In a letter to Tonbridge & Malling MP, Tom Tugendhat, Thameslink and Network Rail have advised that Thameslink trains will not start running from Maidstone East to Central London in December. No new date has been given for the introduction of these services.

This devastating news comes less than a year after the former Conservative Transport Secretary, Chris Grayling, gave a written undertaking that Thameslink would be going ahead this December to Rob Bird, the Leader of the Liberal Democrats at Kent CC.

Kent County Council voted unanimously in support of the Liberal Democrat motion ^{[see below]} today. The motion was proposed by Ian Chittenden and seconded by Ida Lindfield, It was then accepted, without amendment, by the Cabinet Member on behalf of the Conservative Group.

Now the KCC officers need a constructive negotiation with the bus operators. Then we will need agreement at February's budget meeting. So there is still some way to go but it's a good step forward.

At tomorrow's County Council meeting Liberal Democrat, Ian Chittenden, will ask Kent County Council to consider allowing disabled persons and their companions to use their bus passes at all times. Currently they cannot be used in Kent before 9:30am.

Being disabled should not stop someone from going to work or getting to a medical appointment or doing so many things which most of us take for granted. But it does.

In connection with the Museum's exhibition 'Eurotunnel 25 years' which opens on Saturday 14 September, the Friends of Folkestone Museum are putting on a series of talks around the topic of the Channel Tunnel.

The first of these will be on Saturday 21 September from 2pm to 3.45pm in the Folkestone Museum's Education Room. The talk will be by Chris Johnson who worked for many years for TML and Eurotunnel and will cover the tunnel's history, construction and operation.

Despite repeated requests, the Department for Transport continues to refuse to confirm that Thameslink services will be running from Bearsted, Maidstone and West Malling to Central London by the end of December.

"Further delays to the introduction of this long-overdue service would be totally unacceptable", says Rob Bird, Leader of the Liberal Democrat Group at County Hall. "Local rail users, residents and businesses are fed up with the continued uncertainty."

After a great deal of thought, I have reached the conclusion that it is not possible to serve my constituents' and country's best interests as a Conservative Member of Parliament.

Over 27 years ago I joined the Conservative & Unionist Party led by Sir John Major. Since 2010 I have had the privilege of representing the Bracknell Constituency. The Party I joined in 1992 is not the Party I am leaving today.

Boris Johnson knows that two-thirds of MPs and two-thirds of the public do not want to see Britain crash out of the EU without a deal.

He knows a no-deal Brexit would cause shortages of food and medicine. He knows no one voted for this kind of self-inflicted disaster.

It seems Boris Johnson will stop at nothing to implement his anti-democratic shutdown of parliament and force a disastrous No Deal on the British people. Today, the @LibDems continue to work with other parties on emergency legislation to stop this authoritarian power grab. https://t.co/V0uZSaN9sa

- Jo Swinson (@joswinson) September 2, 2019

A regular meet-up on the first Wednesday of every morth for Liberal Democrat members, supporters and the Lib Dem curious in the Folkestone and Hythe area!

Simply come along for a social drink and a chat: no speeches, no leaflet delivery. It's a "buy your own" event (sorry!) but come along and say hello to our Councillors, campaigners, members and friends.