Kent local elections 2023: Labour gains as Tory leaders lose seats

rgriffiths@thekmgroup.co.uk

Published: 05:55, 05 May 2023 | Updated: 19:21, 05 May 2023

Hundreds of councillors have been elected to seats on local authorities across Kent today.

History was made overnight as Labour took control of Medway Council for the first time ever – and Tory council leaders have been toppled in Canterbury, Folkestone and Thanet. HFollow the latest news as it happens with our live blog below. Please allow up to ten seconds for the live blog to load the latest updates.

All Kent News Elections Kent Politics Rhys Griffiths

Dealneil wrote:

08/05/2023 17:00

This local Guardian wannabe news site obviously thrilled at Kent stupidly moving to the Left . So biased in its reporting.

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Not impressed wrote:

07/05/2023 10:15

People are funny for 13 years they've made excuses for Tories and their planned and structure attack on britain to simply make themselves and their investors richer at any costs. They've continued to vote for them.

When many wise up. They then hold Labour instantly to a higher standard and want instant results. Anyone expecting much change from local results when Tories are still in number 10 are deluded.

Right now as a country the best we can hope for is to stop the corruption, stop the constant eroding of standards (laws protecting healths standards/food/childcare/eduction etc) which are daily being attack by this government in order to obtain more profits for the rich.

A halting of the decline in standards will be the biggest win. It'll take anyone time to undo the damage that's been done. Right now no further damage is key.

No more dog whistling policies wasting millions.

Concentrate on increasing the tax on the billion pound profits of the few and invest in what we really care about health, education and policing.

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Mikah14 wrote:

06/05/2023 17:50

A new batch of councillors . Some busy people now employed in redirecting the brown envelopes!!!

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Kushty Rye wrote:

06/05/2023 16:21

There is god after all

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Dealneil wrote:

06/05/2023 16:16

The biased local media , Kentonline and KentLive will be thrilled with Labour taking councils in Kent .

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Harry palms wrote:

06/05/2023 09:45

KOL Tory sad faces missing from the report

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Ekcetra wrote:

06/05/2023 08:56

Labour wont be better but they will not be any worse

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+17
adlkent wrote:

06/05/2023 07:36

Anything thing is better than Tories, they have destroyed our country for thier own greed, £37bn track and trace, £14bn WhatsApp PPE, £9bn furlough fraud, Sunaks intrest rate failure £19bn, Truss economy crash £30bn, all taxpayers money

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2 Replies

+70
Thereyouare wrote:

06/05/2023 06:29

A lot of Councillors will be here for the first time. Let's see if they keep to their mandates , prepared to make decisions that maybe deemed to be unpopular . Local Elections are very different to National.

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Cach170199 wrote:

05/05/2023 23:09

Food bank volunteer here. How glad I am to see the Tories not only lose Canterbury but be reduced to third place, deservedly so.

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+65
Onion Kilt wrote:

05/05/2023 22:28

Smells like the dancing chairs on the Titanic have been reduced to one. Rishi was seen bragging about some kind of success. Since he's been filmed as having no working class mates, I reckon he should just shut the hell up as the prime sinister that he is, and call a general election. Theresa May the dancing queen stepped out for lesser than that absolute mess all round.

Bunch of tory hypocrites the whole lot, pledging now to fix the mess they made in the past 13 years. Shame, shame on them.

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+81
Bowscope wrote:

05/05/2023 22:11

My ward councillor was tweeting about the number of people who were out to vote. As it turns out, the turn out was 27% of which got less than half which was 12.5%of the electorate. How is he in post???

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3 Replies

+30
Aunt Bessie wrote:

05/05/2023 21:42

Good news for all of us.

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Fireoflife wrote:

05/05/2023 21:31

Oh no, the Tories lost massively. Allow me to express my sadness... Hahahahahaha hahahahahaha hahahahahaha you blue ******** deserved it and will continue to deserve it at the general election! Never Tory!

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+65
Angry of Chatham wrote:

05/05/2023 19:58

I see the front bench didn't rely on food banks to maintain their diets, in addition to the great display of benefit sticks. Ah well I do hope the accountant in the expenses office have their pencils sharpened and new batteries in their calculators.

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+16
Shunter wrote:

05/05/2023 19:53

Thanet has had it now, Labour will build houses everywhere and there's absolutely no chance of Manston opening now, congratulations everyone, give yourselves a pat on the back.
Time to move out of this overcrowded dump.

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6 Replies

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Graeme 24121955 wrote:

05/05/2023 19:48

I am a natural Conservative and I wanted the Tories to lose,they have repeatedly lied. Brexit is a shambles,700,000 extra people ayear is not taking back control.Labour will be no better but as I have never voted Labour,and never will.
Labour are Marxists in sheep's clothing

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ProudGeezer wrote:

05/05/2023 19:13

On behalf of the badgers of Princes Parade... Good riddance Councillor Monk.

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+116
PD68 wrote:

05/05/2023 19:11

Imagine thinking Labour councillors will make any difference they will drive each community into the ground until they have run out of other peoples money then they will run up endless debt leaving each borough far worse off then when they started

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JakeCT1 wrote:

05/05/2023 19:08

Omg did Rosie actually spend a whole day in her constituency?
Did she just just mention canterbury and not just whitstable?
Just wow. Forgot you were our MP.

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avinacuddlyaardvark wrote:

05/05/2023 19:07

I am absolutely elated Labour have done so well. I cannot wait to see how they deal with all the local issues affecting Kent communities and genuinely wish them well. Starmer's party now have the power to make a difference in the run up to the next election and achieve something many, including me, thought was unachievable with Starmer at the helm. Time to get off the fence and put his money where his mouth was. Let's see.

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CuriousLee wrote:

05/05/2023 19:05

Praise the stars, Monk has lost control of Folkestone and Hythe. Let him sink into his own pool of concrete! But all parties need to understand: we will no longer support the paving over of Kent, second homes for wealthy DFLs and rental kingdoms for trumped-up property investors. No more sewage pumped into our waterways while chief executives line their own pockets. Enough is enough. Collins, Green, Elphick etc... Listen, learn or lose!

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1 Reply

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. B4mB00z13 wrote:

05/05/2023 19:05

I am getting that photo of Ben framed. Many moons ago I worked for that ghoul, and I hated every minute of it. Canterbury has done well to get rid of that Thatcher loving parasite.

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+123
ManofKent777 wrote:

05/05/2023 18:39

Tories could certainly have done better but Labour will probably be worse. We need people with real moral integrity to govern but where are they?

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Bright Spark wrote:

05/05/2023 18:23

Massive grin on my face. I'll be opening a nice bottle of red to celebrate. Now let's stuff them in the General election next year too. Never forget what they've done to us.

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+93
Groundhogday wrote:

05/05/2023 18:21

Not surprising, even for "Blue Kent", 13 years of dross, something had to change - fingers crossed for next year!

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+92
Tom Sharp wrote:

05/05/2023 18:12

It's a bloody nose to the Tories but let's be a bit measured here, the Tories have been in for 13 years at a national level with a mixture at local level and I'd be interested to know what the net positives are to everyone over the last 13 years ??

I'm ecstatic that the Tories are getting a deservered hammering at the polls but we should hold everyone to the same level of accountability, we should measure the expected positives of the next few years against the positives of the last few years. We're all grown up enough to do that eh??

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