Kentish Gazette Canterbury & District
War of words over who
The Conservatives stormed to a resounding victory across the district and Kent at the county council elections. But many eyes were on the fight for second and those staking a claim to be the true opposition in Canterbury. emma Grafton-williams and alex Cl
The battle in Canterbury to be recognised as the true opposition at next month’s general election intensified as voters across Kent went to the ballot box.
Both the Liberal Democrats and Labour have staked claims to have the best chance of unseating incumbent Tory Sir Julian Brazier on June 8.
And each was quick to talk up increases in their overall vote at Thursday’s county council elections, despite the Conservatives securing seven of the eight divisions in the Canterbury district.
The Lib Dems romped home in the other – Canterbury City North – increasing their share of the district vote from 11.3% to 20.8% since 2013.
But Labour – up from 18.7% to 21.2% – says its second place finish in seven of the divisions is an indication it is the biggest threat to the Tories in Canterbury.
Labour’s general election candidate Rosie Duffield said: “Yes, the Lib Dems won a seat, but we came second in seven out of the other eight.
“I don’t see evidence of this great Lib Dem resurgence that we’re hearing about. The figures just aren’t stacking up.
“People are talking about Brexit and there’s a lot of fear that the democratic decision might not be fulfilled.
“Even though I voted to remain, we have to respect the decision – and that is very much Labour’s position.”
The stance is at odds with the Lib Dems, who have said that if elected they would offer people a chance to reverse Brexit.
They performed best in the Canterbury- only divisions – with 29.9% of the vote to Labour’s 19.9% – owing largely to former city councillor Ida Linfield’s resounding victory in Canterbury City South.
Parliamentary candidate James Flanagan estimates his party took 23.5% of the vote in the Canterbury and Whitstable constituency, with Herne Bay votes discarded.
“The results for the Liberal Democrats were very positive and they put us in a very good position for June 8,” he said.
“We are the real challengers to the Conservatives in Canterbury and Whitstable, heading back to at least our 2010 level of support.”
Elsewhere, Ukip was wiped out across the district, losing both of its seats in Herne Bay and seeing its vote share plummet from 27.5% to 7.4%.
Many are likely to have switched to the Conservatives, who increased their share of the vote to 45.1% from 32.2%, with five previous county councillors re-elected.
They were Graham Gibbens, Michael Northey and John Simmonds in Canterbury, Mark Dance in Whitstable and Alan Marsh in Herne and Sturry.
City councillor Andrew Cook and Ian Thomas were also elected to the county council – and informally become known as “two-hatters” on account of being representatives of two local authorities.
Deputy party chairman Neil Baker rejected Mr Flanagan’s