By Local Democracy Reporter Simon Finlay
Voters go to the polls on Thursday (April 9) after a hard-fought by-election campaign with much riding on the outcome.
Electors in the Kent County Council Cliftonville division, covering district wards of Cliftonville West, Cliftonville East, Kingsgate and Beacon Road, have a full slate of candidates from all major parties and one independent to choose from.
Reform UK’s Daniel Taylor won the seat in May last year as the party swept to victory at County Hall winning 57 of the 81 seats.
Taylor was jailed earlier this year after pleading guilty to controlling behaviour towards his wife, sparking the poll.
He had been suspended from Reform UK the previous summer when he was arrested for the offences and sat as an independent.
The election has sparked a contest more akin to a parliamentary by-election with parties able to muster dozens of activists to pound the streets.
Many streets are adorned with posters and garden signs.
Reform UK’s Marc Rattigan has been tipped as the favourite to win but has faced a massive challenge from the Conservatives, Labour (who came second in 2025) and the Green Party.
The Greens and their candidate Rob Yates were first out of the trap in Thanet by launching the campaign endorsed by the visit by the former party leader Caroline Lucus.
But Labour’s candidate Joanne Bright believes she has a good chance despite the dismal national polling.
The Conservatives’ Charlie Leys, who polled 20% last year, feels a Tory comeback could be on the cards.
Few can call the result but some local observers see that it has become a straight Reform versus Green contest. They also see voter turnout and tactical voting as major factors in determining the outcome.
Locals have raised potholed roads (which is a KCC responsibility), illegal immigration, the cost of living local bus services and a lack of public toilets as key issues.
Polling stations are open on April 9 from 7am until 10pm and voters must bring a valid form of identification, such as a passport or driving licence, to cast their ballots. The results will be announced the following day.
The full list of candidates for the by-election are: Joanne Bright (Labour); Lucy Gray (Ind); Charlie Leys (Conservative Party); Marc Rattigan (Reform UK); Dr Mo Shafaei (Liberal Democrats) and Rob Yates (Green Party).
The polling stations:
Botany Bay Hotel Marine Drive, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 3LG
St Andrews Church Hall Reading Street, Broadstairs, Kent, CT10 3AZ
Cliftonville Community Centre 23 St Pauls Road, Margate, Kent, CT9 2DB
Margate Bowls Club Northdown Avenue, Margate, CT9 2NW
Cliftonville (Outdoor) Bowls Club St Georges Pavilion, Third Avenue, Margate, CT9 2DW
St Philips Church Summerfield Road, Margate CT9 3JJ
Simon is correct, a straight fight between reform and greens
I wonder how my potential Green voters are aware of some of the party’s policies which would affect Britain’s drivers.
Plans include:
Restricting the top speed on motorways and dual carriageways to 55mph
20mph limit in all towns and villages
Making drivers retake their driving test every 5 years
Increasing road taxes
Reducing parking spaces
Limiting the right to park outside your own home – “car parking is not a right that any driver has on the road. The expectation that drivers have that they can park anywhere to one where parking will only be allowed in appropriate places that are duly marked”.
End fossil fuel-burning cars and vans by 2030
Wow, really?
They’ll get my vote!
Sounds great-less pollution, less crashes, safer drivers who have to show their competence more regularly, less cars.
Much better than the alternative of Reform-taking away human rights, punishing the poorest to reward the richest, more pollution, ending the NHS-so people just die like in the US, more race-baiting & selling football tops & other tat to line Farage PLC’s pockets further.
It is some Green’s other policies (particularly overseas) that concern me. Otherwise, I’d join their party… and cycle to and from meetings!
What a load of rubbish. You haven’t read Reform’s policies have you? They are not going to abolish the NHS, free emergency treatment will still be there. But they will try to forge a system where all but the poorest will have health insurance – just like we all do for our cars, pets, houses, holidays etc. We can’t keep ploughing millions into the current system, it needs to be sustainable. Reform are the only party with proper business skills, and Marc Rattigan will be a great champion for Cliftonville if he wins the seat.
Before he gets bored and jumps ship again.
Ah yes-of course we can trust Nigel-
The man who said he would scrap the two child cap when Labour said they couldn’t afford it & as soon as Labour were forced into another U-Turn on their Tory bs & scrapped it, Farage promptly said if elected he would put it back in place.
The man who said he would bring half of the utility industries into public ownership-now he has dropped that.
The man who promised 90 billion of tax cuts, now dropped.
The man who like Kemi was cheering on Trump’s war crimes & demanding the UK do everything Trump demanded-then both suddenly backtracked & said we couldn’t get involved after a week or more of saying we should. Both still saying Starmer has been inconsistent on the issue & how they would stand up to their buddy-yeah sure!
The man who said your council tax will be cut before the county council elections, Reform run councils like KCC have of course just put council tax up.
Not forgetting their big grift-immigration. Last year Farage was interviewed by Gbeebies & said he wasn’t interested in mass deportations & he couldn’t do it-now of course he is singing a different song & making the same promises (lies) the Tories have for 16 years in power & opposition.
So no, you can believe him if you want to-many of us see him for what he has always been, a populist race-grifter who like his orange criminal pal in the US is only interested in lining his own pockets & will say anything to achieve that. If his rich pals in the private industry want to run a US healthcare system he if in power would flog it off to them & get a nice backhander.
No doubt you said that the scumbag Reform lowlife Taylor was the right man for the job a year ago. What is it that appeals about this one exactly? Another Tory that has fled the sinking ship recently-while slagging off Reform whilst a Tory? The moronic plastic patriot flag waving?
I know I am being woke, but can you explain, when cars are now much larger and heavily engineered for safefy,that the number of people killed on our roads remains fixed between 1500 to 1700 persons per annum?
Now allowing for those who seem to lose control of the vehicles at the sight of an inanimate object like a tree,a wall, or a building, the people getting killed are pedestriand,cyclists,and horse riders.I wish I could say that the standard of driving was improving, but this news service and others report faithfully the toll of the road. If 1700 people were killed using public transport or the airlines or at sea,every year, there would be a public outcry, yet we continue to be insousient about death on the road.We weep when young people die through crime,disease,or not being able to cope with the pressures of life, yet too many die at the hsnds of the motor car. We buy cars that aretoo big to fit in stsndard parking spaces, jam up roads by parking on both sides of a narrow street.We escape to the country, bht are quite happy to inflict urban misery with our newly minted 4WDs and SUVs, when we commute from arcadia to our urban place of work.
If we complain about this you and others like you shout about the war against the motorist, quite oblivious of the nuisance cars and the concomitant traffic congestion caused by them.
Cars have their uses, but they need to be regulated like everything else, so that life is tolerable for all not just a few.If we have to drive slower, and only the Daily Mail is suggesting the greens are intent on a 55mph speed limit, would that be so bad, bearing in mind that to some a 70mph speed limit is only advisory,would it be the end of civilisation as we know it?
As for parking restrictions, have you not heard of park and ride.PC is alwags banging on about fat people being a burden on the NHS, well I am with him, when so many fast food sites are drive thru,I mean the blighters cannot even be bothered to get a little exercise in walking a short distance to buy their unhealthy repast!
I am sure that Carl Benz would have been shocked at how humanity has fouled its own nest becahse of his invention.
>I know I am being woke
wat
>, but can you explain, when cars are now much larger and heavily engineered for safefy,that the number of people killed on our roads remains fixed between 1500 to 1700 persons per annum?
It’s a bit like how frameworks make coding easier/streamlined and perhaps more secure but at the expense of total control and a dependency on upstream stuff. I guess. Once you get too comfortable, it becomes easier to make sillier mistakes or ingrain bad habits. That said, I’m not an advocate for misery, unlike some people here it seems.
>We buy cars that aretoo big to fit in stsndard parking spaces, jam up roads by parking on both sides of a narrow street.We escape to the country, bht are quite happy to inflict urban misery with our newly minted 4WDs and SUVs, when we commute from arcadia to our urban place of work.
People are idiots. More at 10. I’ve never understood the push for giant cars that no one needs. Also, SUVs not by Honda, Toyota or Suzuki tend to be pretty awful.
>Cars have their uses, but they need to be regulated like everything else, so that life is tolerable for all not just a few.If we have to drive slower, and only the Daily Mail is suggesting the greens are intent on a 55mph speed limit, would that be so bad, bearing in mind that to some a 70mph speed limit is only advisory,would it be the end of civilisation as we know it?
It’s probably something part of party proposals but whether it’s a pledge or not, who knows. Kind of amusing though the DM consistently fail to realise the existence of the ‘shire/Home Counties Green Tories’ voter bloc. (Then again, they have Peter Hitchens, who I do happen to like lol)
>PC is alwags banging on about fat people being a burden on the NHS, well I am with him, when so many fast food sites are drive thru,I mean the blighters cannot even be bothered to get a little exercise in walking a short distance to buy their unhealthy repast
I’d say the fast food delivery services like Uber Eats/Just Eat/Deliveroo did more damage – they also did considerable damage to our local takeaway cultures since they had to adapt and those companies screw a lot of those guys over with inefficient systems and whatnot.
I stay very trim at 63, for two reasons.
(1) Health.
(2) Vanity.
It’s that simple. Don’t understand why more don’t do it.
You sure it isn’t just that your partner is an awful cook?
I have the opposite problem: her cooking is so good that it takes far more willpower and/or exercise than before!
Same as Labour but worse as more free immigration too so boats will stop as not needed
No reform for me!
Which party do you like then?
The Tories had 14 years to sort out the UK and have become more like the Labour Party. REFORM for me any day!
What is their answer to the obesity crisis?
Stop spending all day sitting in front of the TV stuffing their faces and get out to work, thereby losing weight, interacting with other people, having a sense of belonging and real worth and paying tax to help get this country back on its feet.
You are hilarious Reform The Tories girl-
Have you seen the sizes of a lot of people working? You don’t seem to grasp that weight is based on calories consumed vs calories burned-most jobs are sitting down or minimal movement-thus no weight will be lost. In fact with more money to burn they would likely spend more on junk food & their waistlines would increase-but hang on, don’t you lot always claim that benefits pay more than work anyway?
A sense of belonging & worth-the old political trope. Let’s see, working a job they would likely hate, being paid a pittance & being called/harassed at all hours after to go in & do more shifts or never being able to leave the office-just to make a millionaire or billionaire even richer in most cases & worrying constantly when they will shut your store/fire people to make even more profit.
Paying tax-funny you should mention that seeing as the former & now deputy leader Tice you worship recently pretty much said it is the duty of every rich ‘patriot’ to avoid paying as much tax as possible, after being accused of dodging 600l of corporation tax-backed up by others like him of course, including former Reform & now Restore douchebag Rupert Lowe. Also Jenrick while in power as a Tory helped a Tory donor (Dirty Des) avoid a large amount of tax.
Isn’t it strange how the 9-5 low wage brigade have often paid more tax than Jeff Bezos & others like him? Isn’t it strange how the blame is always laid at the door of them, the unemployed, the disabled etc & not at the door of the multi millionaire & billionaire tax dodgers you mention-though of course seeing as how they are in charge of the country & run the media-tv & especially print it is of course not surprising they are able to do the oldest trick in the book that gullible suckers keep falling for-
Dividing the poor by fostering internal conflict—often called “divide and conquer”—is a strategy used by elites to maintain wealth and power. By pitting lower-income groups against each other based on race, immigration status, or political beliefs, they ensure anger is directed horizontally, rather than upward at the structural causes of inequality.
Mechanism of Control: Power is concentrated in the top 10% (an anxious aristocracy), who prevent lower-class unity by creating, or exacerbating, divisions.
Targeted Conflict: Poor white individuals are historically and consistently pitted against poor Black individuals and immigrants to protect economic disparities.
Distraction Tactics: As long as the poor fight among themselves, they focus on fighting over limited scraps rather than uniting to demand structural change.
Consequences: This division results in stronger elite power, weaker unions, and lower political engagement among the working class.
This strategy ensures that the poor, who have more in common with each other, see their neighbors as enemies rather than the system that oppresses them.
Nope-Tories made themselves redundant due to incompetence & corruption that Farage took advantage of. Labour became the Tories & made themselves redundant as the left jump to greens & liberals.
In case you hadn’t noticed Reform is the Tory Party-the same Tories that messed everything up for 14-16 years & have been jumping like rats on a sinking ship since they got wiped out at the 2024 election. Like a greatest hits of failure-Jenrick, Suella, 30p Lee-jumped just before the obvious kicking they were going to get, Zahawi, Mad Nad, bully boy Gullis, Warbler Jenkyns, Cunningham, Holloway, Kruger, Rosindell, Caulfield, Bradley, Berry, Nici to name the more obvious one. Don’t forget of course Nigel himself, Tice, Bull & near octogenarian Widdecombe from the Tory old guard.
Looks like your intellect isn’t sparkling either.Have you not noticed the efforts Badenoch and much of tory party go to be more reform? And all those tories that made such a positive difference to our lives for 14 years, where do you think they are now? Yes, they are well embedded within Reform, coming up with the same mad schemes as ever.
So the reasons to vote Reform, are to vote in yet another ex tory,because you prefer death on the roads instead of safety, and because you hate migrants. Well I wish you well and if the good citizens of Cliftonville think the same, then Thursday will be a walkover for Reform
Sparkling is another example of how having a charismatic charlatan grifter waving a flag & whining about boats can fool the gullible. Now says he/she want to vote for Reform because the Tories let them down-yet the party is pretty much all the Tory clowns that failed for the last 16 years that have been jumping.
It was disgusting that neither the Conservative or Reform candidates attended or sent representatives to the hustings meeting held in Cliftonville Tuesday evening. Also notable for their absence were citizens from the various minority communities that live in the area, they march and protest about events overseas but express total disinterest in matters closer to where they & their families live.
Did Ms. Bright apologise about the Reform wife fiasco?
Many of them march in London. Let’s face it-Thanet is 95% white & a blue wall forever, what is the point of them turning out to listen to a Tory, a Tory who has jumped to Reform, a Tory cosplaying for Labour, a Tory who cosplayed for Labour & now they are sinking is cosplaying as a green.
One would think they have made their mind up to vote for an independent who has worked to help the local community for years, or the liberal guy-while all the other parties use them as scapegoats for problems-Nigel says he wants to get rid of them, Anchor Baby Kemi says she wants to get rid of them, race traitor for money & power Mahmoood says she wants to get rid of them.
Now we find out the only ones who bothered to turn up were Labour & Green who was Labour & you wonder why the minorities would bother to turn up-when they cannot even challenge their harshest critics?
So having a candidate that gets banged up for abusing his wife is not a fiasco, but mentioning it on election literature is. It’s a funny world you live in PC, and I should be silent about the subject of women with your track record.
It’s the wife who’s making the complaint… or don’t you think she’s entitled to believe that Labour are exploiting her situation for political gain? NO-ONE from Thanet Labour have apologised for this, either on here or social media (and probably not at the hustings either).
Her husband exploited her for political gain & she didn’t object to that, or the extra 16 plus grand his false representations to get elected as a ‘loving & dedicated family man, fighting for families safety & wellbeing’ etc lies bought to their household.
Bearing in.mind your comments about women, mostly Labour ones,I think you have little to say period.
This is politics grow up and expect promised that are not kept, and things said that would be better left unsaid.
This is a pointless election, for a division that hopefully will no longer exist in a couple of years.Banging on about apologies when Reform were the ones who caused this situation by picking such a creep to represent them is a reasonable point for all the political.parties to make.Bearing in mind that the Daily Mail and Reform are responsible for frightening old ladies into believing that migrants are all rapists and murderers is even more to the point.
Is the former councillor for Cliftonville a migrant? Was the young man killed in Whitstable killed by a migrant? Was the guy who drove his car into a pub/club in a fit of rage a migrant?
The answer PC is no.We have plenty of killers, rapists, and crimson, within our own midst, but this bye-election is not being fought over, who can fix potholes,social care, or the local economy, it will be won or lost on how many think KCC can have any say about migration.
Until we recover our senses and stop blaming others for our own failings, the sooner we might address some of the problems I have outlined.
You of course will not answer any of this, but will instead indulge in some form of drolery, you always do.
Why rant about anti-migrant hate to me? I just because I’m anti-Labour certainly doesn’t mean I’m pro-Reform.
What’s the point of voting at all??? After they’re elected they are never there when you need them!
Emails are not available, phone contacts not available.
I’m not voting for any of them! They just want your vote with a lot of PROMISES.
DISGUSTING!