East June 2016

News | Elections 2016

New police and crime commissioner named

CONSERVATIVE Matthew Scott has succeeded Ann Barnes in the role of the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner. Mr Scottwas declared the winner

after the poll went into a second count with the Tory candidate just ahead of UKIP’s Henry Bolton. In the end, Mr Scott had a total of 104,558 votes from both rounds and Mr Bolton had 87,978. Earlier, the four other candidates

were eliminated. They included the Liberal Democrat David Naghi, from Maidstone, who fellwell short of the wining total with 19,601. Mr Scott said: “Coming from a policing family I do have an under- standing of the issues that police of- ficers face and what resources they need to get the job done." Under the PCC rules, the chief constable retains operational control of the Kent force at all times. Mr Scott will be there to hold him to ac- count for the decisions he makes. He added: “I will be going out

there and promoting what those roles and responsibilities are which includes oversight of the budget, the setting of the council tax, commis-

Matthew Scott

sioning certain services and working with other organisations to help to cut crime.” Mr Bolton’s UKIP team had been hopeful of beating Mr Scott and will take heart from the result. One team member said:“We gave

them a real run for their money. They won’t be takingUKIPlightly in the future.” Mrs Barnes did not enjoy an easy

time during her nearly four years in the role of PCC. A few months after she was elected, the £15,000 a year “youth commissioner” Paris Brownwas ex-

How you voted

The result: Matthew Scott (Con) 104,558 Henry Bolton (UKIP) 87,978 Tris Osborne (Lab) 50,978 David Naghi (Lib Dem) 19,601 Sandher Gurvinder (Ind) 26,221 Steve Uncles (Eng Dems) 8,311 Turnout 21.5%

HowMaidstone voted: Matthew Scott (Con) 11, 309 Henry Bolton (UKIP) 9,079 Tris Osborne (Lab) 4,753 David Naghi (Lib Dem) 6,228 Sandher Gurvinder (Ind) 2,955 Steve Uncles (Eng Dems) 997 (Turn out 32.1%)

posed by a national Sunday news- paper as havingmadeinappropriate remarks on social media. She re- signed days later. MrsBarnes hit the headlines again

when she appeared in a Channel 4 documentary whichmany senior of- ficers in the Kent force were un- happy with. In the film, she was apparently unable to explain what her job role involved.

downsmail.co.uk Op Stack cost

pledge - PCC KENT’S newly-elected Police and Crime Commissioner has held talks with the Home Secretary Theresa May about clawing back the crip- pling costs of Operation Stack. Conservative PCC Matthew Scott

met Mrs May before the elections. Mrs Barnes had previously asked

for nearly £600,000 from the gov- ernment, but was refused. Operation Stack has been imple- mented for more than 20 years as a means of parking large volumes of freight on the M20 when the Port of Dover’s services are suspended, there is industrial action at Calais or the Channel Tunnel is closed. It causes misery for people trying

to use the motorway. Stack was used 32 times last summer. Mr Scott said: "One of the first

things I did when I met the home secretary as a candidate [was] to discuss [this], so there is some groundwork that has been done..." He said he would assess the cost

of Stack, how money was being spent, and how it could be policed safely without Kent taxpayers being "overburdened". The Home Office said: "The

Home Secretary has agreed to work with the Kent Police and Crime Commissioner's office to discuss the costs of Operation Stack.”

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