00:00The first spring sunshine here in Thanet and the promise of change in the air.
00:06After all, a month from now, voters will flock to the polls for a Kent County Council by-election
00:13touted to be hotly contested.
00:16Cliftonville isn't just an idyllic slice of Kentish coastline, but the first electoral
00:22challenge for Reform UK since sweeping the local elections last year, with the Greens
00:29Conservatives and Labour all confident they could win here in the division.
00:35No, I'll never vote Conservative or Labour.
00:38To be honest, I've lost faith in the system.
00:42They're thinking about just only big business.
00:46Down here, I don't know. I'm a bit of a lost soul.
00:49Blue skies and turquoise waves, a political divide looming on the horizon.
00:54This was once a safely conservative division until last May when Daniel Taylor was elected
01:02under the reform banner. Less than a year later, Taylor is behind bars after pleading guilty to
01:10coercive behaviour. A criminal history showing little sign of coming back to roost in the by-election
01:18sparked by his sentencing.
01:20I know, he's a couple of doors away from me. I mean, well, it's not Reform's fault, is it really?
01:28Well, I suppose I'd probably go to Reform rather than any of the others,
01:32but that's mainly because of disappointment with both Tory and Labour.
01:37I probably might do Reform again, actually, because it won't be that same bloke anyway.
01:43A cliff edge in support was always unlikely. Reform UK did secure 40% of the vote here last year,
01:52but a turn in electoral fortune isn't unprecedented.
01:57Labour painted than it District Council red back in 2023.
02:02Among the bungalows, that success feels further away than it has ever before.
02:08People is thinking Labour has been doing it for world people, for small businesses,
02:14it's going better. My opinion is not now.
02:18With Labour facing challenges in Westminster, voters closer to home are casting their eyes elsewhere.
02:27So I look at the Green Party as what I think people saw the Lib Dems as being,
02:31which was the option if you didn't want to vote Labour or Conservative.
02:35I like their policies and believe what they're saying,
02:39which is quite refreshing in politics at the moment.
02:42So they are most likely to get my vote.
02:45It's just that awful stalemate of, is it a wasted vote?
02:48Um, are they fit to run a country? Probably not.
02:51Are they fit to run local council? Probably.
02:54Council by-elections are notoriously low turnout.
02:58Margins matter here, and there are plenty of unknowns.
03:01But speaking to those on the street local issues are barely coming up.
03:07Drawing a line in the sand against the national picture might prove difficult.
03:14Oli Lieder in Cliftonville
Comments