On this week’s Kent Politics Podcast we hear from a polling expert on what he thinks will happen in next month’s local elections.

Electoral Calculus’s Martin Baxter speculates on whether the Tories’ long-held majority at County Hall will disappear.

And he discusses whether Labour, the Lib Dems, Greens and Reform will mount a serious challenge across Kent.

The polling company rose to prominence ahead of last year’s general election in which they consistently predicted a Labour landslide.

The podcast team also discusses a spiky public engangement meeting held by Medway Council and issues caused by a council contractor going under in Dartford.

We find out why one of the county’s MPs is furious over the long-term closure of a popular beach and what happened at a hustings event in Bearsted.

The weekly podcast brings together Simon Finlay, Robert Boddy and Dan Esson, of the Local Democracy Reporting Service.

Simon covers Kent County Council while Robert reports on Medway Council and Dan specialises in borough and district councils.

They are joined by KM Group news editor Nikki White who looks at what’s happening with Kent and Medway’s MPs in Westminster.

You can listen to the podcast at IM Listening, or download it from Apple Podcasts, Spotify and TuneIn – just search for Kent Politics Podcast.

Readers can also keep up-to-date with the latest political news on our dedicated Kent Politics page on KentOnline or sign up for our weekly politics newsletter.