General Election 2024: Businessman Jai Singh announced as East Thanet election candidate for Liberal Democrats

June 4, 2024 Kathy Bailes News 56

Lib Dem candidate Jai Singh

The Liberal Democrats have put forward businessman Jai Singh as the party candidate for East Thanet.

The party says: “Jai has over 30 years’ business experience in helping small and mid-sized UK companies grow, advising them globally, not just while working for an international bank for a decade but, over the last 20 years, also in small advisory companies (including his own), to service clients strategically. Jai operated with limited budgets and resource constraints.

“He financed his education at the University of Pennsylvania with debt and scholarship, which he paid back over 10 years. As a married man, having raised two children, who are now in British universities, he understands the pains and challenges of parents in East Thanet trying to create a future for themselves and their children under tremendous budgetary constraints, disorganised local planning, and a cost-of-living crisis thrust upon them because of poorly managed foreign and energy policies.

“He witnessed the impact of Covid policy first hand, having to care for his mother, who was abroad, while not being able to travel to see her.

“It is this lived experience of Jai, his previous jobs, and business-friendly agenda, that he would bring to East Thanet as its MP.

“Specifically, he supports the reopening of Manston Airport, with a cargo-led strategy, as a regional hub; the rejuvenation of Ramsgate Port with private partnerships (stopping the losses accruing to an already impoverished Labour-led council: the savings can be used to improve other local services); the restoration of the Winter Garden as a nationally-recognised venue; the optimisation of the area’s business parks and trading estates, and new industries coming into East Thanet, whilst supporting the Liberal Democrat policy of lowering business rates and taxes for SMEs and entrepreneurs.

“All of this is part of creating higher-paying jobs and countering higher rents, particularly for young people, while we focus on ensuring we do not build over our farmland, and any new builds are affordable, and available to Thanet residents as a matter of priority.

“Jai has an interest in sport and culture. He has a sense of fairness and believes in inclusiveness and growth for all, which is seen in him having played representative county cricket in the over-50 championships (amongst the highest batting averages in 2022). He still plays league cricket when he can and is proud to be a member of the Lord’s Taverners, the charity that brings sport to disadvantaged and disabled children, providing aspiration and growth for a society facing unprecedented challenges, both in Thanet and throughout the nation.

“He speaks conversational Italian and can also speak Hindi, Urdu and Bengali.”

At the next Parliamentary General Election, the current South Thanet and North Thanet constituencies will no longer exist; the boundaries were updated by the Boundary Commission and the new constituencies will be known as the East Thanet constituency and the Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency.

Westbrook, Birchington, Garlinge, Thanet villages wards and Westgate form part of a Herne Bay and Sandwich County Constituency while East Thanet takes in Ramsgate, Broadstairs and most of Margate.

Other candidates for East Thanet are Polly Billington (Labour) Steve Roberts (Green) Helen Harrison (Conservative and Unionist Party) Reform- yet to be officially announced.

The General Election takes place on July 4.

You must register to vote before 11:59pm on Tuesday 18 June

You must apply for postal vote before 5pm on Wednesday 19 June

You must apply for proxy vote before 5pm on Wednesday 26 June

You must apply for free voter ID before 5pm on Wednesday 26 June

56 Comments

    • If he has been “introduced” by RSP, he’s been appallingly badly briefed.
      He thinks that Manston has the 2nd longest runway in Europe.
      Nope.
      It’s the 14th longest in the UK.

      • Where did the Lib Dems find this joker? Doesn’t he know that everyone in the CT11 postal code area and further will not vote for anyone who is pro Manston re-opening because their property will be devalued by low flying cargo planes? And don’t get me started on air and noise pollution, that will wipe out the tourist trade, especially in Ramsgate Harbour. Has he read the stipulations for the DCO? I have a copy and there are some 24 official requirements to satisfy the DCO before it can even open! Most will be so costly, any prospective aviation company would be mad to take it on!

        • Dumped on,

          EVERONE in the CT11 area?
          You are delusional, sunbeam, as well as inaccurate in your wild assertions.
          The majority in Thanet want the airport to succeed and provide jobs for the area, not thousands of houses to cope with yet more DFLs and the extra pollution that the ever increasing volume of traffic is already bringing to this island.
          Suggest it’s you that goes away.

          • Ton so you bought the lie re-opening Manston will create jobs, yeah right! About the best locals will get is sweeping the runway, unless they know how to strip a jet engine down. My drawings showing low flying cargo aircraft below 300 meters high over Ramsgate Harbour, descending over Ramsgate High Street at 200 meters, and about 150 to 100 meters over Nethercourt were accepted by the Planning Inquiry! That will wipe out the property market in CT11, and the hospitality trade in Ramsgate Harbour, Duurh. Oh, nearly forgot, Gale (and Mackinlay) are promoting the re-opening of Manston because they think it will be a vote winner, neither of them care a tinkers curse about Thanet!

          • I got to say Ton you are the deluded one if you think 1,000s of houses won’t be be built we are due to have 17,000 plus built on predominantly arable grade farm land this was set out a few years ago because council didn’t get a local plan in on time and the tory government stepped in and said that is what you have to plan for in thanet. And I to believe very few decent jobs will be for Thanet based people skilled workers needed for specialist jobs unless local people get trained up for them they will be shipped in. What is still not certain is that the management of Manston Airport cargo depot get all the relevant certificates to operate.

        • The ” guy” had to go through a 8 month assessment process like others ! That is how he was ” found” and his experience in business would be relevant for an island like this . We have a comprehensive agenda to rejuvenate Thanet that the other parties do not and this includes growth and controlling immigration(which Brexit has not delivered !), without the rhetoric, in a unifying message and consistent with British values. Look at the flyer on the website

    • Just noticed this speculative comments, once again by unnamed” bots”, a malaise affecting our society and social media attempting to influence public opinion. I have never met the RSP people, nor spoken to them before being appointed and no, I have not been parachuted in. I form my independent views but I seek information (based on my business experience) so one can think strategically for an area suffering from an economic slow down. Joint up Thinking which is critical in a potential MP especially for this area. The project is already owned by this entity. Therefore It is best to make the most of it, make sure it is well funded, not interfere, but ask all the right questions, to create needed employment in thanet, at higher wages, in this area.

      • Perhaps asking the “right questions” might involve a little research into the personalities involved? You have a fairly fundamental problem in East Thanet. The attraction of the Lib Dems is their relatively pro-European stance. That is why I signed up after Labour failed abysmally to promote the remain cause. However, in East Thanet, I suspect that the majority of those in the constituency, especially Ramsgate, who are pro European, are more likely to oppose the airport, be it because of fear of it’s catastrophic effect on the town or on the basis that given the history of the characters involved, there is not a realistic prospect that it will ever be a functioning airport. Your position on the airport is likely to be attractive to those who support the airport but would not approve of the Europe position and the potential pro- Europe ‘liberal minded’ voters would run a mile at your support for the airport.

  2. Great – with Billington for Labour and Harrison for Conservatives that seems to make all 3 main parties parachuted in candidates.

  3. When we know the full line up of candidates that will be the time to start thinking of politics June the 6th I believe so far we have had 2 weeks of nonsense.

  4. My finger in the wind guesses for the big day in thanet east

    Labour 43%
    Conservative 25%
    Reform 20%
    Lib dem 7%
    Green 5%

    Anyone else want to chuck their hat in the ring of prediction?

    • I don’t really care, as I don’t live there. But for my area, I predict another win for Sir Roger Gale – regardless of what happens elsewhere.

      • Undoubtedly Roger will retain his seat with a comfortable majority, but that will only be because people support him rather than his party. Though that’s a bit ironic as he was a strong voice amongst those that have bought the party to its knees, effectively wrestling the party from Boris who was pretty much the only reason they won in 2019. The infighting will make them the political irrelevance they deserve to be this time round.

        • I tend to always vote for who’s the best candidate for the area. Despite what some with short memories (or who are very young) believe, it doesn’t make a huge difference to most people who is in government – but it does if we have a lazy or invisible MP that isn’t there when needed.

          • I’m in Birchington, which is part of the new Herne Bay and Sandwich constituency… and you’re right, Helen is the Labour candidate. I hope to chat to her in person about her policies, if she knows where the village is.

          • Please don’t throw a milkshake over me. Dairy is a pain to get out of clothing…

            And yes, I do know whereabouts Birchington is, strangely enough; entirely aside from it being within Thanet, Birchington South was the first place I stood to be a Councillor. I have very fond memories of that election. 🙂

      • Roger Gale will not be elected as MP for Sandwich and Herne Bay. The polls are adamant about this. Many residents will breathe a sigh of relief!

    • Well given the dire choice of Tory candidate, knock them back to 15% and share that , 5 to labour, 3 to reform and 2 to the Lib Dems

  5. Never vote for the Lib Dems after they jumped in bed with the Tory vermin in 2010, propped up their repulsive policies & helped enable/preside over the unnecessary deaths of so many.

    • We could have Reform propping up Tories next time! Something I’d love to see, no matter how remote the chance of them (Reform) actually getting any seats.

      • Nigel has said he would not do a deal with them-but of course he wasn’t going to stand in Clacton a few days back either.

    • Suspended GB News Anchor – Tory vermin? Your lack of education and decency highlighted by your language.

      • What else could they be described as? A party proud that since they came to power Food Banks have become a national thing. A Home Secretary who invited Nazis to the Cenotaph to try to start a race war & wanted to take homeless people’s tents away.

        Who locked us down & denied the right to see dying loved ones, while breaking the rules they wrote-having parties while laughing at us. Hundreds of thousands dead because of their austerity/punishing the poor-while giving tax breaks to their rich pals/donors via the poor & having their own snouts in the trough-the list goes on.

        • Suspended GB New Anchor – hundreds of thousands dead? I feel sorry for you not looking at a bigger picture and listening to propaganda. Any elected party will have some members with their snouts in a trough. Every country in Europe had a lock down to try to control Covid. But hey, you believe what you want to believe.

          • Tories certainly have their snouts in the trough-even billing the taxpayer for their breakfasts. So have their rich pals-Mone & the rest filling their pockets delivering useless PPE to the tune of nearly 9 billon, another 91 billion top wasted by the Tories in the last 4 years alone.

            Propaganda? No-an actual published study by University of Glasgow and the Glasgow Centre for Population Health-which found that twice as many people actually died from Tory austerity measures.

            We have seen ‘Liberal’ champagne socialist Nick Clegg who helped this filling his boots to a grotesque level at Facebook since leaving office. Nobody can trust them.

            Where did I complain about lockdowns? I complained that the people who made the rules/laws, demonised people, set the cops & CPS on them while tut-tutting at them, were themselves not following those rules/laws they wrote themselves (while laughing at us)being the most fined address for violations in the land & then lied & tried gaslighting us about it.

    • For what it’s worth, I like Farage alot – but I wouldn’t vote for him if he was a candidate in my area, no more than I would for Boris. They’re career politicians, and don’t care about local issues.

      • Which is another fault with our electoral system, the big guns in politics need to be mps but as mps are pretty much useless to their own constituents. However the country has muddled along so far and will undoubtedly continue to do so.

          • Yeah, but that return is more contemptible than the endless returns of Mandelson back in the day and just goes to show how far the tories have fallen. They’ll get wiped out as they deserve and either rebuild or just do a Lib Dem and become little more than a nod to history in Westminster, leaving Reform to become the new opposition party.
            The downside of which is it’ll leave labour with the majority they’ve had wet dreams over, giving them the chance to run riot and likely descend into internal warfare lie the tories.
            It’ll be down to the house of lords and the money markets to try and keep them in check.
            Interesting times ahead.

      • Exactly-he has no interest in politics or people-only in self-promotion & lining his pockets. That is why he has failed seven times to become an MP-despite his claims of mammoth popularity & his parties never amount to anything. He has no loyalty to anybody in his hunt for attention-look what he just did to his ‘longtime friend’ Tice.

        • Did he urinate in your cornflakes at some point? Can’t think of anything else that’d cause such bitterness.

    • “More than 5,500 people have died with Covid-19 in this country of just 10 million. It is one of the highest death rates relative to population size in Europe, and by far the worst among the Nordic nations. Unlike Sweden, the rest all chose to lock down early in the pandemic.”
      [https://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-53498133]

      • Why is it that you complain about the Tories forcing us into Lockdowns, yet you actively supported/support them?

  7. And guess what the current number one story on the BBC News site is? The Indian elections! Talk about out of touch.

    • Have you not listened properly if you only realised that there is great interest in the Indian election plus India as a whole as there are so many descendants from India, I know only to well from a lot of my Indian friends this world doesn’t swing around the Conservative or Labour parties and any other parties news wise didn’t you also see the lady who won in Mexico and the other 4 elections taking place that have been the news notible South Africa a massive upheaval of voters there to. Get your finger on the pulse as another Labour Party left winger ( accordingly) has resigned as I believe there is 5 definitely plus a possibility of 1 more candidate for South Thanet who lives in thanet ( not reform one) or me either. I think this election hinges on the amount of non voters I know 3 definitely not at least another 20 plus who say that they aren’t voting just who I know me I always vote apart from the two times I wrote no suitable candidate who I would trust as a politician.

      • I have no interest in the elections of other countries, with the possible exception of Wales and Scotland.

        • As usual everything revolves around you Mspink we’ll it doesn’t we are a multi race country and that is why BBC are the best if you only want UK news you need to watch GB news I’ve listened to them and the trite that they spew is just up your street. Just one more thing if you want only UK news how come you don’t much on it you didn’t know that a possibility of a sixth person was going to stand for election in no Thanet east ward but you think you know everything about it. I know I don’t know everything but I do know enough about each of the candidates standing what would like to do if voted in compared with party policy as it stands (waiting for manifestos from them).

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