The government has denied Medway Council’s request to allocate both the 4^th and 8^th May 2020 as bank holidays, so that VE Day can be properly observed without affecting Sweeps festival.

The request was first suggested by Labour and Co-operative Group Leader Cllr Vince Maple at full council last month.

Cllr Vince Maple, Leader of the Medway Labour and Co-operative Group said, ‘Once again this government has shown that their priorities are completely misguided.

‘Creating an additional bank holiday for important events is not unprecedented – the government were happy to do so back in 2011 for the Royal Wedding.

‘By denying our request to allocate both the 4^th and 8^th May as bank holidays, they have implied that events like the royal wedding are more important than marking the 75^th anniversary of the end of a war that killed 85 million people, and is more important than supporting our struggling high streets.’

Cllr Alex Paterson, Medway Labour and Co-operative Councillor for Rochester West said, ‘Having lost more than £600,000 of taxpayers’ money on Castle Concerts in two years, Rochester’s economy could do without another avoidable setback like this.

‘This pathetic response from Lord Duncan exposes another abject failure by Kelly Tolhurst MP to stand up for the people of Rochester and Strood. As one of his departmental colleagues at BEIS, Kelly Tolhurst was uniquely placed to voice the concerns of our constituents on this issue.

‘There are only two explanations for her failure to do so. Either my Rochester West predecessor neglected to make the case at all or she is of so little influence among her colleagues that she was ignored. I am not sure which is worse.

‘It’s now abundantly clear that far from giving our area a voice at the heart of government, the only person who benefits from this ministerial job is Kelly herself.’

Kelly Tolhurst MP defends government decision in Parliament: https://www.theyworkforyou.com/wrans/?id=2019-07-09.275093.h