The Swale Independents are a local

political party A political party is an organization that coordinates candidates to compete in a particular country's elections. It is common for the members of a party to hold similar ideas about politics, and parties may promote specific political ideology ...

based in the

borough of Swale Swale is a local government district with borough status in Kent, England and is bounded by Medway to the west, Canterbury to the east, Ashford to the south and Maidstone to the south west. Its council is based in Sittingbourne. The dist ...

. It was founded in 2018 by the former leader of

UKIP The UK Independence Party (UKIP; ) is a Eurosceptic, right-wing populist political party in the United Kingdom. The party reached its greatest level of success in the mid-2010s, when it gained two members of Parliament and was the largest ...

on Swale Borough Council, Mike Baldock. They sit together with one

independent Independent or Independents may refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Artist groups * Independents (artist group), a group of modernist painters based in the New Hope, Pennsylvania, area of the United States during the early 1930s * Independe ...

on Swale Borough Council as "The Swale Independents Alliance".

History

At the 2019 Swale Borough Council election, the party elected 10 councillors. After the election, a "rainbow coalition" of the Swale Independents,

Labour Labour or labor may refer to: * Childbirth, the delivery of a baby * Labour (human activity), or work ** Manual labour, physical work ** Wage labour, a socioeconomic relationship between a worker and an employer ** Organized labour and the labour ...

, Liberal Democrats, independents, and the

Greens Greens may refer to: *Leaf vegetables such as collard greens, mustard greens, spring greens, winter greens, spinach, etc. Politics Supranational * Green politics * Green party, political parties adhering to Green politics * Global Greens * Europ ...

, was formed. This ended 17 years of

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization in ...

control of the council. In 2020, the party's leader, Mike Baldock, faced criticism for opposing new houses being built, despite being a

landlord A landlord is the owner of a house, apartment, condominium, land, or real estate which is rented or leased to an individual or business, who is called a tenant (also a ''lessee'' or ''renter''). When a juristic person is in this position, ...

who owns three houses, and an acre of land, worth £1 million in total. At the

2021 Kent County Council election Elections to Kent County Council were held on 6 May 2021, alongside other local elections In many parts of the world, local elections take place to select office-holders in local government, such as mayors and councillors. Elections to position ...

, Baldock won a seat, becoming the party's sole representative on the council. From April 2022 to May 2023, Baldock served as Swale Borough Council's leader. At the 2023 Swale Borough Council election, the party won 11 council seats. Afterwards, they formed another coalition with Labour and the Greens. In December 2023, Baldock resigned as deputy leader of Swale Borough Council, after a disagreement with the Labour group. He returned to the role just two weeks later. In March 2024, Baldock was selected as the party's candidate for Sittingbourne and Sheppey in the 2024 general election. He came fourth with 7.9% of the vote.

Principles

The party supports Swale Borough Council changing from a cabinet system to a committee structure. It opposes

whipping Flagellation (Latin , 'whip'), flogging or whipping is the act of beating the human body with special implements such as whips, rods, switches, the cat o' nine tails, the sjambok, the knout, etc. Typically, flogging has been imposed on an ...

and the prioritisation of

partisan Partisan may refer to: Military * Partisan (weapon), a pole weapon * Partisan (military), paramilitary forces engaged behind the front line Films * ''Partisan'' (film), a 2015 Australian film * '' Hell River'', a 1974 Yugoslavian film also kno ...

interests over local people.

References

External links

* Locally based political parties in England Politics of Swale Political parties established in 2018 2018 establishments in England {{UK-party-stub