KCC unconvinced asylum dispersal scheme works

The only pledge Corbyn didn’t repeat was to oppose the government’s plans for new grammars

Although Labour leader Jeremy Corbyn styles himself as the unspun politician, he is not beyond using the dark art of reannouncing policy pledges he has already announced.

In a speech to activists and party members at the party’s south east regional conference in Ashford, he declared that Kent’s coastal towns would benefit from a regional investment fund of £30m and promised to renationalise the railways.

Strangely, these were announcements he’d previously made in a hustings speech in Ramsgate only two months ago.

The only pledge he didn’t repeat was to oppose the government’s plans for new grammars.

Which brings us to the attempts by the county council to improve the chances of poorer, brighter children getting a grammar school places.

One recommendation that came from a cross-party committee looking into the issue of how to improve social mobility in selective schools was that less welloff families should qualify for help with transport costs. It won’t be easy.

School bosses say that it would cost £500,000 to extend the existing arrangements and could expose the authority to significant risk of fraud. Tricky.

Despite a rather dramatic fall in the number of asylum seeker children into Kent, Kent County Council is, perhaps understandably, said to be wary about giving the impression its problems are over.

This is partly because it remains unconvinced that a voluntary dispersal scheme introduced by the government is working and wants to keep up the pressure for a compulsory one.

Figures which appear to indicate the pressure is easing – even if it is not – are not helpful to its cause.

Nigel Farage has never made a secret of the fact he likes a drink and there are probably more pictures of him downing a pint in a pub than of him doing anything else.

However, his real ale tastes appear not to be the only drink he likes.

It has emerged that he has developed a liking for cappucino martinis, downing three on a flight to America.

Along with four bottles of red wine – but not on his own but shared with his entourage.

For all Kent’s political news and gossip, follow Paul on Twitter at @Paulonpolitics