Past and present leaders on Medway's General Election
Former Medway Council Leader Alan Jarrett and current Medway Council Leader Vince Maple on the coming election
Wanting to gain some additional insight into what has been a showcase of our best and brightest, we met with former Conservative Medway Council Leader Alan Jarrett and current Labour Medway Council Leader Vince Maple (separately, of course) to discuss the General Election of 2024 to get their views and understand what it means locally.
We started with the obvious question: Were they surprised by the timing of the election? Never one to restrain his words, Alan admits he was “absolutely astonished”, saying that to call the election without seeing any movement in the polls was “an act of immense folly”. Wryly, he notes that “we have seen movement, but it's got worse.” Alan admits that there wasn’t a time he would have liked it to be held. “As a local association, we would just like an inkling of what’s going on. Especially as we were in the throes of selecting a new candidate, because it was a snap election, I think there have been some fundamental errors.”
Vince was also surprised by the choice. “I think most people had a working assumption it was going to be the autumn. We've all seen the message from Tracey, for example, who was obviously expecting to have another few months before she stepped down.”
For Alan, the miscalculations go deeper than just the timing. He highlights promises on inheritance tax and the triple lock plus, which he believes should have been delivered as part of an Autumn Statement because they could have demonstrated that they delivered something. He thinks “the electorate is rightly cynical, and they're trying to outbid each other on all sorts of things.”
His biggest disappointment has been Nigel Farage’s decision to stand and energise Reform UK. “All that will do is bleed more Conservative votes away. And because of our electoral system, First Past the Post, which I'm a great advocate for, they'll be lucky if they win Clacton.” That said, the potential outcome of the election, as a result of tactical voting, has not put Alan off First Past the Post. He believes it leads to strong governments, whereas alternative options lead to coalitions and fragility. “2010 saw a Conservative government propped up by the Liberals which could not deliver a lot of the things that Conservatives wanted them to deliver and should have delivered.”
Vince is open about the challenges Labour might face if they take power. They have been out of national government for over a decade. “That means actually the running the machinery of government, most members of the parliamentary Labour Party haven't been in that position.” He feels positive about the candidates Labour have put forward and that they will be able to move the country forward. “I think we're running a campaign nationally and regionally across the southeast, which is showing that we're a government in waiting, showing that we've got good ideas, but absolutely not being complacent. If you've got someone who's been a cabinet member or council leader, they bring that experience. I think that's going to be pretty invaluable, particularly in the early days.” Vince is happy with how the Labour campaign has been run so far, particularly in comparison to the Conservatives. “I think I would have advised Rishi Sunak not to launch the campaign in the middle of the pouring rain. I would have advised Rishi Sunak to stick around and talk to veterans. He chose not to.”
Reports have suggested that Conservative members would support Nigel Farage in becoming the party leader. Alan thinks that they could do a lot worse. “It’s breaking news that I was an imperfect leader of Medway. For me, my view about leadership was a really strong focus, clear goals, absolute determination to do the things you're supposed to do. We've got a Conservative leader at the moment that wasn't elected by the party. History will show that that he wasn't a great leader, he wasn't a great Prime Minister. But it's what we've got at the moment. We've got to get behind him as best we can.”
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