South Thanet MP Craig Mackinlay: Paying for care, Richborough recycling centre and Animal Welfare Bill

Craig Mackinlay

I am always concerned about rubbish. Not just if it’s on our streets but I’d also add weeds growing on roads, roundabouts and pavement verges as well as my own truly hated anti-social behaviour leaving a long-lasting stain – that of graffiti.

Kent County Council, as is true of many upper-tier authorities has severe financial constraints. Most of the pressure is due to such authorities having to fund adult and children’s social care.

On elderly care I have been making the observation for years that an inbuilt conflict exists between the NHS and county authorities. The NHS understandably wants to ensure that elderly patients, once well, can return home with a care package or to family supported living, or to a more appropriate form of community care. It is wasteful for a hospital to provide what could be known as ‘hotel services’ once someone is well enough to be elsewhere. The blunt term of ‘bed-blocking’ is often used to describe this issue which then causes pressure throughout the hospital right back to A&E.

The county authority will, in many cases, have to pick up the bill for providing the community care in whatever form it takes, hence a funding conflict arises which does nobody any good. I see elderly care in all its forms as part of health provision and have long advocated that this should be funded by central government.

On children’s care, this may take the form of an Education, Health and Care plan (EHC), but with it often comes the obligation for the upper-tier authority to fund individual school transport, often by taxi and in severe cases to fund specialist out of area residential provision which can cost hundreds of thousands of pounds per youngster, per year. All of this is often unknown and unbudgeted but are statutory services the county has to provide.

I comment on the above to give some context as to why Kent County Council is suffering financial stress. In trying to budget, local authorities of all types then look at what are known as ‘discretionary’ costs, the costs over which they do have absolute control. It’s the waste, weeds and clean-ups that often bear the brunt of spending cuts.

And so it is that Richborough Household Waste and Recycling Centre is now in the crosshairs for closure. KCC have offered three options to attempt to save £1.5 million over the next two years. They have looked at usage and population densities, and under such blunt measures, Richborough finds itself at the bottom of the league. We’ve been here before with a similar threat that was overturned in early 2012. Many will be aware of my opposition to the requirement, introduced during the Covid period (for no great reason I can fathom, these being very open spaces), and now permanent, of having to book a slot to visit a waste site. This restriction and other charging measures has reduced use and the taxpayer bill for these sites by £5m over the past ten years.

The KCC document recognises the additional distances that many East Kent residents would need to travel, which in itself seems a retrograde step in terms of carbon footprint, and as ever there is no consideration of the clean-up costs often falling to lower-tier authorities, and most certainly landowners in cleaning up fly-tipping. I would highly recommend that residents ensure that their voice is heard if this proposal goes further and a full public consultation results.

It is with great disappointment that the Animal Welfare (Kept Animals) Bill in its current form has been discontinued. The part of main interest to South Thanet residents was the provision to ban live animal exports for fattening and slaughter, hence stopping the foul trade that we had seen for many years through Ramsgate Port. This Bill was becoming what is often called a ‘Christmas tree Bill’ whereby other interests were being added to it, notably to use it to stop drag hunting and this is before it may have suffered further dilution from its main purpose in the House of Lords.

The plan is to implement measures piecemeal through other legislative means so I’m sure we’ll get the long fought for absolute ban in the end. We have not seen such live exports through Ramsgate since we left the EU, as new requirements on the Calais side were not put in place to comply with EU veterinary health regulations. So, currently, Brexit has delivered what we all wanted. Never forget, whilst an EU member this trade could not be stopped under any circumstances as such live cargo were simply treated as goods and could not be unilaterally prevented from being traded under single market rules.

I’ll be heavily involved in Parliament on housing, the Renters Reform Bill and am contributing to the national debate on Inheritance Tax, much in the news at present. I’d be pleased to receive your thoughts.

19 Comments

  1. Alll three options in the consultation states richborough household tip has to close. No other options available.it’s like being offered the choice of how
    You want to be murdered, STABBED, POISONED or HUNG. Another tory austerity cut. Hope craig puts pressure on thanets county councillors to stop the closure

  2. That’s odd. I thought the main reason why public authorities like KCC were in such financial dire straits was that the Conservative Party slashed their funding over the course of a decade or so in the name of “austerity”.

    Clearly not according to Craig. Nothing to do with me Guv.

    • I think the point he is making that KCC systemically opts to spend less on areas such as ours whatever their income from the Government.

      The closure of Richborough would be outrageous and just add to the already endemic fly tipping and dumping of waste by hard pressed households.

  3. Yet again our MP is blind to reality the conservatives are all grab all and give nothing back otherwise known as austerity also Brexit is costing the U.K. £7 billions per year. It’s broken Britain because the Conservatives Broke it.

  4. You said: “Kent County Council, as is true of many upper-tier authorities has severe financial constraints. Most of the pressure is due to such authorities having to fund adult and children’s social care.”.
    No.
    Most of the financial pressure is because government has cut and cut central support grants to local authorities.
    That’s your government.

  5. “The county authority will, in many cases, have to pick up the bill for providing the community care in whatever form it takes, hence a funding conflict arises which does nobody any good. I see elderly care in all its forms as part of health provision and have long advocated that this should be funded by central government.”
    13 years of reducing Central Government grants has really helped eh Craig.

  6. “I’ll be heavily involved in Parliament on housing, the Renters Reform Bill and am contributing to the national debate on Inheritance Tax, much in the news at present. I’d be pleased to receive your thoughts.”
    For someone who only listens to his own voice (and that only if there is a photo op) I doubt that very much

  7. Rubbish, if you contact him as I have regarding care fees etc and the pressure on families he isn’t interested at all.
    If I receive a response it’s just quotes that don’t answer my query.

  8. Austerity for local government never ended.bed blocking happens because KCC is not very quick on sorting out care packages.when they do find a care home,your home is at risk because they will sequestrate it to pay for the care.
    So much for Beveridge and cradle to the grave care of the welfare state.
    What we have instead is an uneven level of income and wealth which leads to gross unfairness.
    As for Richborough it is death of a 1000 cuts.you will see the same for libraries.bus services.roads and everything that is not social care.

  9. KCC and tdc both spend far to much on paperwork, which they never get right. Internal fighting, pay offs and most importantly BAD JUDGEMENT. basic Torie mindset

  10. Why bring up disabled children?!?!?

    Such a random tangent. Disabled children are to blame for the tip closing eh Craig?

    Having dealt with you before personally about disabled children I know you see them all as a drain and their parents all as con merchants.

    You disgust me.

    End of.

    Don’t vote for this moron.

  11. Hang on didn’t Johnson say he would fix “Social Care”, so whats the problem with “Bed Blocking”? Oh, yes just checked, home owners must sell their property to pay for their Care, and people who are financially able, must use their savings pay for their “Care” also. But someone in the next bedroom who does not own property, or have sufficient savings, pays nothing for the same Care”. Another on eof Johnosn’s lies?

    • Unfortunately you are spot on and everytime they say will put a limit on the amount having to be paid by homeowners the bill gets deferred.

  12. Just had an email from someone involved in stopping “Live Animal Exports” and it appears our Craig is being very economic with the truth! Our chocolate teapot MP for Thanet South claims “due to new requirements on the Calais side not being put in place to comply with EU veterinary health regulations live animal exports have been discontinued, so Brexit has delivered”. Well not so apparently, dairy calves are still being flown to Europe, and live animals are still being exported from Scotland, and Ireland, according to my informent!

      • That should read “Informants” as there was more than one! Along with many hundreds in Thanet they are ardent animal lovers, and have protested in all weathers against the vile abhorrent trade in animal misery!

  13. The sage of Thanet South speaks. He wants us to respond to the inheritance tax bill. If there is an irrelevant issue Craig will raise it. I mean the things that seem to stimulate his brain cells.
    Forget about inheritance tax, concentrate on this:
    * If you are laid low by cancer and require care, the state pays.
    *Same with heart disease and most other sometimes incurable or chronic illnesses .
    * If however you suffer from Alzheimer’s or other forms of dementia, they take away your house and all of your income, leaving you and your family destitute.
    * To add insult to injury, because you are ‘paying your way’, you get to subsidise someone who has no assets.
    * The service is the same, the end result is the same, just the means of payment differs.
    * If the Boomer generation get it into their heads that this, and future govts have no attention of introducing a fairer form of funding adult social care, they may well decide that equity release is a better option, as there is a mighty industry prepared to service that option, future govts will have fewer assets to melt down and will be forced to do something.
    * inheritance is not the problem, apart from doing away with all the nice little family trusts that the middle classes set up, to put their assets out of the hands of the HMRC + KCC. The issue is setting a fair charge for all. If instead of wasting their time on dog whistle issues and culture wars, the Govt could implement the Dilnot proposals and then everyone could choose to insure against that liability. The Govt will get adequate funding and those with assets would pay a fair share.
    So Craig, stop faffing about and go for Dilnot.

  14. This must be one of the most tedious and uninspiring postings I’ve seen in a long time.

    Wouldn’t it be great if Craig could bring himself to get a bit passionate about those less fortunate than himself.

    I don’t recall him getting excited when his party leader was partying during lockdown, or when Liz Truss and her crazy colleague, trashed the economy. Or that chancellor was being troubled by the inland revenue to sort his tax.

    Craig seems quite worried about animals but not troubled about the welfare people.

    Maybe he could inspire us all next time he posts by proposing to bring back the 19th century workhouse.

Comments are closed.