£35m to fix Medways' Roads

The issue of potholes and the state of Medway roads has once again reared its head.

The issue of potholes formed a major issue in the recent local election where many in the public have a perception, and correctly so, that the current Tory administration has spent the last decade concentrating on large-scale road schemes instead of residential streets. Coupled with two unusually cold winter snaps leading to greater deterioration and you end up where we are now.

This blog revealed two weeks ago the road resurfacing list for the Medway towns for 2011/12, and what is clear is that it is woefully inadequate, with some wards not even getting one road resurfaced.

There are significant number of roads across Medway which are in a very poor state yet the Tories are in abject denial about the true scale of the problem.

Medway motorists are not going to be hoodwinked by Tories in denial.

This week Shadow Minister for Transport, the ever affable (he really is), John Woodcock MP attacked the Medway Conservative administration for having its head in the proverbial pot hole whilst the roads suffer and motorists pay.

Although Mr. Woodcock has only been an MP for six months, his political career has seen him as an aide to John Hutton from 2005 to 2008, and a special advisor to Gordon Brown before being elected as MP for Barrow and Furness. He is a very appealing prospect for the next generation of Labour.

Mr Woodcock called for the Tories to get a grip and introduce a strategic plan to repair the increasingly scarred Medway roads because

"it could sace taxpayers a fortune in the longterm. The new figures reveal the worsening state of roads in Medway as a result of the government's cuts"

Labour have calculated that because of years of starved investment and skewed funding it will cost £35m to repair them all.

A staggering sum of neglect which will cost you, the tax payer, even more unless the issue is gripped and now.

The Tories have claimed to fix 10,000 potholes in one year. I ask you to walk outside onto your street and ask yourself the question.

Have Medway roads got better or worse?

A solid result but still more to do

Have been reading over some of the right wing comment locally you would think it was all sweetness for the Tories and a disaster for Labour.

Of course the results were more mixed. Below:

- Wales was clearly a success. With 30 seats we equalled our previous highest number from 2003.

- Scotland was clearly a catastrophic failure. Our 37 seats were down 7 even on our previous worst performance in 2007 and Ed Miliband has rightly ordered a full inquiry into what went wrong.

- National vote share in the English council elections was up significantly compared to 2007 when most of these seats were last contested (when Labour scored just 26%) and on the 29% we got in the 2010 general election. The BBC even calculates we came top (with 37% compared to 35% for the Tories and 15% for the LDs. Professors Rallings and Thrasher do a similar projection (both they and the BBC use a sample of wards where all 3 main parties stand, and also factor in areas that had no council elections this time such as London, Wales and Scotland) but have arrived at a slight Tory lead, 38% for them, 37% for Labour, 16% for the LDs. In due course these get reconciled to produce an “official figure” that gets quoted by the BBC in future years.

Either way they both agree we got 37% which is 11% up on 2007 and 8% up on 2010, so significant progress and our best score outside a general election year since 1998 – in fact better than our general election score when we won in 2005.

- Raw number of Labour councillors (including all the ones not up for election this year). It will be somewhere above 5,600 taking us back to above 2007 levels even though we have yet to re-fight all the seats lost in the wipe-out years of 2008 and 2009, which will include lots of relatively easy regains.

- Number of gains. The BBC figure is an appealing round number of 800. This excludes ten councils where there were boundary changes but in some of which we got a good increase in the number of Labour seats, such as Cheshire West & Chester, Mansfield and Northampton. Hence Sky News quote a higher figure of +866. Whether 800 or 866 this significantly exceeds Labour's internal target for a "good" result and is the third highest number of Labour gains since 1979.

- Control of councils. We gained control of 26 councils so that takes us (including councils not being contested on Thursday) to 80 Labour controlled councils, the best number since 2005. This is broadly in line with the 20 gains I suggested last week. We missed a few (Dover, Erewash, Thanet, Thurrock) by either a seat or two or by tiny margins in key wards – we need to look at whether there were organisational reasons. There were some councils electing by thirds like Birmingham and Bradford that would have fallen to us if there were all-out elections but will have to wait until next year.

- “Toehold” councils. We secured Labour representation on councils where there had been none before the election in places including Broadland, Guildford, South Hams, Torridge, and Winchester.

This blog would content that for a first election we have regained our strongholds in the North, Midlands and Wales. Indeed in some Mets we took every seat being contested and could not physically have done better. It was particularly good to see heavy gains in two areas of concentrated parliamentary marginals, Lancashire and the East Midlands.

In the South East, South West and East there were a few bright spots (gaining Gravesham and Ipswich, good hauls of seats in Exeter, Luton, Thanet, Forest of Dean, Stroud, Waveney) but also some areas like Dartford where the Tories consolidated their general election gains, and many areas where the organisational weakness of our CLPs meant we fielded too few candidates or were unable to campaign visibly enough to present a credible anti-Tory alternative even though the LDs had left a vacuum.

We can celebrate having seen off the existential threat to Labour’s base of the LDs decade-long Northern Strategy.

At the general election this will free up activists who had been on the defensive in Liverpool, Hull, Newcastle, Manchester and Sheffield to attack Tory-held marginals. We should keep our foot on the LDs’ throat - as further destruction of their councillor base, and with it their funding through levy payments and ability to mobilise their activist base (one Tory has estimated each lost LD councillor takes 10 activists off the street) is possible in both the 2012 and 2013 rounds of local elections.

And we have made more headway in areas where the Tories are our competition than would have seemed possible a year ago, retaking places like Ipswich, Lincoln, North Warwickshire, Telford & Wrekin, Bury and Blackpool. Tory MPs in these areas now have a real strategic weakness.

This is a good start given the electoral result last year, but Ed now needs to focus on crafting a message and set of policies that explicitly appeal to Labour/Tory swing voters in the South of England and Medway, who stuck with this lame and lacklustre administration despite its palpable and clear mismanagement of the local authority.

Labour locally need to refine its image and brand to appeal to the moderate voter.

Labour call for Change on Medway Council

Medway Labour Local Election 2011

Medway Labour have released a six-point committment document on all websites this evening to highlight to residents why they should lend Labour their vote on May 5th.

Local Labour believes they have the right priorities for Medway after listening and consulting with residents. They also offer a fresh change to a new generation of Councillors with new ideas about how to improve our community with a significant number of candidates under 35.

Medway Conservatives have been in power for more than a decade locally and have let our community down.

Medway needs local councillors who will stand up against the Tory-led government’s plans to cut vital services and will get Medway Moving against after years of transport chaos which has impacted residents and business.

Labour nationally are ready to lead.

Locally in Medway the Tories have mismanaged programme after programme as this blog has posted for close to three years (in all its forms) and they simply can not be trusted to manage the Council with competence.

Though this is also a local election, Labour Councillors will be Medway’s first line of defence against the damage being caused by a Conservative-led government and their Liberal Democrat allies who have broken promises on VAT, tuition fees and protecting frontline services.

The six-point committment package comes after listening to residents and unlike the Tory pledges is not a top-down exercise of control.

Priorities identified include -

• Stamping out anti-social behaviour
• Maintaining weekly bin collection and improve recycling
• Getting Medway Moving by improving transport flow, train services and bus provision
• Protecting Greenspaces & heritage and opposing Conservative plans for Boris Island
• Freeze Council Tax and cut Councillor allowances whilst maintaining and consulting with residents
• Improve education through SureStart and focus resources of the Council on underperforming Primary and Secondary schools

Labour believes the public is tired of this Tory Council and that you want to get Medway Moving again

Vote Labour and Get Medway Moving

Poll Position or Arrogant complacency?

Have had a few enquiries from interested parties, so to speak, on my predictions for next weeks Local Election result and on the position of the Labour camp.

I do find it somewhat disconcerting to read Tory surrogates dicing up the wards and effectively calling the result in whole swathes of Medway, before the majority of ballots have even been cast.

It looks and reads like Medway Tories are already measuring the curtains - such is the contempt, and I would argue actual complacency towards the electorate.

Such is to be expected some might say.

Every ward is winnable for Labour and we are straining every sinew and fighting to win in every area we have selected candidates. From Peninsula to Chatham Central, from Rainham to Cuxton & Halling, we are fighting to win to serve the people who are fed up with this lacklustre administration.

What is concerning for Tories is that some of their own members have already written off their own colleagues in some areas. People who are out day after day struggling to persuade people to vote Conservative now have to fight the publicity from their own side. Perhaps the Tories deep down know they have reached the high water mark in 2007, perhaps they are writing off areas of Medway?

Medway Labour are not complacent about votes like the Tories.

Medway Labour has selected a significant number of candidates under 35 and continues to campaign hard.

The Labour candidate bench represents a new generation of candidates who present the electorate the chance to change the current 'old guard' mentality which has led to closed and very very poor decision making.

The Tories are predicting losses. They are cutting the number of Council meetings and reducing Overview & Scrutiny budgets for the express purpose of stopping an opposition they perceive as tenacious and actually quite dangerous.

As this blogger has been arguing for years, and has tried to put in practice, Labour need to be more outwardly engaging in our communities and delivering on the ground for people. Naval gazing in the Council chamber, when attendance is miserely, will not lead to victory.

It is a lesson only a small number of Tories have learnt.

I have kept a record of Tory leaflets prior to January 2011 and in 80% of the wards in Rochester & Strood / Chatham & Aylesford we had no 'local' election leaflet from candidates from 2008-2010. Only during the General Election did we see an attempt to piggy-back off the election publicity of the PPC candidate.

Instead the Tories spent huge sums of Council Tax payers money on the Medway Matters and Council propoganda; telling us the favourite food stuffs of Tories and advising on other irrelevent pursuits.

The 'Love Medway' campaign in Tory blue/green is another overt attempt to curry favour; patronising as it is telling people to put rubbish in the bin. I'll leave that to the Council Tax payer to judge on whether that was money well spent.

It simply is not good enough to communicate nothing until 3 months before the general election and then blitz people with expensive glossy's. The public are not that gullible.

I will not be providing any commentary - every ward is winnable and no ward can be taken for granted.

We leave arrogant complacency to the Conservatives as they have shown in practice every single time they are elected.

The Bugle calls for Coalition?

This week will see the final council meeting before the election. It is usually a highly charged affair as nerves are frayed on all sides. Partly as a result of the fact that people are spending time on the doorstep and finally becoming aware that it is looking increasingly bleak.

The Liberal Democrats must surely be aware that the situation is truly dire. With huge numbers of independents and assorted minority parties standing in both Gillingham seats we are now seeing evidence of the Lib Dem vote crumbling and splitting which bodes well for gains.

Results from Labour/Tory marginals are to close to call as both vote shares are holding. A small swing to Labour and a depression of the Tory vote could see 10 gains on wafer small swings.

It is too close to call in many seats, partly as a result of the fact Medway is not seeing the same swing to Labour as in the Midlands and North, but also because people tend to keep their voting intentions close to their chest a lot more here.

The final Council meeting on Thursday will see Labour candidates challenge the Tory administration on Sure Start cuts, tuition fees, Bus services and the state of the Chatham bus station.

With the polls pointing to Tory losses of 1000+ Councillors the Tories should be worried, but they are also relying on the fact that the centre and left vote will split to other independents. Quite simply Labour is the only effective opposition to the Tories and a vote for anyone else will let them in through the back-door. Could you stomach four more years of this lot?

Ed Miliband Broadcast

A very personal homily from Ed Miliband in the latest Labour PEB. Contrast the normality of Ed Miliband's Comprehensive and state school background with the elitist and top public-school background of the current elite managing the Tory Party.

From an election broadcast perspective it was heavy on character reference and light on content. Given we have another broadcast later in the month this may focus more on how Labour is delivering in communities up and down the Country.

The message locally is that a new generation of Labour activists is poised to shake the foundations of local government which has been managed by a tired Tory elite for too long.

We need a a more dynamic force in local government and it is Labour which represents that change that our community so desperately, and it is desperately, desires. A candidate under 35 in every target seat represents a massive generational shift and a change for the better in May.

The nomination list today highlight the Tories have not chosen to reform. The same old faces have been selected again.

Too many incompetent decisions, too many useless Tory Councillors and too much money squandered on pet programmes which have simply frittered public money

The simple fact is that the Tories do not represent low Council tax. Labour created the unitary authority in the 1990s and cut the number of Councillors from the 80s to 55. We reduced the tiers of local government and introduced Medway Council with the lowest tax in Kent. They inherited low Council Tax.

The simple fact is the Tories have cut £23.5 out of public services which you cherish. The numbers are not in dispute and either is the impact,

The Tories will not protect your heritage or your community. They have a record of selling off land to the highest bidder, and have spent the last three years demolising our heritage for cheap land grabs.

The Tories will not offer choice in education. The grammar school system, which was abolished elsewhere, will remain. We have amongst the worst Primary School results in the Country, schools with a revolving door of teachers, and the Academies teetering on the edge. Education is so important but Tories are focused on the wrong priorities and have been for years. We get poor results for a reason; and that reason is strategic management.

It angers people to see people fritter the inheritance bequethed to them, to mismanage project after project, to arrogantly opine financial probity and honour when we have accusation after accusation in the press.

It simply beggars belief to see them talk about the Freedom Pass they opposed, to talk about Free Swimming they cut, to talk about probity in finance when they purchased the Medway Tunnel, to talk about financial management when they demolished the Civic Centre, to talk about small business when they have decimated trade in Chatham highstreet.

There is a day of reckoning in May.

Labour needs to do a lot more to expose this lot and they need to do it soon.

Close of Nominations

Welcome news for democracy that a total of 315 people have been nominated for elections in Medway on May 5.

For those who want more detail please visit the Medway Council democracy webpages which will give you up to date information.

The good news is that all our seats will be contested and people will have a choice to vote out the Conservatives and to vote for a better alternative. A positive, dynamic and engaging Labour team, bursting with energy and enthusiasm for the future.

Labour have a full slate of candidates as usual for a local election.

Normal residents of the towns have been posting on where they will be lending their vote on May 5th and it makes pretty damning read for the Tories. There is widespread discontent on the doorstep with very poor decision making.

For the first time in many years both the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats have candidates for the parishes. A welcome development which will finally give a choice to kick out the Tories from their traditional redoubts.

The Tories have a large majority on the Council currently which has led to poor decision making and complacency. Labour are confident that with the ground work done we can see some positive results in May.

We have a new generation of activists and campaigners from a younger demographic which truly does represent the future for our towns. Years of effort recruiting new talent has paid off.

Cllr Jarrett and Chambers will soon feel the true scorn of Medway residents.

Please lend Labour your vote on May 5th.

Tory Pledge of Incompetence

Looks like the Tories have turned to Microsoft Publisher to gloss over the truth of failure that has tortured this administration for years.

Musings from Medway will be examining this document of half-truths over the weekend and will be challenging them head on.

What should be very concerning for the public is that despite all the quotes on efficiency and effective management, the document itself has no imprint; the note which states that it is printed and promoted by X on behalf of Y and should always be found at the bottom of all publications produced in an election, and indeed out of it.

The document itself has a very small number of photos including a picture of a combine harvester and a clear pitch at the elderly voter in Medway but is aside from that very corporate, but pretty vacuous.

If this document so happened to be the short-campaign election leaflet, then someone somewhere could just have spent a small fortune on a document which should not be distributed at all. Ouch.

Either way, some Tories have now withdrawn the document, but in the confusion others are still linking it.

This is symbolic of the utter mess of the Tories. Maybe flash and glossy but actually scratch the surface and there is no substance.

No wonder they are reeling in the polls.

This pledge launch has been a disaster, in part because of the vacuous content but also because the document itself is on the face of it, in breach of rules.

If that is not symbolic of the Tories over the last four years; we now know what to expect over the next four.

Courting the Press?

The rumours in the Tory ranks in the Rochester & Strood constituency party are apparently at fever pitch as many political pundits can't help but have noticed the distinct low profile of Councillor Rodney Chambers and the way the Council, and some sections of the press, are fawning over every press statement by the rising star from Rainham; Cllr Mike O'Brien.

Part of the new generation of twitterers he has amassed a sizeable following of 1,888 (NB: I am envious). Followers of the rising star include those from the left leaning CheRecords, to the should be read by colleagues across benches, slimminganswer, to h4auto, located on Honolulu. It seems his tweets reach far and wide, including the beltway.

This blog predicted a few weeks ago that we could see an emerging player for leader of the Tories, in what is widely predicted to be Rodney's last hurrah.

And so it would seem - It has been difficult to keep track of the copious press statements from the Council and Tory group from the Portfolio holder. Ranging from the new Android iPhone App, to pontificating over the Rainham road works, to garden pursuits. The internet is buzzing.

So is this the green light for higher office or is this just good electioneering?

No one knows, but if it were, this is what you would expect them to do.

Well it can not come to soon...

Either way, the ''dynamic'' duo of Chambers and Jarrett have had their time. Cllr Jarrett, the former Unionist can beat the drum but has a somewhat unique ability to manage the press. Chambers has had a strong innings but has been the captain for some time.

So is it time for a change? After May 5th we will soon find out.

A Medway Labour Administration would surely lead to a change in Tory leadership

Strood North mired in allegations

(Click on image to expand)

Strood North stands on the precipice of Tory scandal this weekend as all the Medway papers have chosen to lead on the allegations of inappropriate behaviour by Strood North veteren Cllr Chitty.

Over the years the ward has been neglected by Conservatives as we can see from the total inactivity on the Strood Conservative website.

Over the last four years Strood has suffered

• Closure of the Civic Centre and £850,000 Aveling & Porter cost for a Car Park
• Digging up of Station Road (twice) after administration blunder
• Poor air quality
• Huge traffic jams caused by poorly co-ordinated works
• Allegation after allegation of poor behaviour by Rochester & Strood Councillors
• The destruction of the independent high street as planning permission given for rapant expansion of super stores

People are fed up with the constant stories and allegations and are demanding real action from capable and competent Councillors who will spend in time Strood, rather then jetting to China.

It is time for a fresh start in Strood North with a competent team lead by Stephen Hubbard, Liam Curran and Linda Robson who are committed to:

• Freeze Council Tax for two years
• Re-introduce the Labour Policy for free swimming for pensioners and children
• £100,000 reduction in fat cat Tory pay perks
• Medway Freedom Pass for young people
  
• Heritage-led regeneration and learning from Aveling & Porter disgrace
• Support for green spaces and parks including Broomhill
• Opposition to Tory Police cuts and elected Police commissioner.
• Weekly bin collection retained and not threatend as in 2007 by Tory cabinet
• Sure Starts safeguarded despite Tory cuts to budgets

If you want your tax frozen, Sure Starts protected, more police on your street then Vote Labour.

If you want allegations and cuts, Vote Conservative.

Printed & Promoted by Derek Munton, on behalf of Rochester & Strood Labour all at 73 Maidstone Road, Rochester Kent. ME1 1RL

Time for CCTV Car review

This blog has been leading the charge for years that the Council CCTV cars needed to be fully reviewed and if found to be manifestly against the public interest, scrapped.

We all accept enforcement of our streets and the penalisation of incosiderate and dangerous drivers who park on double yellow lines.

But what is ironic, especially as the Council releases photos of cars on double yellow lines under the titles of inconsiderate and unsafe drivers, is that the same vehicle which is taking the photos, is presumably breaking the same highway rules in the photos it is picturing others doing. So by default you would assume, being unsafe as well.

Of course there is statute which allows the cars to park on double yellow lines, under RIPA (2000) but the public, whilst they may support the vehicles - though the evidence seen on this remains very scant, and is comprised of a series of surveys, probably unscientific and unweighted, as yet unpublished - they do not support double standards.

The Labour Group position is sensible and considered. Labour has not rushed to scrap the vehicles, which could have been the knee jerk reaction of the populist seeking a quick vote.

It has promised a full, consultative and transparent review to really find out from the public whether these vehicles ae desired and the extent of this. A full review to ascertain whether it is fair play for the cars to break the same rules it enforces and a full review on the operational conduct and revenue allocation, to ensure these cars are being used in the public interest and not the ever-so-common, profit motive.

There is a groundswell on both left and right of the political spectrum for these cars to be looked at and it is clear after press and national commentary; that the time is pressing.

Pressing because the number of vehicles may be about to increase. A question this blogger asked at full Council, which was met by an unsatisfactory response from the ruling elite.

Once again; Labour locally are leading the charge with ideas.

Barnsley win sends warning to Lib Dems

A predicted win for Labour in the Barnsley Central by-election on Thursday night, with some interesting vote swings which supports previous polling that voters are deserting the Liberal Democrats en-masse since May.

Local Tories jumped on it by saying a 'donkey in a red rosette' could have won the seat which given the winning candidate, Dan Jarvis (pictured left), is a former soldier who fought for our country, highlights a total lack of respect and actually professional courtesy for our former servicemen. Other Tories have smeared the area instead of accepting that people may have had reason to vote against the coalition.

Its all part of the online negativity and actual nastiness that is on public display from Medway Conservatives, and those who effectively speak for them. It shows clearly the Tories are running scared in May.

The ICM and YouGov breakdowns all now show a clear loss of support for Nick Clegg with 30-50% of their former vote directly transferring to Labour. This will have a significant impact in areas in Medway where the Liberal Democrats traditionally poll well.

I do not think you can translate from one by-election what will happen in Medway, but supported with polling from all major pollsters, we can now predict the Liberals will probably loose significant vote share. They are threatened in both Gillingham seats by Labour and the Tories in Watling.

Given we have seen a decline in Liberal Democrat activity across the whole of Medway since the late 1980s/1990s this blog is highlighting the fact that the party is now at risk of being seen as a real bit-part player for not only the short term but the long term as well. They simply failed to use the good times (2004-2010) to build and attract new talent. Look at Labour, who despite the defeat in May 2010 have bounced back with a new bench of talent and you can see the stark difference.

There are also rumours that there could be a deal in consideration in the Gillingham central seats, that the Tories may not field candidates in Gillingham so effectively pitching a coalition candidate against Labour. At this stage, no concrete evidence of such a backroom deal though we will know in less than a month! This hearsay evidence supported by the fact that the Medway Liberal Democrat leader appears happy to support the Conservative cuts budget, and is happy to be pictured alongside the Tory MP for the area in the local press.

We will know in less than a month; but never trust the Liberal Democrats. As the Andy Stamp revelations reveal, they are certainly not open and transparent.

Labour frozen your Council Tax

2-year Council tax freeze policy which will benefit people in Medway

The news from the budget last week that Labour has frozen Council tax for two years has been met positively on the phones tonight as Labour targets Lordswood & Capstone and Strood Rural as the key marginals in the up coming local election.

Labour have set some positive policy positions over the last three weeks from heritage-led regeneration programmes, supporting our Police and rolling out community pay-back to the Council tax freeze and cuts to fat cat Tory Councillor perks.

It can also be revealed that the average band D property in a Labour ward in Chatham pays less than an average band D property on Peninsula because of the additional precepts.

Meanwhile, Councillor Jarrett has belatedly responded to the Labour Council tax freeze announcement in a mildly desperate press statement today (looks like someone is desperate to keep his job after May!):

"Labour in Medway has no alternatives, no ideas and refuse to help hard working people by supporting [our] Council Tax freeze."

See above policy ideas on cutting Tory fat cat pay perks, on regeneration, on stamping out anti-social behaviour. Labour have indicated a two-year tax freeze because as a potential administration it is only right that people know where we stand.

More policies to come.

"They voted against a budget, which protects front line services;"

We did vote against the budget because it did cut front line services. Cllr Jarrett is being a chancer not a chancellor in a statement which beggars all common sense. It is simply beyond the belief of the independent voter to see £23.5m cuts as not having some impact.

See the fisking on this blog on the 'unprecedented' brutal cuts to front line services

"perhaps we can surmise from this that they would introduce swingeing cuts to key services like their counterparts have done in other local authorities."

An attempt to deflect as neither party has an influence on decisions made elsewhere and nor should we. The Tory government has indeed gerrymandered funding from poorer urban areas to leafy Surrey suburbs. Ironically this includes £3.5m of floor damping money from Medway.

"If they had any shred of credibility they would have supported our budget which offers residents low Council Tax bills, better services and value for money."

Labour have committed to a Council tax freeze, and incidentally established Medway Council with the lowest Council tax, which Cllr Jarrett inherited in 2003. And let us not forget it was the Conservartives in the 1990s that created the tax in the first place.

People are tired of the same old spin from the same old Tory faces.

Time for a new generation of change for Medway.

Poll Position

There is a new ComRes poll published in today's Independent which a small Labour over the Conservatives

Conservative 35% (down 1%)

Labour 39% (down 3%)

Lib Dem 12% (up 1%)

Looking at previous vote % Medway local elections vis-a-vis national polls the Tories are probably 2% higher with Labour 4-8% lower on average. This gives the Conservatives a lead of 4-6%.

For NOC or small Labour majority Labour need a 10-12% poll lead in the national polls.

The positives for Labour though are that they are ahead of the Tories among the bottom DE social group (by 45 to 30 per cent); among the C2 skilled manual workers (by 44 to 33 per cent) and the C1 lower middle class (by 38 to 33 per cent). It therefore bodes well for Labour in the seats they have concentrated resource including Rochester South & Horsted and Lordswood & Capstone which now become marginals. It points to Labour gains in Princes Park, Luton & Wayfield, Gillingham North, River, Strood South and Strood North.

However, the Tories enjoy a big lead (by 41 to 33 per cent) among the top AB group. This means the Tories will likely hold with healthy majorities the wealthier areas of Hempstead, Cuxton and the Peninsula with probably small swings.

Rainham will see an increase in Labour share of the vote from the Liberal Democrats, but that will benefit the incumbent Conservatives who are likely to retain the seats on these polls. Watling will be a Tory gain.

Although Labour is ahead in every other region, it trails the Tories by 46 to 29 per cent in the South East, which includes London. Regional polls like this are less useful than the socio-demographic breakdowns because Labour is simply not in contention in huge swathes of the region.

There is also a divide between the young and the old. Labour is ahead among voters between the ages of 18 and 54. It is neck and neck with the Tories among 55-64 year-olds but David Cameron’s party has a big lead (50 to 30 per cent) among those aged 65 and over. Given Medway has a younger demographic this also does bode well in the inner city wards for the Labour which have a younger demographic profile, but conversely does not because the older generation are more likely to vote.

Although last year’s slump in Liberal Democrat support appears to have bottomed out, only half (50 per cent) of those who voted for Nick Clegg’s party at last year’s election say they would do so now, while 29 per cent say they would back Labour. Gillingham North on this swing would go to Labour. The independent factor obviously does not calculate but would likely erode the Liberal vote further.

It seems like the return of two party politics is now all but a certainty in Medway.

A fair wind, but Labour are not complacent locally.

Tory jitters coming through

Medway Labour will freeze Council tax for two years if we form an administration

It seems like a few Tories are getting hot and bothered by the latest announcement by Medway Labour of a two-year Council tax freeze.

Given the Council tax freeze policy is supported by the Tory-led government they should be happy that the opposition has promoted this policy, as not only sensible under the current financial conditions with families struggling, but one that is a necessity for any party to communicate a clear position on Council tax before forming an administration.

That is not to say there are not major concerns around future Council revenues in years to come, but the overwhelming view of the electorate last May, whether some on the left like it or not, was that the public expect some cuts and have taxation levels eased on family budgets. Interestingly this may not be the same in 2015, if Labour can start to set out a clear vision - but that is another point.

The distinction now is between a Labour Party that would not have cut this aggressively and would have promoted investment in job schemes and public services, or a government which has presided over a double-dip and have cut too far and too fast.

Labour are not deficit deniers and this charge is quickly loosing steam as economic growth stagnates. It is the pace of deficit reduction coupled with the fact that if you do not get growth the interest repayments on future debt will be just as high, but the social impact of policies will be worse. This is a simple argument that Labour needs to manage.

Local Tories are rattled. Rattled by the polls, rattled by the laziness of their Councillors and rattled by a resurgent and aggressive opposition which has a new bench of talent for the future. There really is a clear distinction, not only visibly but also activity wise, between the Tory bench and the new generation Labour talent that has been attracted.

You can see how Tories are rattled by the responses to Labour policy positions over recent days which have verged on the hyper-aggressive to the sneering.

Instead of agreeing with cuts to fat cat salary perks, we have just had a tit-for-tat on which leader gets the most; not accepting the fact that public dislike all fat cat pay perks and that we should all accept a cut.

The response to cuts in police has been met with a tirade of wonk nonsense about how an elected commissioner can make up for a 1500 reduction in staff and a £52m cut in Policing. We have even had a denial about the impact of Police cuts. Fewer police will lead to an increase in crime. It is not rocket science.

Instead of being open and honest about the cuts in the budget we have had a turgidly slow response from the Conservatives and a whole lot of hot air on how it will not impact front line services. The public are not idiots; and they know a cut of £23.5m will hit the front line somewhere.

The administration has been lamentably weak and incoherent about its vision for Medway in future. As an administration, they have the resource to spell out this type of message, and they are not.

Over the coming weeks Labour will be highlighting additional policy positions. It is responsible perhaps for the governing party to respond in kind.

The fact is there are very distinct policy differences between the two major parties which this blog has served to highlight over the years.

The public now have a more developed understanding of these differences because of the internet then 2007.

I believe that the public are fed up with the mismanagement by the current Conservative Council and are looking for a change in May.

Time to cut Fuel Prices

News today from Shadow Chancellor, Ed Balls on cutting VAT on fuel is not only a sensible policy position but one that people in Medway have been demanding for months.

The Tories have been lamentably slow on fuel tax; partly because George wants to squeeze the tax payer until the last possible moment, partly because it would highlight the wheeze that was the Fuel Duty Stabiliser policy which was briefed against only in October.

Labour opposed the fuel duty stabiliser in government but after the election defeat in May it was expected the government would fulfil the pre-manifesto pledge. Alas, it never materialised.

There is a certain sense of Labour pre-emption of an announcement in the next budget, but a clear policy position by Labour now makes it virtually impossible for the Chancellor to do nothing on fuel. Coupled with the fact Labour are leading the charge makes for sensible opposition politics. Lead the debate or be led; I would rather Labour be leading the debate.

The public in Medway have been angered by fuel costs for years and expected a Conservative government to cut prices. Labour are right to campaign on this issue and it is a vote winner locally.

Ed Balls is the most feared of Labour politicians on the right because he is tactically shrewd whilst being intellectually strong. He gets punch-and-judy but also gets detail and policy. Marrying both the policy and the media-saavyness in politics is tricky.

There will be many Conservatives saying that this should have been natural Tory territory, sadly after the incomptence surrounding the government last week, it is clear the government is not firing on all cylinders, though are being given an easy ride by the media.

Labour locally are supporting the cut in fuel duty promoted by Ed Balls. It is time the Conservatives did what they said on the tin. Cut fuel prices and cut them now.