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00:27Hello and
00:29welcome to Kent Tonight, live here on KMTV. I'm Finn McDermott and here are your top stories on
00:34Tuesday, the 7th of July. Reform resignation. Nigel Farage steps down as MP but says he will
00:42run again. Today I will resign as a member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea, thereby forcing
00:49a by-election. From Ashford to Venezuela, local community free shop has become a donation hub
00:55for the country after earthquakes. Venezuelan or not, I don't see how anyone can witness
01:01the devastation and not be moved. And prizes for the press. Kent journalists have been celebrated
01:08for their efforts at a Canterbury awards show. Who's going to make sure that they're delivering
01:13on the promises that they make? And without local and regional journalists, that is not
01:17going to happen. So we have to keep celebrating.
01:30But first tonight, despite being an MP for Clacton in Essex, Nigel Farage is a huge figure in
01:35Kent and the rest of the country's political scene as the leader of Reform UK. But a new
01:40announcement means this could all hang in the balance of a by-election as he has stepped
01:45down from his position. He then, on X, immediately announced he would be running again for that
01:50seat. This all comes off the back of scrutiny over some financial support he had received
01:55that has put him under an investigation. I've been finding out more.
02:00Earlier today, Nigel Farage stated he had an announcement to make at 2pm and many predicted
02:05that this would be him resigning as the Clacton MP. And in his announcement on social media,
02:11that was the case. Today, I will resign as a member of Parliament for Clacton-on-Sea,
02:19thereby forcing a by-election. What people might not have predicted was what he would say next,
02:25that he would be running in that by-election to regain the seat. I will be putting my name
02:30forward to stand in this by-election. I will fight to win. I will fight to continue the political
02:37revolution that reform has started. To those outside the political sphere,
02:43this might seem like an odd decision, since he was already the MP. But political experts have
02:48described it as being more of a reset than anything else. The reason that he's decided to hit the
02:54nuclear button, effectively, and resign is because he fears being the subject of a parliamentary
03:01investigation or an electoral commission investigation. What Nigel Farage wants is for
03:06the public to be his jury. And what he hopes out of this by-election is if he wins it,
03:11he will see
03:12that as an exoneration. But the people said, they were fine with me doing what I did. Let's move on.
03:19In the same announcement online, Nigel Farage brought up the threats that he had faced because
03:23of his position. This comes alongside him recently, sharing a picture of graffiti in Folkestone on his
03:28Facebook page. The impact of Nigel Farage's decision comes alongside new polls from the electoral
03:33calculus, which show that Kent's MPs would be at risk to the reform wave in a general election, who
03:39would have an 86% chance of victory in some constituencies if one were to be called. The full
03:45results of this decision remain to be seen. Whether or not Nigel Farage wins the by-election, another
03:50could be called, if he is found to have breached parliamentary standards. So it isn't just Clacton's
03:56political landscape that could be affected, but the rest of the country, including Kent
04:00as well.
04:01Finn McDermid for KMTV.
04:06And I'm joined now by a Medway councillor, Robbie Lamas. Now Robbie, you were part of reform
04:11not too long ago. So tell me, what do you make of this? Nigel Farage was once your boss.
04:15Well, it kind of reminds me of one of the reasons why I left, is that essentially everything in
04:20reform is about spectacle and not about governing. We have a situation where we have a Prime Minister
04:25that's halfway resigned. We have a Prime Minister to be who wants to hold court in Manchester.
04:31You've got Kemi getting on and doing the job, and now Nigel Farage wants to make the summer
04:34all about him. What about the people who just want the parliamentarians to get on and do
04:38what they were elected to do, and actually just make a difference to the people?
04:42I see. And obviously, you were once under Nigel Farage's reform leadership. So tell us a bit
04:51about what this means from your perspective, obviously, being as part of that. Was this
04:55something that you expected to happen when he said he was making this announcement?
04:59I did think it could happen, particularly when the parliamentary authorities began their
05:04investigation. I think in many ways, he's actually jumped before he was pushed. I actually think
05:11there's more to come, believe it or not, in terms of this story about the sort of undeclared
05:16donations that he's been receiving. And I think what he's done is, by resigning and saying
05:22he's going to stand in it, he's almost trying to bounce the process, because he knows that
05:26when he comes back, if he is returned by his constituents, the process will return. It
05:31won't go away. You can't just wipe the slate clean, wipe the slate clean, but because you've
05:36decided to call a by-election.
05:38Now, it wasn't long ago since you were here on the server telling us why you left for him.
05:43None of those included the recent controversies about this £5 million gift. What do you have
05:48to say to that? Do you condemn Farage's finances?
05:52Well, I mean, I'm not sure about the word condemn, but it is certainly strange. If you take donations
06:00in politics, whether that's at a local level, Kent-wide regional level, where we are here,
06:04or at a national level, you have to register it. It's part and parcel. Sometimes there are
06:10legitimate reasons why you take money. For example, the alternative to private money would
06:14be state funding of political parties, which has its big drawbacks as well. But the key
06:19thing is to be transparent. And of course, he made a choice not to declare the £5 million.
06:24Then he got found out, and he told the investigators there's nothing more to see. Then as soon as
06:29he said that, he then found out there was other donations in kind from this posh George character.
06:34I think there's more to come. And it's certainly difficult questions for Farage to answer.
06:39I see. And we'll leave it to the Parliamentary Investigative Committee there to find the full
06:44results of that. Thank you so much for joining us, Robbie.
06:46No worries.
06:48Early plans have been revealed to create a £3 billion AI data centre on the outskirts of a
06:53Kent village in 2030. The data centre is expected to be built on 145 acres of agricultural land
07:01on either side of New Barn Road and will be seen to create more than 700 temporary construction jobs
07:07and more than 400 permanent roles once operational. Meanwhile, an additional 55 acres of land have
07:13been allocated for landscaping, biodiversity enhancements, new publicly accessible green
07:18spaces and community facilities. The first set of public consultations will be held this autumn,
07:24accompanied by a full consultation on the draft plans set to take place in 2027.
07:29A fire broke out in a three-storey house, which has forced police to close off the road.
07:34Down in Folkestone, fire services and paramedics were called to the scene at Dover Road to tackle
07:38the fire, which started shortly after 1.30pm this afternoon. A statement from Kent Fire and Rescue
07:44Service told us that people living, working or travelling near Grove Road close to Dover Road
07:48in Folkestone are no longer advised to keep windows and doors closed. Five fire engines and a high
07:53vehicle remain at the scene and crews are making good progress. Please continue to share updates with
07:57anyone in the affected area who might not have access to the internet.
08:01A motorcyclist has appeared in court after being charged with 20 counts of dangerous driving,
08:06one of which involved him driving at 189 miles per hour. Former Gillingham resident Eamon
08:13Belashgua was stopped by police and a GoPro attached to his helmet revealed a series of related incidents
08:19across Medway, Snodland, the A2 and the M25. He appeared before magistrates in Sevenoaks on June
08:25and had been granted bail until he's due to return to Maidstone Crown Court the week beginning July 27th.
08:31Lauren Bennett, one of the singers featured on LMFAO's hit song, Party Rock Anthem, has passed away.
08:36The young singer, who's born in Metham, entered the X Factor before being asked to audition for the Paradiso Girls.
08:42And Party Rock Anthem, later released in 2011, named the fifth most successful song of the time.
08:52A new prosthetic centre has opened in Maidstone, replacing an older site in Medway Maritime Hospital.
08:57It'll serve over a thousand amputees here in the county, helping them through every stage
09:01of the process, as local democracy reporter Megan Shaw has been finding out.
09:05A new prosthetic centre in the heart of Maidstone, now open for business, replacing an ageing site
09:14in the Medway Maritime Hospital.
09:16Backed by a £1 million investment from Steeper, a prosthetics manufacturer,
09:22it will serve over a thousand amputees across the county under the NHS.
09:28For Lord Craig McKinley, who in 2023 lost all four of his limbs to sepsis, and later became
09:35the first Bionic MP, the new facility is about more than just medical care.
09:41I mean, if you lose one limb, fine, two limbs.
09:44I mean, I laugh at people, I say, oh, you've just got a flesh wound, haven't you?
09:48You've lost one limb.
09:49But obviously, the more limbs you lose, the more complicated life is.
09:53And places like this can start people again on their road to recovery and make them feel
09:57like they're valued by the health system, as they most certainly should be.
10:01It's not just getting used to life again, it's helping families and getting back to work.
10:07And to me, that is the best salvation for anybody who loses a limb and could find themselves
10:13quite easily in a bit of a mental health hole.
10:16Up to 60 million people worldwide are amputees, and the impacts can be exhaustive, from finding
10:24and staying in work, to managing lifelong pain, to finding accessible housing.
10:30And for many, prosthetics can be the gateway to life as it was before.
10:38From specialist physiotherapy to custom-made casts, the site takes care of it all.
10:47Now, one of the main benefits to having a one-stop shop like this here in Maystone is that patients
10:53are able to receive all the care they need around the prosthetic in one place, right from
10:59the consultation with a doctor, through to potential counselling, and then on to casting, and then
11:05finally fitting, which would take place in one of the fitting rooms, like this one here.
11:10After amputation, they'll go through some therapies.
11:13But once they're ready for rehabilitation, they'll come here and they'll take some early
11:16bits of physiotherapy for their on-site team here.
11:20If it's upper limb, they'll probably do more work with an occupational therapist.
11:24And then when they're ready for more basic limbs, we'll start to do casting, or we can do
11:28scanning within this room, where we can manufacture a limb, and get them mobile again.
11:33And with the opening ceremony complete, there was nothing left to do but lift the curtain
11:38on the new site for those in and around the county town.
11:42Megan Shaw, in Maystone.
11:48Well, that's all the time we have for now, but we'll see you in just a few minutes after
11:52this short break. See you soon.
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19:46exposed to the World Cup and have spent time in kind of either shopping centres or visiting
19:54some of our kind of events, Kent's show being one last weekend and all of those kinds of things.
20:00How can businesses that might be watching, their owners might be watching,
20:03really catch on to the craze and draw in bigger crowds?
20:08I think in terms of businesses, one of the things that we always say and we kind of promote a
20:13lot
20:13through our enterprise package where we offer business support as well for people to be able
20:17to think about what is their market, how can they capitalise from things that are happening
20:22and I mean some of the Kent businesses have really capitalised. If you look at Hulo Farm,
20:27for example, completely different kind of sports but Wimbledon strawberries come from Kent and I was
20:33listening to one of the international players talk about Hulo Farms in Kent and I think that's just
20:39something that's really good but also shows a business that's thought about their product
20:43placement and where they can really make a difference and really capitalise on things.
20:47So I think, you know, pubs have traditionally been very good at that and kind of putting on a screen
20:52and doing kind of things around the World Cup but I've seen also other businesses kind of come and
20:59explain that, yeah, you can come to the hairdressers and do that or you can benefit from
21:06seeing the World Cup in other environments. The other side is that is also about capitalising
21:13on the people that don't want to hear about the World Cup and not interested in football and
21:17the ones that did have a very good night's sleep on Sunday night and are feeling very refreshed on
21:23Monday. But I think generally the things that we support businesses in is understanding what
21:29their market is, how can they capitalise on things that are happening in the world and around them
21:34and in the region and internationally and how can they make the most of the opportunities that are
21:38out there. And that's through, you know, networking obviously that we do but Enterprise Package is
21:43definitely one that is great because it has that business support.
21:47I see. Well, thank you so much for joining us. And now let's take a look at the weather for
21:53the week.
21:58Well, starting us off this evening, it's looking like a nice and mild one. Highs of 24 up there in
22:04Dartford, lows of 19 in Canterbury, almost winter by what we've been used to recently. And pretty much
22:09the same into tomorrow morning, nice and sunny, 23s and 22s across the board and getting a bit warmer
22:15into tomorrow afternoon. Only some more cloud up there in Dartford, lows of 27 there in Canterbury.
22:21And for the rest of the week, it looks like a return to some of those really hot temperatures
22:24we've been used to. 32 degrees there on a Thursday sun throughout our weekend, cooling to 25 on Saturday.
22:37Now, journalists from across the southeast came to collect prizes and network at the Kent Press and
22:42Broadcast Awards down in Canterbury. I happened to be invited, so I went down to the awards to find out
22:49more and hopefully do a bit of networking as well. Let's take a look.
22:53As far as professions go, journalism isn't always the most well-liked of jobs, with public
22:58polls suggesting it falls alongside politicians and lawyers as particularly unpopular. But
23:03the Kent Press and Broadcast Awards aim to shine a light on the work that print, radio, TV
23:07and online journalists do. The twelfth year of the event saw Paul Brand, the UK editor of
23:13ITV News, known for reporting party gates during Boris Johnson's tenure as Prime Minister, hosting
23:18the awards.
23:19I think local and regional media is absolutely essential, particularly when we've got a Prime
23:24Minister coming in who's talking about devolution. I want to know who's going to hold those devolved
23:29figureheads to account. Who's going to make sure that they're delivering on the promises
23:34that they make. And without local and regional journalists, that is not going to happen. So we have
23:39to keep celebrating and recognising the importance of that layer of journalism. It is absolutely
23:45fundamental to our democracy.
23:47Well, it can't really get more Kentish than this, can it? We're at the St Lawrence ground,
23:51home of the Spitfires, and we're celebrating all of Kent's best media, whether that's print,
23:56radio, broadcast or anything else. There's some of the biggest faces in South East journalism
24:01here, all hoping to win some top prizes.
24:04There were 16 categories up for grabs, with news teams from across the South East collecting
24:07either highly commended or coming off the stage as winners of their category.
24:12It's just great to be here amongst some of the best journalists in Kent, because they're
24:18producing great work all the time and so just even to be nominated is obviously really flattering.
24:24It's not really an award for me, it's an award for the Centre for Journalism at the University
24:27of Kent and the work that myself and my colleagues over 15 or more years have been doing to breed
24:33journalistic talent in Kent to try to make sure that Kent has a really thriving kind of production
24:40line of young talent coming through, serving their communities, telling important stories.
24:45Features are particularly interesting because you get to tell some stories that maybe haven't been told
24:50before and maybe haven't been told by everybody else as well and find out real regionally relevant
24:57stories that really anchored that story in the region.
25:01My heart was beating out of my chest when they were doing the category, I was like this is worse
25:07than presenting the news, I was like never again, but no it was lovely, so nice to go up on
25:13stage
25:13and collect the award, so thank you.
25:16After giving out all the awards the winners gathered for a photo on the cricket grounds and Paul Brand
25:21answered questions from the crowd about his own work, experiences and thoughts on the industry,
25:25which, along with the awards, had many young journalists hoping it would give them a boost
25:30in their careers. Finn McDermid for Kame TV in Canterbury.
25:35A beloved Kent summer event will be coming to an end this weekend after nearly 50 years.
25:41This Saturday's Leeds Castle Concert near Maidstone is expected to attract thousands to visit for one
25:47night of music. The event promises everything fans have come to expect, including the Royal
25:51Philharmonic Orchestra, a Spitfire Flypast and an amazing fireworks finale. Our community reporter
25:57Henry Luck joins me now. So why is this the last concert for Leeds Castle, Henry?
26:01The organisers Heritage Events Limited, they're ending their contractual agreement for live events so
26:10therefore it's going to be a massive finale this year and as you say we're going to have all sorts
26:16of
26:17music, celebrations and fireworks. And very quickly Henry, what can fans expect from this emotional
26:24finale? Of course they can expect the Philharmonica Orchestra courtesy of Dr John Rigby who will be
26:34conducting the event and also another Spitfire Flypast, cannons and fireworks. I see, well thank you so much for
26:41your time Henry. Thank you. Well that's all the time we have. Thank you so much for watching and we'll
26:47see
26:47you very soon. See you soon. Bye bye.
27:13Bye bye.
27:13Bye bye.
27:14Bye bye.
27:28Bye bye-bye.
27:30Bye bye-bye.
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