When did you last read a story about your local council that wasn’t buried in a national outlet’s sidebar? For most people in Kent, the answer is probably “not recently.” And that’s a problem.
Local journalism across the UK has been hollowed out over the past decade. Hundreds of local papers have closed. Newsrooms that once employed dozens now run on skeleton crews, if they run at all. The result? Council meetings go uncovered. Planning decisions slip through without scrutiny. Public money gets spent with nobody watching.
Kent has felt this sharply. The county has 12 district and borough councils, a county council, and two unitary authorities. That’s a lot of decision-making — billions of pounds in public spending — and not nearly enough journalists to hold it all to account.
That’s what makes outlets like Kent Local News, which covers council decisions across all 12 Kent districts, so valuable. Independent local reporting fills the gap that the national press can’t — or won’t — cover.
Why this matters for democracy
Council decisions affect your daily life more than most parliamentary votes. Bin collections, planning permissions, social care budgets, road maintenance, school funding — these are decided locally. Without journalists asking awkward questions and publishing what they find, accountability disappears. And when accountability disappears, standards drop.
What we believe
GB Freedom Party stands for transparency in local government. We think residents deserve to know how their money is being spent, who’s making the decisions, and whether those decisions are working. Local journalism is a critical part of that ecosystem. It’s not the only safeguard — freedom of information requests, public consultations, and engaged councillors all play a role — but it’s the one that reaches the most people.
What you can do
Read your local news. Share it. If your area has an independent outlet covering council business, support it. A democracy that doesn’t know what its government is doing isn’t much of a democracy at all.
