Hear from candidates standing in the general election, hosted by Gabriel Morris.
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00:00Well, hello and welcome back to KMTV's Medway Election Hustings, brought to you by the KM
00:08Group, KMTV, and our support by our event partner, Maxim, of course, Universities at
00:13Medway. I'm Gabriel Morris and tonight I'll be joined by the candidates for the general
00:17election from Chatham and Aylesford. Now, in the unlikely event, business people in
00:22the room, of course, your exits in case of a fire are the two doors at the back and the
00:28one you entered at the front. And that will take you straight outside. Well, here with
00:33me tonight is Green candidate Kim Winterbottom, Reform candidate Thomas Mallon, Liberal Democrat
00:39candidate Nicholas Chan, and Labour candidate Tristan Osborne. A full list of candidates
00:45in each constituency can be found on Kent Online. Each candidate will have 90 seconds
00:50to give an opening statement and let's start. We've drawn lots. Liberal Democrat candidate
00:55Nicholas Chan, you're up first. Hi, everyone. Firstly, thank you for coming here tonight.
01:01I think it is a privilege to be here to discuss politics honestly in this wonderful democracy
01:07of ours. In my spare time, I actually think politics is very important and Parliament
01:14is also important. In my free time, I sometimes go to a free legal clinic to help with advocacy
01:20on social housing. So I find that it is very nice and very meaningful to be able to advocate
01:31for them and to defend them for a fairer housing policy and for fairer housing living conditions.
01:38But I do also recognise that it is in Parliament where laws can be changed and where policies
01:44can be made so that generations after us can benefit from all these fairer deals. And when
01:51I hear Ed's story, I also relate to his situation, whereby if families are given a fair start
01:58in life, we all get to benefit in the way that we choose to build our families. I was
02:09brought up single-handedly by my mother and there are challenges in mental health, there
02:16are challenges in our family. But when there is an honest policy in government, we get to
02:24live these challenges the way we like. And I think this is a very great honour for us to be here tonight.
02:34I'm afraid you're out of time. We'll go to the Green candidate, Kim Winterbottom, you are next.
02:39Thank you. It's wonderful to be here this evening. This is actually my university campus, so it's
02:43great to be here with so many politically engaged people. Thank you for spending your Monday evening
02:49listening to us talk politics. I'm standing for Chatham and Elsford because I really do
02:54care about this area. This area is where I've raised my children, it's where my friends are,
02:59my life is completely interwoven with what happens here. I've been a member of the Green
03:04Party for many years and absolutely inspired by the amazing progress that we've seen in Tunbridge,
03:11especially with many Green councillors and the wonderful positive changes they've
03:15enabled in their community there. And now with Maidstone Council, which is now being led by a
03:21Green leader, which is just fantastic and shows that there's real Green positivity coming through.
03:27And I think it's about time we started seeing that in this area in Chatham and Elsford.
03:32I really do think that by voting Greens you are voting for real change. I'm a very genuine,
03:38a very honest person, I'm sure that will come through tonight, and I will represent this
03:42constituency properly. Let's go to Labour candidate Tristan Osborne, you're up next.
03:50Yes, hello there, and can I thank also for this hosting this event and so many people for
03:54attending this evening, and can I thank all the candidates as well for coming along and engaging
03:59in this democratic process too. I'm Tristan Osborne, I'm a school teacher by background,
04:05it's similar to my colleague here, I work in secondary school education locally in Medway and
04:11also elsewhere in Kent, and I have a background as a special constable in the police force where
04:16I served for five years for the Metropolitan Police, and before that I worked in a small
04:20business in financial services. I also believe, and my life has been interwoven in this community
04:26as well, I've lived in Medway for 25 years, I was raised here, I was educated here, and I'm really
04:32proud of our community and its diversity and all of its strengths. However, our community has
04:38suffered over the last 14 years, and I think all of us here are looking for a change, and I'm hopeful
04:44that Labour can present that opportunity, because in this area especially we are in need of
04:51improvement, so I'm confident that with our plan for the economy to try and generate a new income
04:57through jobs and encouraging business investment into our community by supporting our hospitals
05:02and our GP surgeries so that we can get more people seen more quickly, which I think families
05:07are crying out for, to support schools where I work and many other people work to ensure that
05:13our students get the best start in life, and to ensure that SEN students are seen quickly and
05:18get the service that they deserve, and also our environment. We know from the pollution in the
05:23River Medway to climate change that there is a future which is at risk, and I believe that
05:29young people especially need that passion, so I'm looking forward to the debate this evening.
05:33Thank you very much.
05:39Hello everyone, again thank you everyone for turning up. I represent the youngest party in
05:45this panel to be honest with you. We hear everyone talking here about change, I represent
05:51reform, the reform party, and we represent change, real change. You can see three people sitting here
05:57today, they're all talking about changing the same thing the same way. We are the reform party, we are
06:03going to reform things, make real changes, make betterments for better people, make lives better,
06:09put more people back in people's pockets, give people money back to spend, grow the economy,
06:14make things better for everyone. That's our policies. Our policy just came out today, there was a
06:19big announcement by Nigel, if you haven't seen it it's online, you can get that, download that,
06:25but our policies are pretty much for people of this country to make better lives, create jobs,
06:32create wealth, and make the standard of living much better. In the last 14, 15, maybe 20 years
06:39the standard of living in this country has got lower and lower and lower. GDP per capita has
06:45fallen in the last six months constantly, making everyone poorer and poorer and poorer, and that's
06:51why at the reform party we want to change things for the better, and we will tell you how we will
06:56change it in our fully costed manifesto, our contract for you, the people of Great Britain.
07:02Well thank you to all the candidates for your opening statement, just to remind everyone we did invite the
07:09Conservatives, Nathan Gainster is the candidate here for Chettham and Ellsworth, and also just
07:15to remind the light with the previous two hustlings we've had this evening, there is the opportunity
07:19for questions from the audience, simply just raise your hand if you do have a question and my colleague
07:23Abby will be able to take it. Well let's start with a question on health, Chettham and Ellsworth face
07:30significant health inequalities and an immense pressure on health services, what changes are
07:36needed locally to alleviate these issues and reduce waiting times? I'll go to you first Kim.
07:41So the NHS is something that the Green Party are really passionate about, we are absolutely
07:46committed to fully funding the NHS and that isn't just our hospitals, it goes hand in hand with
07:53our social care, you've asked about specifically local issues and I'm seeing this a lot with GP
07:59surgeries where people cannot get appointments, they're ridiculous situations where they're
08:04having to wait outside at eight o'clock in the morning to get an appointment, this has all
08:09happened intentionally by the Conservatives who have changed the way that the budgets are managed
08:14for GPs, so they are having to manage these, they're bogged down by a lot of admin, we will
08:19change that and that will only come from real investment in our GP surgeries, we're aware that
08:26nobody can get NHS dentists, we're committed to ensuring that people do have access to NHS dentists
08:31and of course our hospitals where there is so much investment that needs to be brought in to
08:37bring us up to scratch to be on equal footing with our European counterparts,
08:41it all comes from investment which is fully funded and fully costed. And Thomas over to you.
08:48The problem we seem to have with the NHS at the moment a lot of people don't talk about is staff
08:53retention and that would need to be looked at, what we've got is a problem with doctors, nurses,
09:00skilled care staff leaving the NHS system, moving abroad, going to America, Australia, Canada,
09:08because the pay let's face it is better, so we have to give our doctors, our nurses and our care
09:13staff a fairer pay, a better pay, a pay that might make them stay. Our policy is scrapping university
09:20loans, scrapping the interest on them loans also to try and make people stay. If you've got a
09:28doctor's or a nurse's degree and you want to stay in this country every year you stay in the NHS,
09:35we will cancel that year of your student loan. If you stay for 10 years we will scrap every single
09:40penny of your student loan to try and keep that retention, because what seems to be happening is
09:45doctors and nurses, I don't know if we've got any in the room, what they'll do they'll stay for a
09:50couple of years, get degrees and then they'll leave, they'll go further afield and then move where the
09:55money is. So what we have to do is retention, staff retention, treat the staff better.
10:01Nicholas. Well first of all I want to thank every health profession here in Chatham Health,
10:06Medway and beyond for your dedicated service in the NHS. We couldn't have gone through the pandemic
10:13or any other pandemic without you going to work every day in your lives and I really remembered
10:20that when I was in the A&E just about a year ago. I really remember that because it was
10:27my anniversary last year and I accidentally cut my finger and NHS staff were dedicated there to
10:34patch me up. I know you all have worked very hard because it was a three hours wait and four hours
10:41wait. I'm not complaining but I do see the problem that you face and the pressure that you have in
10:47in the healthcare system. So the Liberal Democrats are here to give you confidence.
10:51We will put 8,000 health professionals back into the community so that community from the ground
10:59up, from the GPs, they get treated and so that you will not be burdened for example in the
11:05secondary healthcare or A&E service and we'll do a cross-party debate to get an honest system
11:12whereby NHS and social care are combined together so that we get the best healthcare system in the
11:18world. Thank you. Tristan. Yeah so I'm going to take you back to 2012 when the Olympic Games started
11:25and I remember when I watched the opening ceremony the NHS was was made centre stage of our country
11:31as the sort of pinnacle of one of the great British achievements and since that date my goodness
11:37how much has changed and the speakers on this panel are absolutely correct it absolutely has
11:43deteriorated and if the Conservatives were here tonight I'd actually ask him to justify that
11:48record. Why is it that people going into A&E now 60% only are seen within four hours but four in
11:55ten people are not? Why is it that people are not seeing their GPs when in 2010 nearly everyone was
12:00seen within 48 hours and why is it social care is struggling and this is not just because of the
12:06pandemic, honourable as the staff were, this was happening before then as well and the staff
12:11Moran in the NHS has taken a real hit so the NHS is something that Labour created and yes we
12:18absolutely need to invest in it and we've made a commitment in our manifesto to 40,000 extra
12:23appointments every week to put money into NHS dentistry which is a Cinderella service to invest
12:29in an extra three and a half thousand mental health nurses because mental health is not given
12:34the focus that it needs and all of that money has been ring fenced from attacks on non-doms
12:40who at the moment are getting away with not paying their fair share and look this is going to be a
12:4510-year journey we absolutely need a workforce strategy as my colleague has suggested here
12:50and this is all fully costed within our manifesto. Once again I tell people that you can trust Labour
12:56with the NHS, we delivered it before and we will deliver it again, thank you.
13:05Well let's move over to the first audience question of the night, just remember if you'd
13:09like to ask a question yourself all you need to do is raise your hand but Abi,
13:12first audience question for Chatham and Elsford. Okay we've got Matthew here with a question.
13:17Hello, it's good to see a consensus in the room about the challenges that the NHS is facing
13:23you know and resolve this but without adequate investment well you're simply managing the
13:31decline it's rather than reversing the decline you know we've seen record amounts of funding
13:36being pulled out of the NHS you know under the guise of real time well it's been real real terms
13:42pay cuts to and investment cuts by the Tories over the last 14 years but it needs record investment
13:50which you know is going to cost money. What are your part what's it your respective parties going
13:56to do to raise the amount of funds needed to reverse the decline in the NHS and other public
14:01services rather than just manage the decline? Let's go to Thomas first.
14:10Well first thing we could say is we do have fairly costed plans on how we could fund a lot
14:17of things one of them being the NHS. The EU red tape that we're still tied to since 2015 has cost
14:27this country 146 billion pounds since 2015. If we can cut that red tape and like we have in our
14:34manifesto we would leave the ECHR, leave Europe properly, do Brexit for real this time. We would
14:40have that money to put back into the NHS like we already have put money back in the NHS.
14:47The amount of money going into the NHS at the moment is the most it's ever been but we do have
14:52a plan we can put that money back in there. We have fully costed manifesto it's all in there
14:58like I say the savings, green savings, you can save 20 billion pounds a year scrapping subsidies
15:06for green energy. So there is money to be put into the NHS if required and it is a main priority
15:14for us to keep the NHS alive because it's the lifeblood of this country. We do need that NHS.
15:26First off as far as I'm aware ECHR has nothing to do with Brexit, you know it's a different
15:31body and secondly you were talking about you know getting rid of basically efforts to tackle the
15:37climate change. No I never said that. You just said 20 billion. Subsidies, subsidies for green
15:44energy. So you're putting words in my mouth now, thank you. So what you're saying is you know
15:50frustrating attempts to go towards. Again you're putting words in my mouth again. What I said is
15:56we are paying energy companies subsidies for green energy, companies that do not need these
16:02subsidies. They are fully fully costed companies that make profits. They have shareholders, they do
16:09not need subsidies. Why should we give subsidies to our shareholder private companies from the
16:14taxpayers pocket that just go straight in the stakeholders pockets? Well we've only got a
16:19hour's time so I'm going to bring Nicholas into this. Well to fix the NHS is going to take some
16:25time. We have to be honest about that but we the Liberal Democrats do have a fully costed plan
16:31whereby we will reverse the tax cut from the Conservative on big banks and put that money
16:38five billion pounds of it into social care and NHS. And when it comes to research to answer
16:43your question, we really need diversity and we really really really need to work with like-minded
16:49partners around the world and especially in Europe. So the Liberal Democrats will also
16:55want to enhance the horizon plan whereby there is youth mobility, come over to do research,
17:01and we also get professions to share knowledge with our like-minded partners. In this way we
17:07can build our reputation for the NHS system. We can build our reputation in our university,
17:13give confidence back to the NHS staff. I'm sure NHS staff up and down the country do not go into
17:19work because they want to strike, they really want the opportunity to serve the community and
17:26we see that their dedication in their professions throughout the pandemic. So we will give this
17:33confidence, we will give healthcare the professions that they need to serve the community.
17:44Yeah so your question is absolutely correct because of course the economy has struggled
17:49and without extra revenue from the economy it's very difficult to invest in the NHS in the
17:54capacity that is needed with the demographic pressures. But in my answer earlier I gave you
17:59some indication, so let's reverse back. Some people might remember that similar arguments were
18:03happening in 1997 with waiting lists that were 18 months, with hospitals that were falling apart,
18:09with half the estates in the NHS owned older than the NHS itself. And the reality is over 14 years
18:15the NHS was transformed. Staff morale was at its highest in 2010 and patients were seen within 18
18:22weeks, 18 weeks for cancer referrals and we saw 48 hour appointments for GPs. So the way you do
18:29this is fourfold. First of all you need a workforce strategy, you need to understand where your
18:33population demographics are, you need to be able to appoint and train the appropriate number of
18:38doctors and nurses and retain them in the NHS. Second of all you do need to invest in the
18:43services that are such as mental health. We've indicated an extra three and a half thousand
18:49mental health professionals and also invest in NHS dentistry so that people then choose to opt
18:55into the service. Thirdly we've also been looking at ways of getting people, as has been mentioned
19:01before, but closer relationships with the European Union so that we can get staff to come across from
19:06other European Union countries to work in our NHS. There is a proud tradition of diversity in our NHS
19:12and I think that's something which should be celebrated. And just lastly we've indicated that
19:16we would fund a large proportion of this similar to other proposals through a non-DOM tax where we
19:22would remove the loopholes on that. But you're absolutely right we need to grow the economy
19:27because without growing the economy you can't redistribute money into the National Health
19:31Service. And just lastly on social care I absolutely agree with you that we need a cross-party consensus
19:37on this and if the Tory candidate were here I would ask why in 2009 when all parties tried
19:43to get around the table they decided to call it a death tax and play games with this and
19:47the reality is is that because we've not resolved social care many of the issues are still present
19:53in our NHS and I would agree that a cross-party after the elections to sit down and look at this
19:58issue seriously is absolutely needed. Thank you.
20:07So I think the question was about investment. So I mean the Green Party has been really clear
20:13those with the broadest shoulders should be the ones to help to raise the rest of the society up.
20:19We are going to tax the super rich. We are going to be taxing assets worth over 10 million pounds
20:27at one percent and assets of two billion at two percent. One billion over two percent sorry.
20:37We have a fully costed manifesto okay and the NHS is really important to us. This is the
20:43monetary investment that is where we were putting this money into our services also into paying
20:49fairer wages. It's absolutely diabolical the way that junior doctors are treated and the way that
20:55our NHS staff have been so under supported and undervalued. It seems that other people's solution
21:02to having these lower waiting lists is by making people work on their weekends and to have to be
21:08working overtime to make up their wages and we don't think that's right. We do think we do need
21:13to employ more people in the NHS. It's not just about investing money though it's also investing
21:21in research and looking at prevention for the NHS. Preventing through social care which has
21:27already been covered here by my colleagues that we they need to go hand in hand. There's so many
21:33people in hospitals that don't need to be there because the social care isn't available. There are
21:37currently 150,000 social care staff vacancies that need filling and we need to we need to
21:45prioritise this. It's not going to work otherwise. The research element is really important and
21:52having better screening so that we're catching any illnesses sooner which will obviously limit the
22:00the amount of the NHS services that are going to be required but going back to the investment
22:06the Greens are very clear that it should be the super wealthy that help to support our NHS system.
22:16And let's go back to the audience for another question. Okay we have Patrick here.
22:21We've talked a lot about investment into the NHS but how are we going to make sure that
22:26the NHS is attractive and that we're prioritising doctors trained here instead of from elsewhere?
22:34I will go to Nicholas first. Well first of all I will repeat again we need to give confidence to
22:41the staff so that once they are in the job they will have the confidence to stay and they will
22:47have the confidence to go into work every day. In terms of you mentioned attracting staff do you say?
22:57Yes. I would say my colleague here has just mentioned Labour has brought in
23:07the NHS service but in reality the Liberal Party has also brought in different kinds of social
23:15welfare system and social care system throughout the years. This is something that parties will
23:21need to sit together and to give confidence as a whole. We cannot go back into the years whereby
23:30we find faults in each other. We just need to work together to give the confidence
23:36as a whole as a system because this is something that we need to progress.
23:40It is something as a public health service, it is something of a public sector that
23:44will give confidence to staff. Tristan? Yes that's a really good question and
23:51there are different ways of looking at the answer so if I can give you some examples.
23:55So firstly I think having multi-year pay settlements which is something which Labour
23:59is committed to across the public sector. We did that when we were in government and it gave
24:04certainty to staff and unions where they knew what salary increments were going to be each year
24:11and that was negotiated over a period of time and that would give certainty to staff around
24:15where their salary remuneration was. Flexible working is also very important so many people
24:22who work in the NHS might have families and they might want to work flexibly so trying to get them
24:28to use the skills that they have in a different way I think is also important. In fact across all
24:32of our employment sector that is a critical difference now, people might not want to work
24:36full five-day weeks anymore and I think we need to be reflective of that. Changes in technology too,
24:41so we can use technology now to interface with GPs in a different way and I think we need to
24:46be promoting that type of technology so that where people can they might not need to go into a GP
24:51surgery, they could use teams or other types of technologies which could then speed up the ability
24:56of that GP to see more patients. Fourthly we could look at ways of promoting cross-working,
25:04so what I mean by that is that we could look at our primary pharmacy teams that were in the
25:11community and give them more powers to perhaps treat certain conditions, give community nurses
25:16more powers, give them faculty to actually do the work that they can do if they're given the
25:20appropriate training, but it does come down to money and once again I will say that our commitments,
25:26in our manifesto, is for an additional three and a half thousand mental health nurses which
25:31mental health at the moment is a serious issue which needs to be taken seriously both in education
25:35but in our policing as well and then also 40,000 extra appointments a week with some of those
25:41technological changes. I believe that the NHS could be where we were in 2010, a service transformed,
25:48morale high and in 2012 celebrated the Olympic Games. We are not there today, this debate is
25:54where we were in 1997. I believe we can change that debate but only with the Labour government
25:59will we get that. I think what's really important is that we are truly valuing our NHS staff and
26:11that is not happening at the moment. It was heartbreaking to see how much effort was put in
26:16by the NHS staff who were risking their lives during Covid and it was completely shunned by
26:21the government. They didn't recognise and they didn't give them the pay uplift that they deserve.
26:29I think that we don't treat our NHS staff as the valuable employees that they should be treated.
26:35I think our first priority is to listen to the NHS staff. There's a lot of politicians telling
26:42people what they need and what you need to do but actually listen to them. Unions are there
26:47to represent staff and unfortunately the current government has taken away the rights that unions
26:56have and they've tried to stop people striking and that's not the way forward. The way forward
27:01is to have this open dialogue, find out what the issues are with the people, why they are no longer
27:07enjoying their working life and listening to them on the pay uplift that they need to be able to
27:13feel valued. I think that's the crucial statement is to make sure we're listening to people and
27:19opening that discourse.
27:23Let's go to Thomas now.
27:25Yeah again an NHS issue, I mean it is a big priority to reform and the NHS does need reform.
27:32But first of all let's start with pharmacy first, GP second, A&E last. Let's take the pressure off
27:40those front front line doctors and nurses. Let's ask the pharmacist why you've got a cold and not
27:45go to A&E with a sniffle. You know let's let's try there. Also on getting members of staff in,
27:53I don't believe if anyone actually covered that, but what our policy is at the moment the
27:57Conservative Party have some glass ceiling. We can only train so many doctors and so many
28:03nurses in this country at the moment. So why has this got a glass ceiling and then we have to import
28:08more staff because we can't train our own. Let's smash the glass ceiling, let's train as many
28:13doctors and nurses in universities and colleges as we can. I don't see why that should be a problem.
28:18It shouldn't be a problem in this country so let's do that. Also our incentive, doctors and nurses
28:25and care workers in this country will not pay tax for the first three years of service, for the first
28:31three years, no tax whatsoever. And like I said earlier on, I touched on, your doctors and nurses
28:38are paying a lot of money in tuition fees, a lot of money. So what we would say again is we scrap
28:45interest on all universities, not just for doctors and nurses, all universities, no interest to be
28:51paid at all, that gets scrapped straight away. But for doctors, nurses and health care staff,
28:57what we will say for every year, pro rata, you work for the NHS, we will take off one year of
29:03your college or university degrees. That should bring more people into the NHS and retain the staff
29:11and that's the point.
29:16Health care proving to be a big issue tonight. It seems we've got another question from the
29:19audience. Abi. Okay we've got Jeremy here with a question on the climate. My question goes to
29:25Tris Osborne. You happen to say in your opening speech that climate change is a serious issue
29:31and I happen to agree with you on that. And I was disappointed to see at a time when banks
29:37and oil and gas companies are making billions in record profits, why Labour has made the decision
29:42to row back investment to tackle climate change. And that question goes to the other parties too,
29:49is what are your plans to address climate change? And we will go to Tris first. Yeah,
29:54so thank you very much and absolutely I did mention that in my opening. I teach geography
30:01and conservation, I teach climate change to secondary school children and to me the council
30:06that I'm a cabinet member on has really emphasised our green credentials, which is why we're opening
30:11new parks, why we've looked at a public transport strategy. But more on the, in terms of our
30:17national agenda, in fact it appears in our opening small steps, what we want to introduce is a
30:23fundamental shift in how we deal with green issues. So we will tax, we would have a proper
30:28windfall tax on oil and gas companies and we will invest in infrastructure around green technologies
30:34such as wind farms, solar panels and we will transition away from the oil economy, which we
30:41need to do for energy security. And we've committed to effectively introducing electric vehicles over
30:47the next 10 years as well. So we are going to be transitioning. All countries, by the way,
30:52are doing this around the world and we will do so on an international basis. We will work with
30:57our partners around the world because we accept that the climate is changing and that it's going
31:03to have a profound impact, not only on our weather and our climate, but also on refugee movements
31:09and migration in the future. And so we need a party that is absolutely committed to that.
31:14Look, the economy is not in a good place at the present time. I would love to be able to sit here
31:19and make lots of commitments around our financial position, but the reality is that since Brexit
31:27and since Covid, the economy has not been growing as fast as our nearest partners. And as a result
31:33of that, we have to be quite frugal with the finances in terms of where we are committed to
31:37that spend. So we will invest in the green technologies of the future. We will innovate.
31:43We will look at infrastructure to promote public transport and we will work with local councils
31:49to deliver green agendas, but we will do so in a costed way, taking people with us and not against
31:55us. And so whether that takes slightly longer, that would be the decision that was made. But
32:00there is a commitment to delivering this agenda. It is clear in our manifesto and it is centre
32:06stage of our manifesto as well. But I appreciate the question and yeah, absolutely, it's a topic
32:11which comes close to my heart. Thank you. Let's go to Kim.
32:17Okay, so obviously the Green Party. Climate change is a huge issue for us and it permeates all of our
32:24manifesto. It is every aspect of our lives where we can work towards reducing our emissions and
32:31supporting our environment. We will be phasing out fossil fuels, that needs to happen. We won't
32:38be doing that immediately. We recognise that we don't want to put people into more financial
32:42hardship, but we do need to move towards a society that's built on renewables. We'll be making sure
32:49that our energy is in public hands, so we haven't got these organisations making lots and lots of
32:55money. We'll be supporting better public transport to reduce the carbon footprint that way. We'll be
33:02looking at our agriculture and making sure that farmers are supported in providing farming in a
33:07way that is environmentally friendly. It's a huge issue and unless we really get to grips with this,
33:14it's going to be detrimental for many generations to come. We have the technology there. We are
33:21able to make changes now, but unfortunately there's too much investment with private companies
33:27that are wanting to stop us from making these necessary changes. We are absolutely committed to
33:34looking after our environment.
33:40Let's go to Thomas. Yeah, again another big subject is climate change. No one's denying
33:46it's happening. It definitely is happening. So what we have to do is use technology. We need to
33:53fund technology, use technology as it comes over the horizon, use all the new technologies we can.
33:58Also, we've got to be energy safe, energy secure in this country, where a war in Ukraine put
34:04everyone's energy bills up by 20 percent almost, and then some. So what we've got to do is great
34:11British energy, use our own energy supplies, stop relying on foreign overseas energy companies. So
34:17we've got to be energy secure in this country, then we can tackle the climate change issue
34:22for ourselves and for the rest of the planet obviously.
34:27So we are totally committed to net zero by 2040, and as well 90 percent of the energy that we use
34:35come from renewable sources by 2030. These are the commitments that we want to keep,
34:40and these are the commitments that we want to be committed to, because business and industries
34:47want stability before they will invest. So when we start small, we will also provide free
34:53insulation to anyone who is under cost of living crisis or in social housing, because nobody should
35:00have energy poverty. So the Liberal Democrats will make sure homes up and down the country are
35:06well insulated, the way that people can afford. And in terms of fracking, we'll make sure that
35:14fracking doesn't exist anymore. We'll stop fracking as well as we'll stop more additional oil license
35:22to be pumped out in this country. The reason is that when you pump oil, or if you do just fracking
35:31in the UK, this oil that you pump up from the ground doesn't just go into your car, it doesn't
35:37just go into the power plants, because we need new refineries. And if we go back to the old
35:43technologies whereby it's polluting, why don't we have let's say renewable or better technologies
35:50whereby it's already available in this country. Oswald PV, for example,
35:55has an efficiency rate of 28% in their solar energy panels. So we want to give these
36:04companies in the UK the confidence to do more research and the confidence that they can invest
36:09in the country for energy security in the country. Thank you all for your answers on that. We're
36:18going to another audience question now. Don't forget if you have one yourself,
36:22put your hand up and Abby will come and find you. Okay, we've got Beverley here with a question.
36:29Thank you. Now we have a real skills shortage locally in industry and manufacturing. The
36:36average age of a technical engineer, a technician, is in the mid-50s. For example, the Thames
36:43Crossing at Northfleet had a crisis shortage identifying underwater pike welders. How do
36:50you intend to address these skills shortages to enable our industry and manufacturing to grow?
37:01And we'll come to Kim first. Okay, so I think there's skills shortages across many different
37:08industries actually. We are an ageing population and we need more people coming here and we need
37:16to fill these things. It starts with education, you know, being able to free up our education
37:22system to allow people to train in practical industry as well as pursuing more academic
37:30education. There's no easy answer for this but fundamentally we don't have enough people to be
37:41able to do these jobs and I think it comes down to allowing more freedom of movement to be able to
37:47to have our workforce back to where it should be.
37:49And Thomas. In one word, apprenticeships. The Great British Apprenticeship seems to be a thing of the past. It's gone
38:02obsolete so there's almost three million people at the moment that are inactive. There's people
38:08leaving schools at the moment and they don't have a career path set out for them. So what we would do
38:14is apprenticeships, start training young engineers, start training young bricklayers, start training
38:19people to be your plumber, to be your carpenter, to be your electrician. Train people, give them
38:24apprenticeships and what we would do to incentivise that is give companies tax breaks. That way these
38:30companies can take these young people on, give them a good life skill, give them a good chance at life
38:36so they can go and earn money for themselves, their families, put them on the market to get a house,
38:42you know, and the way the market's going at the moment for rents, mortgages. If you've got an
38:48apprenticeship and you've got a trade, you can be guaranteed a good house, let's be honest.
38:54So apprenticeships is the way. What we've done with our young in the last 15 years under the
39:00Tory government is let people just rock, let's be honest. They haven't given people the incentive
39:06to get an apprenticeship, to get on that ladder, to get working. So we would give that people
39:11incentive, let's get people out working, let's get Britain moving again.
39:18Nicholas. One of the wonderful things in Metway is that we have the Metway Youth Conference
39:25and at the Metway Youth Conference I met many bright future students and bright future
39:33labour forces in Metway and they come to me, apart from university courses that they are
39:39looking forward to, they also want apprentices to be staying here in Metway and for example
39:45Chatham Docks. Chatham Docks actually offers one of the highest paid apprenticeship programmes
39:52in this country. They are above the normal apprenticeship paid wages and these are the
39:58kind of businesses that we want to have a conversation with to find out what their
40:03difficulties are and to allow them to grow their business here. And of course this includes
40:12having a good relationship with our trading partners for Europe. Kent College, by the way,
40:16was built from European Union funds. So these are the partnerships that we need to give
40:22confidence to our youth apprenticeship for those who like it, degree programmes here in
40:29this wonderful university campus for people who want to go to university. And Metway Youth
40:36knows best because they provided a very good youth conference for all of us to go to and listen to them.
40:46Yeah, so just absolutely this is a critical question. As somebody who works in education
40:50myself, teaching the skills to the next generation is really, really crucial. Just to correct
40:56the point though, Mid Kent College was opened under a Labour government previously and it was funded
41:00by that Labour government directly and we see that in investment in some of the new schools in
41:05Medway including Victory Academy and Brompton as well where there was investment. And firstly
41:11it does start at school. It's ensuring that we have those six and a half thousand extra teachers
41:16teaching maths to our children, making sure that we get that investment into primary and
41:22secondary education and we will do that through increasing VAT on private school fees. Second of
41:28all it is also about supporting our college system and as we did in the 2000s by through
41:35the apprenticeship programmes that we set up then, Mid Kent College having the diversity of courses
41:40that it needs and allowing those students from across Medway to get placements in employers
41:46of choice and I think that is absolutely critical and we do that also by investing in the future.
41:53So what Labour has placed is a national wealth fund where we will identify priority areas of
41:58investment in the future. So the green agenda, the great British energy project where we will
42:05invest in green technologies. That is something which is going to be over the next 15, 20, 30 years.
42:10So we can train our young people to go into those industries of the future. Retrofitting buildings
42:16is also going to be an industry of the future. So what we need to do as a country is better plan
42:21what do we need over the next 10, 20, 30 years and then allow those students to go into those
42:27training courses to deliver that and what with Labour we will have a policy around that. We will
42:33absolutely have a national wealth fund to invest in these training and in the infrastructure.
42:39We will identify where we want to go and we will partner with business to deliver on these
42:44initiatives but it's not as simple as simply saying have more apprenticeships. Many people
42:49in apprenticeships go on to other things, they fall out of apprenticeships. You have to have
42:53something which is in the future and just lastly we need to have a good working relationship not
42:58only with business but with trade unions as well to ensure that all our young people are given a
43:02fair wage when they give a day's work. Thank you.
43:12Okay we'll go to the next question now. Politics is sometimes about making hard decisions.
43:17What is one policy that is unpopular but you think should be pursued because it's the right
43:22thing to do? We'll come to Thomas Mann and Reform UK first. Do you mean our policies or someone else's
43:28policies? Your policy. My policies? I think our policies are great thank you or I wouldn't be
43:35representing the party. Our policies are great why would I pick holes in them? Why would I represent
43:42a party and then pick a hole in the policies?
43:51Well I would say it's not because the policy is bad or good but whether the policy is attractive
43:58and I sometimes find foreign policies written in manifesto get kicks to the back of
44:04kicks to the back page because we will we are more keen on talking about local politics
44:11or domestic policy but foreign policies are just as important especially in the challenging regimes
44:17that we see in these times of China or Russia going about challenging our way of life and
44:26the British values. So I would like more opportunities to be able to discuss these
44:34foreign policies with residents because these are what matters to us. I know that
44:41each of us as candidates will want to defend ourselves in our respective party but I do
44:48recognize not everything good is under labour. Every political party in parliament has the
44:55opportunity to present their bills and scrutinize the bills. The Liberal Democrats has also put
45:01fair wages and also fair work pay in through private members bill. So every policy is good
45:09as long as we have honest scrutiny and we have honest discussion with residents about it.
45:17Just going to clarify this question just if there's any doubt today is that
45:21unpopular decisions that might have to be taken by a party?
45:25Thomas would you want to come back on that at all? Sorry say again? Would you want to come back
45:29on that at all or would you have enough opportunity to answer that or do you want to keep your answer
45:32how it was? Well you asked me what would I scrutinize and what would I pick holes in in my own party's
45:36policies. If I was to pick holes in my own party's policies I may as well be wearing these rosettes
45:41here because I don't have any holes to pick in our policies. I mean if you've read it yourself
45:46you would think wow that's pretty great. Tristan Osborne for the Labour Party.
45:50Yeah so a policy of ours will be unpopular with criminals so not all it will be the 13,000 extra
45:59police officers that we plan to put on the streets for neighbourhood policing. I can imagine
46:0313,000 extra officers will not go down well amongst a certain population of people who have
46:09been getting away with it under the Conservatives. Of course crime under Labour went down by 40%
46:15in our 13 years in office and I can assure you investing in our police and our enforcement
46:21capabilities will also see crime decline and I think that will be very popular with some but
46:27not popular with everyone especially those who are getting away with it at the moment.
46:31I don't think people understand the question.
46:34Okay I think a particularly contentious policy is around immigration and the Green Party are
46:41advocating for safe routes for migrants and for refugees and making sure that there's proper
46:47processing that are happening in bordering countries to war-torn countries and within
46:55Europe. This happens by working with Europe. We have an issue at the moment where people
47:00are dying and it's absolutely inhumane the way we are treating refugees at the moment.
47:07There's so many people dying in the seas and crossing many borders. Now this doesn't happen
47:13here, this isn't just a problem here, this is a problem across the world especially with
47:19the changing climate where more people are now having to move out of their safe environments
47:24because there are droughts and obviously because of lots of conflict around the world. We seem to
47:30have this image in our country that we're the only ones that are supporting other people in
47:34other countries and we're really not. Other people in all over Europe and all around the world are
47:38supporting that migration. Migration has always happened and we need it. We are a country,
47:45we're an island that has been built on migration and it's really useful for us.
47:51But unfortunately I don't think everybody quite understands that you can't just stop boats in the
47:58sea. You can't. You have to work. You have to work in a humane way. You have to work with
48:04the European neighbours. You have to. There are many borders between us and these
48:11countries that are being fled from. And we need to make sure that we have good working
48:16relationships and that people are processed properly so that people are treated in a humane
48:21way. Well, wait a minute. I thought the question was, what was your change about your own policies?
48:30It wasn't. It was, sorry, this is, and you've proved my point, not everybody agrees with this policy.
48:42Well, what one's that? The one I've just described. What one's that? Can you not remember?
48:46Can I not remember? It's the one where we're working with European
48:49countries to enable that there's safe routes of passage and other European countries.
48:54Yeah, we can work with European countries. That's not a problem. Have you read the manifesto?
48:58It only came out today. Unfortunately, I was a working nanny.
49:01Well, it's actually been online for the past four months. You could have read it.
49:04Your contract was today, I believe. It's been out for four months.
49:09Okay, let's move it on. We've got another question from the audience, Abi.
49:14Okay, we have a question from Monica on a different topic here.
49:18Slightly different topic, carrying on from, I beg your pardon, I forget your name, sorry.
49:23Tris Osborne.
49:23Tris. Tris. Tris. You were mentioning about the police, sorry.
49:29I'm sorry, I'll hold it.
49:30Is that okay?
49:30Yeah, yeah, yeah.
49:31You were mentioning about the police and increasing the number of policing,
49:35bringing it back further towards the Medway and the local area.
49:40I have actually been an advocate for domestic abuse and, unfortunately,
49:46have had to represent action against the police on numerous occasions,
49:53specifically with regards to Kent Police and the Medway Police.
49:59I'd like to ask the whole of the panel how we can avoid the corruption, misogyny,
50:05violence against women and girls, and victim blaming within the Kent Police
50:13and specifically inclusive of the Police and Crime Commissioner, Matthew Scott,
50:19who they all work as a community, as a conglomerate,
50:24and they mark their own homework, including the IOPC.
50:28Just before we start to answer, I just want to point out that Matthew Scott and Kent Police
50:32aren't here to answer your point, but to keep it fair, going to audio answer,
50:35I'm going to go to Nicholas Chang now for the Liberal Democrats,
50:37then we'll come to Tris afterwards.
50:39Well, the Kent Police provides a vital police force that we all need,
50:44for example, to tackle knife crimes in the high street.
50:48They are really one of our line of defence,
50:51and we need to properly fund police forces the way that they need,
50:57and to give proper training to deal with different kinds of scenarios that they may face.
51:03About Police Crime Commissioner, the Liberal Democrats want to abolish Police Crime Commissioner
51:10because we want to put this budget into better anti-corruption practice,
51:15and we want to put this money into police liaison officers,
51:19whereby they get proper intelligence from the community
51:23and proper care to domestic victims,
51:26because these are the ground rules that they need to follow.
51:33On the ground officers, whereby they can talk to families who are victims of crime.
51:38So that's why we would like to actually abolish the Police Crime Commissioner framework
51:44and to put a better practice through anti-corruption forces and police liaison officers.
51:52But I would refrain from labelling police officers as bad,
51:57because I do have respect for them.
51:59They are really our line of defence.
52:02They rush into hostilities when every one of us can run away from it.
52:14First of all, thank you for your advocacy.
52:18The issues that you mentioned are extremely serious,
52:20and obviously you have spent your time advocating on behalf of victims,
52:25and my heart goes out to people who do feel that they are treated badly,
52:31and I support anyone who wants to advocate on their behalf and representing them.
52:35So thank you, first of all.
52:39Of course, in my own party, Dory, Lawrence and others in the past did exactly the same,
52:45where they identified cultures within organisations which did need to be changed.
52:50They served to shine a torch on some of those inappropriate cultures.
52:54Now, since there have been reforms, it may be too slow,
53:02and clearly if there is identified problems within any force or any institution in the public sector,
53:08there absolutely needs to be a close scrutiny of that to ensure that that improves.
53:14My general point on policing, however,
53:16is that people feel in our communities at the moment that antisocial behaviour is not dealt with.
53:2290% of crimes that are reported to police at the moment don't actually see a charge or an outcome.
53:28Many people call the service and don't get an adequate response, and the address is poor.
53:32So there does need to be a systemic, this is across the country,
53:36change in the way that policing works.
53:39Taking the police with us, because they're a respected organisation
53:42and professionals working within it as well, do so for the right reasons.
53:48I think they are, largely by the bulk of people in society.
53:53What we want to do is increase their numbers so that we get the same proportion as we had in 2010.
53:58The population has gone up, but the number of police officers has not gone up proportionately.
54:03We want an additional 13,000, if I can finish.
54:08I'm working in a classroom, sometimes I'm used to interruptions, so that's absolutely fine,
54:12but 13,000 additional officers.
54:15We also want to give support to councils as well,
54:17such as my own, to be able to enforce differently as well,
54:20such as using PSPOs, public space protection orders,
54:25community protection notices and warnings,
54:26and also restorative justice, where people who do small crimes,
54:31in the sense of, do they have to have a custodial sentence?
54:34Could they go back into the community to clear the graffiti, to improve the parks,
54:40to do those sorts of restorative justice projects?
54:43And we need to have a probation service that works as well.
54:46But I could talk about criminal justice overall.
54:50Ultimately, we need to support our policing, and we need more police officers,
54:54and that's a commitment that we've made in our manifesto.
54:56I heard Tris talk a lot about police justice and crime,
55:06and all of those things are really important, but to go back to your question,
55:09which was around the treatment of women especially,
55:12I didn't think I'd come here and agree with something
55:15that someone from Reform was going to say today,
55:17but I absolutely, wholeheartedly,
55:21yeah, and I'm really grateful that we have people like you
55:24that are supporting those vulnerable people in our society.
55:27The Green Party recognises there is some deep-seated misogyny and prejudice,
55:32and really bad practice within the police force.
55:35We advocate for more scrutiny and for a real shake-up in how things are done.
55:40That is part of our manifesto.
55:42We are absolutely addressing that and recognising that.
55:45As far as I'm concerned, I think I'm really loathe to say too much
55:52about this particular incident because I don't know enough about it.
55:55I don't know the ins and outs,
55:57and I don't have the same insight that you have
55:59into the treatment of these victims by the police force,
56:03but what I do know is I know police officers personally,
56:06and I'm grateful that we do have really good police officers out there
56:10that do hold those values that are good,
56:13and that they want to do the right thing,
56:15and I'm very mindful to not tar everyone with the same brush,
56:18but we absolutely recognise that this is an issue,
56:21and we want to support women as much as possible
56:24and make sure that that bad practice is stamped out.
56:28It has no place in our police force.
56:31Thank you.
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