This week’s Kent Politics Podcast welcomes Cllr Mike Baldock - the leader of the Swale Independents Alliance Group.

A former head of Swale council, he’s previously been a member of the Liberals, Labour and UKIP.

He talks about his hopes of becoming MP for Sittingbourne and Sheppey at the general election and how the housing crisis should be tackled.

He also opens up about living with autism and how this has affected him in his public role.

The weekly podcast, which launched in January, brings together local democracy reporters, Simon Finlay, Robert Boddy, Dan Esson and KM Media Group political editor Paul Francis.

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

Paul brings his weekly Westminster Watch review – highlighting what’s happening in parliament and how it affects the county.

This episode also features discussion on plans to convert Chatham Docks into homes, businesses and leisure, and the latest proposals for Whitstable’s future.

The subject of Rwanda was also talked about in terms of whether the scheme will actually work.

Next week we’ll be joined by Martin Baxter from the polling website Electoral Calculus.

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

New episodes are available each Friday.

The podcast is the latest move to increase KentOnline’s political coverage ahead of a general election likely to be held later this year.

In recent months we also launched bespoke sections on KentOnline highlighting Kent Politics and Medway Politics.

Added to this is the highly-respected Kent Politics Show which airs on KMTV each Friday evening.