CANDIDATES IN MAY 2021 KENT COUNTY COUNCIL ELECTIONS WHO SIGNED SONIK’S HOSPITALS PLEDGE
Save Our NHS In Kent (SONIK) asked people taking part in the Kent County Council elections in May to sign a pledge to fight the closures of accident and emergency, stroke and maternity care in east Kent NHS hospitals.
The full pledge is at the end of this document. Seventeen candidates signed up, their details are below, including name, party and area they stood for.
SONIK contacted all candidates in East Kent with the pledge either directly through their email addresses or indirectly through their party offices, apart from two who we could find no contact details for.
CANDIDATES WHO SIGNED THE SONIK PLEDGE
Martyn Pennington, Liberal Democrat, Birchington and Rural
John Finnegan, Liberal Democrat, Margate
GREENS
Guy Pullen, Green, Tenterden
Hilary Jones, Green, Ashford Rural West
Dawnie Nilsson, Green, Ashford Rural South.
Steve Campkin, Green, Ashford East
Geoff Meaden, Green, Ashford Rural East
Liz Wright, Green, Ashford Central
Thomas Pizzey, Green, Ashford South
Sarah Gleave , Green, Dover North
Becky Wing, Green, Ramsgate
LABOUR
Aram Rawf, Labour, Broadstairs
Karen Constantine, Labour, Ramsgate
Mark Hopkinson, Labour, Ramsgate
Barry Lewis, Labour, Margate
Rob Yates , Labour, Birchington and Rural
WOMEN’S EQUALITY PARTY
Kanndiss Riley, Cliftonville
THE CANDIDATE’S PLEDGE
“If I am elected a Kent county councillor in May 2021 I pledge to undertake all paths available to me to stop closures of A&E, stroke and maternity care in east Kent NHS hospitals, including:
—Accept nothing less than three excellent hospitals for east Kent, with their own emergency stroke units and accident and emergency departments plus full maternity – these hospitals being at Margate, Canterbury and Ashford.
—Refuse to accept any policy, argument or vote which provides anything less than the above
—Refuse any party whip, diktat or ruling which asks me to accept anything less than the above
—Lobby in an open letter all MPs and councillors in east Kent from my party, to take all available steps to ensure we have three excellent hospitals in East Kent and a stop to the proposed A&E closures, as described above, and also to lobby the Secretary of State for Health and Social Care to stop the closures.”
SONiK – Save Our NHS in Kent 