Holding our politicians and councils to account is an important part of the role the KM Group plays in representing our readers' interests.

Our political editor Paul Francis has over the years been a champion of Freedom of Information and scrutinising what our councils are doing with our money.

Investigations have revealed:

* How taxpayers picked up the tab for meals at top restaurants enjoyed by Kent county council bosses using corporate credit cards

* US trade mission scrapped by KCC in U-turn

* The secret sites KCC had considered using as an Operation Stack lorry park

* The number of grammar school places taken up by pupils from fee-paying private schools

* How the Chancellor and his aides had secret meetings with Boris Johnson and his advisers over controversial plans for a Thames Estuary airport