Catch up on the latest political news from across Kent with Rob Bailey, joined by Kent County Council leader Roger Gough and Faversham's parliamentary candidate for the Green Party, Hannah Temple.
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00:20 Welcome to the Kent Politics Show live on KMTV.
00:24 I'm Rob Bailey.
00:25 And this week, David Cameron returned to frontline politics
00:28 in a move aimed to please Kent's moderate Tory voters.
00:32 But will the county forgive Lord Cameron's disappearing act
00:35 after losing the Brexit vote in 2016?
00:38 There was a disappearing act on Labour's front benches, too.
00:41 Shadow ministers resigned en masse
00:43 to back a ceasefire in the Middle East.
00:45 And was Rishi Sunak's pledge to stop the votes
00:48 sunk by the Supreme Court?
00:50 A lot to discuss then.
00:51 But first, here is what people in Kent
00:53 made of Lord Cameron's return.
00:56 I don't know if it's the best decision.
00:58 You know, as far as I'm aware, he walked away.
01:00 I'm sure he's got the talent, yes.
01:02 I have no doubt he's got the ability.
01:04 So we look forward to seeing what he can offer.
01:07 I think that he doesn't have a mandate
01:09 to talk to European governments or with the European Union
01:15 as a body.
01:17 Because he basically signed out of the club,
01:20 as the British like to say.
01:22 I think he's been and gone.
01:24 And they should stay gone.
01:26 Joining me tonight is Kent County Council leader,
01:29 the Conservative Roger Gough, and Hannah Temple,
01:31 who will stand for the Green Party in Faversham
01:34 and mid-Kent at the next general election.
01:36 Welcome, both of you.
01:37 Thank you.
01:38 It's been a busy week in politics.
01:39 I suppose a sensible way to do it is chronologically.
01:42 So first, Roger, Suella Braverman's sacking,
01:45 a good thing for Kent?
01:47 Well, I think whether it makes a difference to Kent or not
01:51 is very hard to say.
01:52 Because clearly, we have massive engagement
01:56 with the Home Office over issues to do
01:59 with particularly unaccompanied asylum-seeking children.
02:02 Whether a change of Home Secretary
02:03 makes a difference to that is very hard to say.
02:05 We are very, very engaged on that issue.
02:08 A lot of my work on that has actually
02:09 been with the immigration minister, Robert Jenrick,
02:12 who continues in post.
02:13 And Hannah, thank you for joining us.
02:16 David Cameron, when he became Conservative Party leader,
02:20 tried to present himself as the Green Conservative.
02:23 And in fact, in many ways, that was a part of his appeal
02:26 across rural England.
02:28 He's back.
02:29 Is he still a Green Conservative?
02:32 Well, I'm not sure that he was ever
02:33 really a Green Conservative.
02:34 I'm not sure what a Green Conservative really is.
02:37 I'm not sure that he was ever really green.
02:38 I think we talked about green rubbish at some point.
02:41 I think it's really telling that at this moment,
02:44 when we're facing so many crises, of which the climate crisis is
02:47 one, but we obviously have many others
02:50 – cost of living crisis, housing crises, migration crises –
02:54 that the Conservative Party are needing to seek to bring back
02:58 someone from an old parliament, from an old story,
03:00 in order to try and kind of fill out their benches.
03:02 So no, I don't think this is a signal
03:05 of any kind of promising future for green aspects in the UK,
03:09 unfortunately.
03:10 Not another U-turn from Rishi on his green policies then,
03:13 you think.
03:13 What do you read into David Cameron's return?
03:17 Well, I think it's actually very positive
03:18 to take advantage of someone with a great deal of experience.
03:22 And I do know that David Cameron, when in office,
03:26 actually as Prime Minister, commanded a lot of respect
03:29 across other international leaders,
03:31 both within Europe and beyond.
03:33 And we've seen actually quite a positive reaction
03:37 internationally to his appointment.
03:39 His skill set will fit very well with that diplomatic role
03:42 and it makes a huge difference to our standing,
03:44 to the way that the Foreign Office operates,
03:46 to have a former Prime Minister in that key role.
03:49 So I think it's a good move.
03:50 So let's focus in on some of those specific issues for Kent,
03:53 because those bigger issues, as you say, are interesting.
03:56 But the new Home Secretary, James Cleverley,
03:59 is going to have quite a significant role to play here.
04:02 As you said, we have the issue about unaccompanied minors.
04:05 We might come to that in a minute.
04:06 We also have Rishi Sunak's pledge,
04:07 not unconnected, to stop the boats,
04:09 which is a big issue for us here in Kent.
04:12 Are you confident that this was the right choice
04:16 for, to begin with, James Cleverley for Home Secretary?
04:18 Yes, I mean, James Cleverley is certainly a highly competent,
04:20 again, actually much respected in his role as Foreign Secretary,
04:24 and I think a highly competent politician.
04:26 As I've said, when it comes to our own issues,
04:29 we've dealt particularly with Robert Jenrick
04:31 as Immigration Minister.
04:32 He continues in post.
04:34 So that's where a lot of our discussion is.
04:36 But I think James Cleverley will certainly bring
04:38 a lot of qualities to the role of Home Secretary.
04:41 From Kent's point of view, you've been very vocal recently
04:43 about the pressure that Kent is under,
04:45 particularly because of a High Court ruling in July,
04:47 which said that Kent County Council
04:49 has a statutory responsibility to look after any children
04:52 who arrive on our shores who are vulnerable.
04:55 We might get into that a little bit more in a second.
04:57 But the numbers of children,
04:59 it was last reported that I've seen 661 children
05:04 around the county who are in care,
05:06 who arrived as unaccompanied asylum seekers,
05:09 and 1,030 care leavers who had initially arrived.
05:14 So 1,600 children in care in Kent.
05:16 Is that still the situation now?
05:17 And how concerned are you about it?
05:19 Yes, I mean, the figures change by the day.
05:21 But what you can measure is the scale of arrivals.
05:24 Not all those who arrive and are initially referred to us
05:27 end up in our care,
05:28 but we still have a significant role there on reception
05:31 and many of the initial work with them.
05:34 And on that, between the judgment that came at the end of July
05:39 and the end of October,
05:40 we had over 1,200 young people referred to us.
05:44 That is absolutely huge.
05:45 And the problem that we have is that we, a county council,
05:50 admittedly, the biggest county council in the country,
05:53 but still a local authority,
05:55 are expected to take up a huge amount of what is a national
05:59 and in some ways international issue.
06:01 And that is bad for our ability to deliver the services
06:06 that we expect to young people,
06:08 whether of an asylum-seeking background
06:09 or citizen children within Kent.
06:11 And clearly, potentially,
06:14 although we've been successful in recent years
06:16 in working to ensure the Kent Council taxpayer
06:20 is not on the hook for it,
06:21 potentially financial implications as well.
06:24 Hannah, it's issues like this that make the stop the boats policy.
06:27 You know, it shows there's a real impact here in Kent, isn't there?
06:30 And that journey of people coming over the channel
06:34 creates real issues here,
06:35 which are very difficult for local authorities, for taxpayers.
06:39 Absolutely. Absolutely.
06:42 It's absolutely an issue that really, really needs to be solved.
06:44 And I'd just love to just bring our attention briefly
06:47 to the case of a migrant that's arriving alone,
06:51 a child that's arriving without any parental supervision,
06:53 how horrendous that position must be.
06:56 And obviously, we're all anxious to make sure
06:58 that we can do our best for those people,
07:00 those unaccompanied minors in particular.
07:03 But I think what we really need is a new approach to this.
07:06 I think it's really, we need a thoughtful approach
07:09 and a lawful approach.
07:11 And the Rwanda approach has been proven so far
07:13 to be neither of those.
07:15 We really do need an approach that actually helps
07:17 with this situation.
07:19 In the Green Party, we're really pushing for,
07:21 firstly, dealing with things at source.
07:24 So really working with countries
07:26 where people are coming to us from,
07:28 either due to issues with climate change or conflict.
07:31 So really trying to increase our international aid budget,
07:34 increase the dialogue that we have
07:36 with the international community in order to prevent
07:38 this happening in the first place,
07:40 but also investing in many more safe routes
07:44 for people to get here if they are genuine asylum seekers.
07:47 And also making sure that we are really,
07:50 sorry, I have a third one,
07:55 that we're really investing in our home office.
07:58 We're investing in our border force.
08:00 At the minute, we've so drastically underinvested in those.
08:03 And I know we're going to talk about the autumn statement later.
08:05 But the underinvestment that we've seen in Kent County Council,
08:08 which we'll talk about, currently really on the rocks,
08:11 looking at possibly filing for bankruptcy
08:14 in a couple of years.
08:15 This kind of situation,
08:17 we're seeing this underfunding of services
08:19 across a whole ream of different public services.
08:22 And the home office is another one of those
08:24 that really needs more support
08:25 to be able to deal with this backlog.
08:27 We can come back to that bankruptcy point
08:29 maybe a little bit later on.
08:30 But I am interested about your view on the Rwanda policy,
08:33 because obviously with Kent being on the front line of this,
08:36 do you think that's the answer?
08:37 I think the government is searching for an answer,
08:41 which actually countries across Europe
08:43 and across the advanced world are.
08:45 And I don't actually agree that it's quite straightforward as,
08:49 for instance, take safe and legal routes.
08:51 There is a case for those, very much so.
08:54 But I don't think that's actually going to address the issue,
08:56 because the range of people who seek to come to Europe,
09:00 including to the UK,
09:02 goes much wider than simply those
09:04 who could be accounted for by a certain number
09:07 of particular routes.
09:09 And I think that's a challenge which Britain faces.
09:11 It's a challenge which other European countries face,
09:14 and indeed others such as the United States as well.
09:16 But the safe and legal routes at least would mean
09:19 that you don't have as many people arriving in Kent
09:22 and coming into Kent care necessarily.
09:24 Well, I'm not sure whether it would mean that,
09:25 because as I say, it's not as though there is a defined group
09:28 of people, and you could say they'll come by this route
09:30 rather than by another.
09:31 Anyone who was not within that particular category
09:36 would probably be finding their way
09:37 by a particular route anyway.
09:39 So I think there are some real challenges for, as I say,
09:42 all advanced countries.
09:43 And whilst I'm actually quite sympathetic to the idea
09:46 that we seek to be preventative,
09:48 we've got to be realistic.
09:49 We are not ultimately the people who can control
09:52 what happens across large parts of the world.
09:54 Very often the biggest number of people who come here,
09:56 for example, are from Afghanistan.
09:58 And clearly our ability to influence what goes on
10:02 within Afghanistan is limited.
10:04 So I think it is a true challenge.
10:07 And I think what I think we do see in terms of the impact now
10:11 on Kent is that had the Rwanda judgment gone the other way,
10:15 had there been the idea that potentially this would have
10:18 an effect on the willingness of people to travel,
10:21 then clearly that would have made a difference.
10:24 There are a lot of ifs in that. We don't know that.
10:25 What we do know is that now that seems much less likely
10:29 and that therefore the number of arrivals,
10:32 which has tended to reduce recently because of the weather,
10:35 is much more likely to be picking up again
10:37 as we get into the spring.
10:38 Hannah, do you think that might be an unintended consequence
10:40 of this week's judgment that we might see a sudden pick up
10:44 in the number of people attempting crossings
10:46 at a time when it is even more dangerous than normal?
10:48 Well, I sincerely hope not.
10:50 But there is always a risk when we aren't giving
10:52 a really clear signal and we haven't got this handled,
10:56 that people don't feel confident that when they make this crossing,
11:00 that there will be a kind of swift processing of them,
11:04 that there will be a swift decision at the other end.
11:06 So I think there is a risk, yes, that that happens
11:09 as a result of this uncertainty that has resulted
11:13 out of this ruling.
11:15 But I do think there's also a question that has to be asked
11:17 by the government that if the plan that you're putting forward
11:21 is one that is requiring you to not only go against
11:24 now the ruling of the Supreme Court,
11:26 but to talk about introduced legislation that might allow us
11:29 to then go against our international obligations
11:31 to things like the European Convention
11:33 or the UN Convention against Torture or the UN...
11:35 I need to be very quick now, sorry.
11:37 But if you're needing to do those things,
11:39 isn't the question, well, is this really the right plan?
11:41 It's time for us to take a short break.
11:43 When we come back, we'll look ahead to the autumn statement
11:45 and we'll come back to that issue of whether or not
11:48 County Council is close to bankruptcy, maybe.
11:51 Stay with us.
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15:07 - Welcome back to the Kent Politics Show live on KMTV.
15:10 Next tonight, Chancellor Jeremy Hunt
15:12 could offer more help to first-time buyers
15:14 and perhaps even a cut to income tax
15:17 in next week's autumn statement.
15:19 He'll be weighing up the options
15:20 with the help of his new number two,
15:21 Sevenoaks MP Laura Trott,
15:24 after her promotion in this week's reshuffle.
15:26 But with Kent councils on a financial knife edge,
15:29 will any cash be found to boost public services?
15:32 Still here with me is Kent County Council Leader,
15:34 Roger Gough and the Green Party's Hannah Temple.
15:38 Roger, I'll start with you again.
15:40 That's the key question, isn't it?
15:42 We always know there's going to be a handout.
15:44 This is probably the last autumn statement
15:46 before a general election.
15:48 Do you think Jeremy Hunt's gonna be more interested
15:49 in giving voters something to celebrate
15:52 rather than necessarily helping out
15:53 council leaders like yourself?
15:55 - Well, I don't have either an inside track
15:58 or a crystal ball on it.
15:59 Clearly every chancellor tries to balance out
16:01 between different priorities, different interests,
16:05 particularly at a time when, as you say,
16:07 we're at this stage in the parliament.
16:09 What we do know is that in local government,
16:12 and Kent is one example, but only one,
16:16 we've been making the case very strongly
16:18 that there are some really severe pressures
16:20 across adult social care, children's services,
16:24 school transport, particularly in special educational needs,
16:27 which are putting real pressures on councils.
16:30 And these are not the councils that went out
16:32 and did very foolish things.
16:34 These are councils which have been seeking
16:36 to do the right thing,
16:37 but are undoubtedly feeling the pressure.
16:38 And we've been making that case to government
16:41 and to the chancellor very strongly.
16:44 - Hannah, what would be your priorities
16:45 for this autumn statement next Wednesday?
16:48 - Well, I have a few things I would love to add in,
16:50 but I'd love to ask a question, Roger,
16:51 about what gives you confidence
16:53 that this government will actually invest
16:56 in local government and councils like KCC?
16:58 Because we've seen that their budgets
17:00 be consistently, consistently cut.
17:02 And I'm sure you know better than anyone
17:04 how much those councils are on their knees
17:06 and how vital those services, those adult services,
17:09 those childcare services are really, really struggling.
17:11 I mean, what gives you confidence
17:13 that any money is going to come towards councils
17:15 like Kent County Council now?
17:18 - Well, the short answer is, of course, we don't know.
17:20 And I didn't say necessarily,
17:22 I had a particular prediction on it.
17:25 What I would say is last year,
17:27 we did actually see a very strong settlement
17:29 for local government from this administration,
17:31 in fact, it was Jeremy Hunt's first autumn statement.
17:36 That followed and was not long after
17:39 the point at which the leader of Hampshire and I
17:40 had raised many of these issues,
17:42 as had other local government leaders.
17:45 So as I say, we will see,
17:46 but certainly what I think is the case
17:48 is that within local government now,
17:51 we see a wide ranging set of pressures
17:53 that go beyond those councils
17:55 who made very big specific mistakes.
17:59 That case is being made very strongly
18:01 by leaders such as myself, and we will have to see.
18:04 But I think one of the points, for instance,
18:06 just a week or two ago,
18:08 a whole number of South East County Council leaders
18:11 wrote to the Chancellor setting out
18:13 that we had specific concerns
18:15 about the pressures we see in children's services
18:18 and seeking to make the case on that.
18:20 So certainly we will see what happens,
18:22 but the case has certainly been made.
18:24 You see, I mean, what's been happening even this week,
18:27 Nottingham Council has said that it's having severe trouble.
18:30 It's a Labour-run council.
18:31 The government immediately points and says,
18:33 well, look what you get from a Labour-run council.
18:34 They've turned this council funding issue
18:36 into a more of a political football,
18:39 which makes Kent and other Conservative-run councils,
18:42 you're kind of an inconvenient truth for the government.
18:44 They don't like that Conservative-run councils
18:47 are struggling because it upsets
18:48 their political narrative, do you think?
18:50 Well, I think government will always respond
18:53 ultimately to the case that's made to them.
18:55 We'll see what response we get,
18:56 but we've certainly sought to make that case.
18:58 And what we see at the moment is that, as I say,
19:00 there have been councils that have made
19:02 some very specific errors,
19:04 and they were some of the earlier ones to go down.
19:08 What we're now at is a place where councils
19:11 that were not in that category
19:13 are really feeling that pressure,
19:14 for the reasons I've said,
19:15 and it's in the big services related to vulnerable people,
19:19 where we're seeing very, very severe cost
19:21 and other pressures.
19:23 And I think that case has been made to government.
19:25 We will see what the response is.
19:27 But I think there is some reason to believe
19:29 that they are listening.
19:30 Hannah, people out there, though,
19:32 they won't be thinking about what money
19:33 will Kent County Council get from this.
19:35 They're still struggling with the cost of living crisis.
19:37 They're looking at, how do I keep as much of my money
19:40 as possible so that I can put the heating on this winter?
19:42 Absolutely, yes.
19:43 In terms of things that need spending,
19:44 I mean, where to begin?
19:46 So many things have been chronically under-invested
19:48 in over the last few decades.
19:49 It's really, really hard to know where to begin.
19:51 But looking at our health services,
19:53 looking at our transport services,
19:54 all of the different strikes that we've seen
19:56 over the last few years,
19:57 this is a signal of services that have been so,
20:00 given so little attention,
20:02 that now the workers within those sectors
20:04 are having almost no choice but to strike
20:06 in order to get just a basic salary
20:08 in order for these things to even function.
20:10 So there are so many different areas that need attention.
20:13 I really do think there are lessons that we can learn
20:15 from things like the US Inflation Reduction Act,
20:17 work that's been done to really invest
20:19 in a green transition.
20:20 Obviously at the Green Party,
20:21 we have a huge plan for investment
20:23 in things like the green transition
20:26 to support the upskilling
20:27 so that we can transition to a different kind of economy
20:30 that actually supports our growth into the future.
20:32 When anyone travels to the UK from elsewhere,
20:35 you see a country on its knees.
20:37 Our roads are broken, our hospitals are broken,
20:39 our schools are collapsing.
20:41 It really is, where do you begin with where to invest in?
20:44 So what I'd love to see from the Chancellor
20:46 is some real demonstration of an understanding
20:49 of the level of crisis that we're in,
20:50 a support for the most vulnerable.
20:52 One thing we haven't talked about
20:54 that has been totally obscured
20:55 by the smoke screen of Rwanda and reshuffling
20:58 is the huge benefit cuts that have been announced.
21:00 So there's been talk of axing workplace assessment criteria
21:04 and the impacts that will have
21:06 on some of the most vulnerable people in this country
21:08 who might be waiting for operations in great deals of pain
21:12 and will be saying that they can't have extra money,
21:14 they need to be going out and proving
21:15 that they're looking for work.
21:16 So I really would love to see a complete shift
21:18 in the priorities of this government.
21:19 But I also would say with a budget at this point,
21:21 when we're so close to a general election,
21:23 no matter what they announce,
21:24 it's going to be very, very limited,
21:26 their scope to actually be able to implement
21:28 and for that to bear fruit before we have a general election.
21:31 But what I would say is that,
21:32 and I don't think fits your narrative, Hannah,
21:34 is something like the Household Support Fund,
21:36 which the government has run over a number of years
21:38 and indeed which we deliver.
21:40 And in fact, we feel we have a very proud record
21:42 in terms of both what we've done
21:43 in deploying our own resources,
21:45 as well as the Household Support Fund,
21:47 which comes via Department of Work and Pensions,
21:49 to actually support many of our most vulnerable residents
21:53 through, particularly as you get into winter
21:55 and some of the pressures that mount
21:57 on people's finances at that time,
21:59 but all through the year and seeking to actually ensure
22:01 that for those residents, there is both better support
22:06 and actually the things we're seeking to build over time,
22:09 such as the more effective referral of people
22:12 between services so they don't fall down
22:14 the cracks between them.
22:16 - Roger, earlier on in the show,
22:17 Hannah said about the financial risk the KCC is under.
22:20 You've been speaking about that for at least a year now
22:23 in quite bleak terms. - And some.
22:26 - There's a big deficit at the moment in the budget,
22:28 a big gap.
22:28 The accusation there was bankruptcy
22:31 within a couple of years.
22:32 I just want to give you a chance to come back on that.
22:34 - Yeah, I mean, what we've said is that we,
22:36 in common with a large number of other local authorities,
22:39 are under pressure.
22:40 And in fact, if you go back to the letter
22:42 that Rob Humby, leader of Hampshire and I wrote last year,
22:45 the case we were really making was to say,
22:47 not these councils are about to disappear,
22:50 but the structures we have and the financial pressures
22:54 we have are not sustainable in the longer run.
22:57 That did, as I say, see in the short run,
23:00 a much better financial settlement from government,
23:02 which was certainly helpful.
23:03 What we haven't achieved yet is a structural change
23:07 that will set local authority finances on a path
23:10 that can be maintained over time.
23:13 We are under pressure, but equally we've responded to that.
23:17 And we've brought forward what we now call
23:18 Securing Kent's Future, which is a whole series of measures
23:22 to seek to ensure that our budgets are sustainable
23:25 within the constraints.
23:27 - Obviously, a euphemism for cuts very often, isn't it?
23:30 And there's been some coverage of that.
23:32 This week, one of them particularly kind of flared up
23:35 for you, didn't it?
23:36 There were recycling centres around Kent
23:38 that were proposed for closure.
23:40 You had six at risk, four would be closed
23:42 to save one and a half million pounds.
23:44 And your own party has rebelled now against that.
23:46 Is that a dead in the water issue?
23:48 - It is certainly not dead in the water
23:50 that we continue to look for savings in that area
23:52 as in all others, because we absolutely have to.
23:56 Yes, there is disquiet about that as indeed,
23:58 but I think one of the challenges we face,
24:00 and everyone will on this, is it is very straightforward
24:03 to say we must save money to ensure that we function,
24:06 continue functioning as a council.
24:08 It gets a lot harder when you get into the specifics.
24:11 But we've set out, as I say, what we call this overall plan
24:14 of securing Kent's future, which quite specifically sets out
24:17 how we will seek to do that.
24:19 And that's across the whole policy waterfront
24:22 that we have to ensure that we can remain
24:24 and continue to deliver services to people in Kent.
24:27 - I want to give you a chance to come in.
24:28 - Thank you.
24:28 Yeah, I mean, it's good to hear,
24:30 and clearly it is right to hear
24:33 that you have been taking every effort that you can
24:35 to advocate for more money from central government
24:37 and to make a case that seems absolutely appropriate.
24:40 But I think the position that this is,
24:42 that there's no choice, there's no choice but to make cuts,
24:44 seems disingenuous because there absolutely
24:47 have been political choices made to cut money
24:49 from local governments, when I think that is absolutely
24:51 the wrong decision.
24:52 I think local governments are the best place
24:54 to make decisions for people in local areas.
24:56 And it seems completely inappropriate that those budgets,
24:59 and I know you managed to secure, as you said,
25:02 a kind of an increase or a better position last time,
25:05 but that's a better position
25:07 than what could have been even, even worse.
25:09 This is, I think the state of our local government budgets
25:11 across the UK is an absolute disgrace.
25:14 And our central government are making conscious
25:16 political choices to not invest in local governments.
25:19 So I think the fact that there is no choice,
25:21 I think is not correct,
25:23 that we need to be pushing central government
25:25 to invest in local governments
25:26 so that they can invest in the local services
25:28 that we all depend on.
25:29 - Well, I certainly won't argue about the importance
25:31 of local government, but the reality is any of us
25:34 who are in leadership positions in local government
25:39 have to deal with the hand that we are dealt.
25:41 And it's worth saying that anything you hear
25:42 from the Labour opposition indicates
25:45 that we are unlikely to see a major change
25:47 in that financial environment
25:49 if there's a change of government.
25:50 So we have to operate within the framework that we have.
25:54 And that's exactly what the plans we've put forward are.
25:56 That's to say, there are some things
25:57 which are beyond our control,
25:59 but it is our responsibility to do everything
26:01 in the areas that is within our control
26:04 to ensure that we can deliver a sustainable future,
26:07 not just for the council,
26:08 but above all for the services that we provide.
26:10 - But you've said tough measures are necessary.
26:11 Can you actually deliver them
26:12 if your own party are backing out?
26:15 - Well, there is a wide range of them.
26:17 And yes, I believe we can.
26:19 And I think that all of us who are in local government
26:22 know that we have a grave responsibility
26:24 to ensure that our council and the councils we lead
26:28 and represent remain continuing to be in operation
26:32 and delivering those services.
26:32 - That's all we have time for, I'm afraid.
26:34 But thank you so much to both of my guests for joining me.
26:37 There's more politics, news, analysis,
26:39 and opinion at Kent Online.
26:41 Just hit the politics tab on the homepage
26:43 and stay with us 'cause Kent Tonight is coming up
26:45 with all of today's news.
26:46 Have a good evening.
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