You have been an MP for seven years now. Looking back on your time in office, aside from your individual casework, what's the one thing that you've achieved for the constituency that you're most proud of?

Oh, gosh. I mean, the casework is the stuff that is the sort of bread and butter of what I do, and it isn't something that gets the sexy headlines.

But my team have done, I think we counted something like 61 and a bit thousand pieces of case work over seven years - that's a lot.

And it means that we've reached out to an awful lot of people. We've helped people on the housing ladder, we've helped people with their visa applications, we’ve helped them with their benefits situation.

All of that is really important - it's just not given a huge amount of publicity because obviously what we do in those situations is confidential, and it's on a case by case basis.

So that's the main thing that I do that I am proud about and my office staff seem proud about. But in terms of sort of bigger national stories, there's a few things we've got changed with mental health provision here. We've kind of fed in a lot to the local authority about how bad that has been and a couple of things have been changed.

Again, it's not the sort of thing I talk about very much because, you know, a lot of my meetings are kind of private and quiet.

But I think I've talked a lot in Parliament about the way that Canterbury's been particularly affected by the sewage issue and we have shone a light on that. I do a lot of work on the select committee EFRA (Environment, Food and Rural Affairs Committee) where I talk about farmers and food security and rural mental health and bus issues and all of those things in Kent.

But I think the big national thing that also plays into a local issue is the work I've done on maternity health, because we were so hit by the Bill Kirkup report on the maternity scandal in East Kent.

I've talked about that on a national level and done a report with a friend on the birth trauma inquiry that we did and that's the first one that's been done in Parliament, so I'm quite proud of that.

More so than perhaps any other MP, you've also been outspoken on women's rights. You've certainly raised awareness of some of the issues of safe spaces and the intersection between women's rights and trans rights. But for many of the Canterbury residents I've spoken with, there is the impression that that's kind of dominated your time and some people view you as a single issue MP. What would you say to such voters?

I think the reason is because that's the thing that people write about me for. You know, they're not going to write about me writing to the government to say that our hospital trust is desperate for more scan machines because that's not a very exciting headline for the people that write about politics.

They're not going to write about all my casework or my work on the EFRA committee.

But they are going to write constantly about these headline-grabbing so-called culture wars because that's what people like to talk about, and they talk about it on social media.

It actually dominates a tiny, it's a tiny percentage of what I do, but it is a big national story.

It's barely anything to do with my work in Canterbury. I mean, it's a kind of national political story, and I do do work on women's rights and women's health, but it really has nothing to do with my constituency work, so it is a shame in a way that it sort of dominates everything.

But, you know, the rest of it, the sort of everyday jobs that me and my team do aren't very exciting to read about to those kind of tabloid headlines, I think.

I think that's the reality. So it's disproportionately reported, and every time there's a story about it, my name gets mentioned. So, yeah, that's a bit unfortunate sometimes.

Normally, something will happen in politics, and a few days later, something else will happen in politics, but this particular issue had dominated the headlines for about five years, and I've dominated some of those headlines. But it isn't really much to do with what I do as the constituency MP.

It's unfortunate that you felt unable to attend the hustings event in Canterbury. I understand your reasons for that. But speaking to voters that came along, I get the sense that your absence added fuel to this narrative that you're not as visible in the constituency as you could be or you should be. Is being present and visible —

Every Friday, Saturday, Sunday, some Monday mornings, I'm in the constituency where I live, and I have meetings and visits, just like most MPs, every single Friday and during the recess period as well.

So my diary is always full. It's always full in the constituency.

If people follow my social media, my Facebook page, they'll see what I've been up to, which schools I've visited that week, or how many council meetings I've had with the local councillors.

I'm just as visible as any other MP, but sadly, there is a security issue, and particularly high-profile MPs and women can't just be free to walk about.

I mean, I can't just turn up very often in a local supermarket or a gym class or something like that, because I do have to mostly inform the local police about where I am.

The hustings was a very difficult decision.

I've always been to all of them it was just unfortunate that there were a few people who were determined to make that a really difficult experience, and I thought the best thing would be just to stay away this time.

Lots of MPs never go anyway, and have never been. Each constituency varies, whether they have those husting events or not. So it was disappointing to have to make that decision.

In your time in office, you've always been an opposition MP. How do you see your experience in Parliament, assuming that you are re-elected, being different if Labour come to form a government?

Yeah, I mean, what you do when you're in the opposition party is obviously just sort of shout a lot to the government in question time and things.

I think I have changed some things in opposition - which is quite difficult to do - but you mainly do it by working cross-party collaboratively with your colleagues.

You know, my birth trauma inquiry was really successful. We got the government to adopt our recommendations, and that's by working in a cross-party way and I've done that with other issues as well.

I've raised awareness of some of the issues with Airbnbs in Whitstable, coastal communities, sewage and things – it's only by raising those things in Parliament that you get things done.

But as possibly someone who's going to be on the same side of the government, I hope, yeah, that we'll still do the same things but we've got to have the hope that your own side are a bit more sympathetic, a bit more willing to sort of share your values and put those things in place.

One thing I'm certainly going to be raising a lot is the imposition of those housing targets on rural areas like ours. We can't really meet the infrastructure needs of those kind of numbers - so from day one, I think I'm going to be campaigning on that.

And yet, of course, there are many people in Kent – especially first-time buyers – that would say house prices are just are too high at the moment and more houses is exactly what we need…

We absolutely do. And there has to be a balance because we've got 3,000 people on the council waiting list.

We don't have the properties, but those people are not going to benefit necessarily from the executive homes that start around £400,000 - that’s unrealistic.

We need the right homes in the right places. We need social housing. Our local authority now wants social housing desperately, but they will need money from the central government and Kent County Council will need more money in order to provide for those people and to provide for the asylum seekers that come here as well.

But those executive shiny homes that are sort of being imposed in the thousands are not helping the people who need it the most - people who do need to get on housing ladder, need affordable housing, or those right-to-buy schemes, or helping-key-workers schemes.

We need to bring all those back rather than just houses for commuters from London, which doesn't help us here at all.

Looking back on your time as an MP so far, do you have any regrets?

I don't think any spring to mind. It's been a learning curve. It's been very sort of different to how I imagined it would be. I didn't imagine I would be quite so well known.

I think I thought I would just sort of get on with Canterbury work quite quietly and in fact, I've sort of become quite a well-known MP and written about an awful lot.

You have to look forward and hope that perhaps I'll get sort of more sympathy for Kent from my own side.

I do think it's been quite hard being the only Kent opposition MP. It does feel like I'm sort of doing an awful lot of work on my own to raise some of the issues in Kent, like the effects of Brexit.

But hopefully, if I get more colleagues from my own party, that will be easier, because Kent is often lumped together with London and the South East, and it would be really good if we have more of our own identity and we were listened to a bit more. I'd really like that to happen.

In terms of regret, I mean, I'd hoped that I'd had more of a chance of getting more financial help for our hospital trust here, but when you're the only opposition MP, you're kind of competing with the party of government all the time that's been really difficult.

I don't think I've got any regrets. I think I've helped a lot of people locally. And, you know, you just learn all the time on this job.

You're never bored. I don't love the security aspect of things, if I'm honest, and the lack of privacy sometimes. But most of it is a brilliant job so, yeah, mostly I love it.

Finally, I do just want to ask you about this Skwawkbox article. Have you seen it?

I don't think anyone reads Skwawkbox today. I don't think anyone is going to. So, no, I certainly haven't.

It’s a piece by [Whitstable author] Julie Wassmer and Libby Bradshaw [a former constituency assitant for Ms Duffield] essentially saying you’re right-wing, particularly when it comes to the gender stuff, and ‘crying wolf’ when it comes to the abuse and threats you say you've received. Do you have any reaction to that?

That's really disappointing. But, you know, that's just a couple of people, one of whom seems to be completely obsessed by me.

I think the person you mentioned just tweets about me all day every day. And I think I don't think anyone would take an article by her seriously.

I don't know the woman - I've never known her but she writes about me constantly.*

Is there any other kind of final message that you'd like for voters to hear as they go into the polling box next week?

I'd really like to say Canterbury made history by electing the first Labour MP in 2017.

If people want to make history again and change this government after 14 years, they have to go out and put their cross in the box - don’t just assume I'm going to win or Labour's going to win.

Whatever your voting views are, put your cross in the box and make sure your voice is heard.

To find out more about all the candidates standing in Canterbury click here

Updated, July 1: Ms Wassmer and Ms Bradshaw have responded to Ms Duffield’s comments...

Ms Wassmer said: “In a recent interview with Rosie Duffield (June 30), your reporter asked for Rosie's response to a ‘Skwawkbox article’ which I co-authored with Rosie's ex-staffer, Libby Bradshaw. To clarify, with due permission, Skwawkbox had actually reproduced in full, and for national consumption, an article that Libby and I had originally written for Whitstable Views, an online news platform that's widely read - particularly in the Canterbury constituency on the subject of Rosie Duffield. One such piece has had, to date, over 36,000 reads.

“The article co-authored by Libby and myself set out to examine comments made by the former Labour peer, Michael Cashman, that Rosie was ‘frit or lazy’, noting that Rosie had failed to appear at local hustings events, even by video link, and citing evidence of her - in our experience - poor performance as a constituency MP.

“Libby and I were both named in the interview with Rosie claiming that ‘one’ of us is ‘obsessed’ with her and ‘tweets about me all day every day’. She also stated that she doesn't "know the woman", a comment that’s patently absurd, because Libby worked for Rosie before quitting her job in dissatisfaction with Rosie – and Rosie certainly knows me well enough to have called me in 2017 to ask for support with her campaign for which she thanked me at a public celebration at Whitstable Labour Club, before personally replying to a complaint I made to her about constituents’ emails not being dealt with. I still have Rosie’s reply to me in which she admitted 18,000 emails were lying unanswered in her inbox - though I can understand why she would want to forget that.

“The article in question is here.”

Ms Bradshaw said: "Rosie's response to your reporter's question about the article written by me and Julie Wassmer was rather baffling.

“She claims to have "never known" the person who wrote it, though refuses to name them.

“I can assume it's not me she's referring to as I worked for her for over six months and she most certainly does know me.

“Therefore it seems that she did not actually offer a response to what I wrote in the Whitstable Views article of June 23rd, presumably because she couldn't deny any of it."