Antony Hook

kentonline.co.ukLib Dems snatch victory from Conservatives in by-electionThe Liberal Democrats have defied the odds and pulled off a memorable by-election victory.

People from outside Kent often assume this is somewhere Reform are winning elections. Not true. They haven't won anything in Kent since Aug 2025. Nothing, in any elections across the Kent area since then. This week - another case of Reform not winning in Kent www.kentonline.co.uk/weald/news/l...

To avoid queries (def no pedantic ones) by 'Kent' I mean the area within the boundaries of the County Council and the 12 Districts and Boroughs. I do not mean Medway which left in 1998 or parts of London that are historically Kentish and sometimes use Kent in their postal address.

This Thursday is #MerchantNavyDay. The Kent Lib Dems have formally requested that Kent County Council flies the Red Ensign to honour our seafarers. Disappointingly, this tradition at County Hall has been dropped since Reform took power in May 2025. Time to bring it back! 🚢

As the Gateway to the UK, Kent relies heavily on ports like Dover, Folkestone, Sheerness & Ramsgate. KCC has a duty to visibly champion these workers and ensure operators adhere to high standards of fair pay, safe conditions, and job security. ⚓️

Raising the Red Ensign is a simple but powerful gesture. We're calling on KCC to make this an annual event with maritime charities & unions, and to actively promote maritime careers to young people using local assets like the National Maritime Training Centre at Gravesend.

Our merchant seafarers are the unsung heroes of our economy. This entirely civilian workforce transports over 90% of the UK’s imports, including half our food and fuel. Crews face dangerous conditions and long periods away from home to keep our supply chains moving. 🌊

Today is the final day of NHS Kent & Medway’s IVF consultation. My @LibDems colleagues & I on Kent County Council have formally submitted our response. Our message to NHS chiefs is simple: protect NHS-funded fertility care and stop proposed cuts across Kent. 🧵👇

We are also demanding fairness for female same-sex couples. Currently, they are required to self-fund expensive private IUI rounds before qualifying for NHS IVF—a financial barrier not placed on heterosexual couples. This inequality must end.

Over 1,600 local people engaged with NHS plans, showing strong support for protecting services. NHS leaders must listen to residents, back families, and protect IVF access. 📄 Read our full 4-page submission letter below:

For many, having children is life’s most important milestone. Infertility takes a massive emotional toll—fertility care is essential healthcare, not a luxury. NICE recommends 3 funded cycles for women under 40. Kent offers only 2, so local access is already below national clinical guidance.

We are urging NHS Kent and Medway to: 🔹 Retain eligibility up to age 40, with 2 funded cycles and 4 embryo transfers. 🔹 Reject cuts to 1 cycle or dropping the age cap to 38, which would lock dozens out of care. 🔹 Ensure parity and fair funding across our region.

6 Aug

Hold up. Employing people with no right to work in the UK is already an offence with a max sentence of 5y. It can also carry heavy financial criminal and civil penalties See: Penalties for employing illegal workers - GOV.UK share.google/WPVATmaSsM2T...

6 Aug

Government could choose to apply more resources to enforcement of offences that have long been created.

14 July

A key thing about #Clacton is that Reform themselves have said there will likely be two by-elections. People, including Reform supporters, can vote Binface this time to send a message. They can vote differently in the second by-election.

9 July

This is what Farage was saying in 2019. How things change?

www.bbc.co.uk/news/article...

15 June

Most of us were glad to see the Royal Marines interdict a Russian sanctions evading ship. But not the Reform leader at Kent County Council. At this rate, I think they took down the 🇺🇦 to replace with a 🇷🇺 at County Hall.

Antony Hook reposted

Mr RobertBob

@mrrobertbob.bsky.social

15 June

Replying to @antonyhook.bsky.social

bbc.co.ukReform councillor quits party calling defection 'a big mistake'Councillor Robbie Lammas calls quitting the Conservatives eight months ago 'embarrassing'.

🚨 These remarks today from Reform’s Bridget Porter are utterly outrageous. Watch her comments below. The Reform Party must denounce this immediately and remove the whip, or the public will rightly assume these views represent their party as a whole. 👇

Yet at Kent County Council we had to challenge NHS bosses over cuts to Kent & Medway IVF. They are stopping all IVF for women over 38 and halving it for those under 37. This turns IVF into a luxury based on the ability to pay, rather than medical need. We've asked the Sec of State to intervene.

As we fight to protect this vital care, the last thing Kent needs is Reform councillors attacking IVF patients and callously suggesting parenthood is a privilege some don't deserve. We will keep standing up for families and fair NHS funding. 🔶

Having children is a profound life experience, and for many, the most important thing they will ever do. It is heartbreaking for couples who struggle to conceive naturally. Providing NHS medical support—including IVF—is the right, compassionate thing to do.

27 May

Why is there a shortage of people working in publicly funded criminal law? Well, the state paying people *SEVEN YEARS* after they do some work work might be a factor. The software said "received with thanks" on my behalf. I had my own words.

kentonline.co.uk‘Reform leader is simply wrong on school breakfast clubs’The leader of the opposition at County Hall has taken aim at KCC boss Linden Kemkaran over her views on school breakfast clubs.

School breakfast clubs have been under attack from Reform but I felt someone needed to defend them. (Not my choice of photo 😐 but hopefully the words make sense) www.kentonline.co.uk/kent/news/re...

I see a number of politicians weighing in on the referral to the Court of Appeal of the sentence of two boys for rape. I don't wish to comment on a case that is sub judice but can shed a bit of light on the process having been in in criminal law, both in private practice and in-house for the CPS.

In most cases where counsel advises a sentence was Unduly Lenient, the AG will refer it to the Court of Appeal. It is very unlikely that political correspondence will prosecutorial process at all. A sentence either meets the ULS test or it does not. An MP's opinion is irrelevant.

As a Crown Prosecutor I rec'd, a couple of times, MPs of challenging why I was prosecuting someone. I would reply politely with confirmation of the charges and extracts from the opening or sentencing notes that had been read in court. Their letters could not influence my decisions and never did.

My main observation is that politicians are extremely unlikely to influence this process. The prosecution team, counsel, the reviewing lawyer and (police) officer in the case will be alert to a lenient sentence. They do not fall asleep after securing conviction.

Indeed, the Code for Crown Prosecutors and the Farquharson Guidelines are explicit that prosecutors have a role in sentence, mainly to assist the court with the law and relevant guidelines. If the sentence meets the test of Undue Leniency then counsel will draft an advice which will go to the AG

I was talking to fellow councillors about planting more trees to cool local streets in the future. It reminded me of Marshal Lyautey asking to plant some oaks. His gardener said, "But Monsieur, they'll take a hundred years to mature." He replied, "In that case, plant them this afternoon!"

Democracy in Kent is under attack from a Reform administration that is clearly terrified of scrutiny. They are moving to quiet the opposition while prioritising songs and prayers over policy discussion. It is a bizarre and anti-democratic shift for our county. 🧵 1/6

Perhaps most chillingly, they are rewriting the Council’s Constitution. They want to delete our stated purpose to "improve the quality of life of the people of Kent." Why? They won't say. They seem under instruction to dismantle transparency, but can't explain the logic. 5/6

This goes to Full Council on 21 May. If pushed through, Kent’s democracy will be diminished from July. We won't let this attempt to silence the opposition and shield a failing administration go unchallenged. 🛡️ #Kent #KCC #LocalDemocracy 6/6

The excuse? They claim they need to "save time" in meetings that last all day. Yet, at the same meeting, they proposed adding the National Anthem and the Lord’s Prayer to the proceedings. Reform wants less debate on the issues that matter, and more performance. 3/6

It doesn’t stop at speaking times. Reform also blocked a review of the "call-in" process, which is vital for the Scrutiny Committee to hold the administration to account. When asked why they were voting down a more effective scrutiny process, Reform members stayed silent. 4/6

Reform has voted to slash the time I have to respond to the Council Leader’s reports. I currently get 6 minutes to address her 10-minute report (plus her 6-minute right of reply). They want to cut me to 5. They aren't cutting the Leader's time—only our right to challenge her. 2/6

Badenoch punishing Worcs Conservatives for working with Greens and Lib Dems to keep Reform out of power is odd. Across England, local Cons have fought elections recently saying "vote for us to keep Reform out" - asking other parties to vote for them tactically.

@manofkentlibdem.bsky.social

If you ask Green and LD supporters to help you "stop Reform" then if you win you have to "stop Reform" in the council chamber, and work with other parties. Badenoch's position is illogical and incoherent.

Antony Hook reposted

Man of Kent

11 May

#RefUK already dismantling the mechanisms for democratic scrutiny and accountability at Kent County Council. The @libdems.org.uk - Opposition Leader, @antonyhook.bsky.social is not standing for any of their shenanigans. www.maidstonelibdems.co.uk/news/article...

maidstonelibdems.co.ukKent Opposition Leader Slams Reform’s “Disgraceful” Plot to Silence ScrutinyAntony Hook, Leader of the Opposition at Kent County Council, has condemned a series of "anti-democratic" moves by the Reform administration designed to gag opposition parties and shield the ruling gr...

9 May

I'm seeing increased talk about proportional representation, which is good. It will obv make multi-party administrations more likely. But PR will also make such coalitions easier to manage. The electoral risks for coalition partners will be less severe under PR.

9 May

Happy Europe Day. As Churchill said, "we have remade the fabric of Europe". Work that goes on, and must continue to go on.

Antony Hook reposted

Ed Davey

@eddavey.libdems.org.uk

7 May

Over the past few weeks, I’ve met some incredible people and heard what matters most to them and their communities. I’m so grateful to every Lib Dem candidate and volunteer who has worked so hard to be a voice for their community. Let’s keep it going. Polls are open until 10pm.

theguardian.comDame Shirley Porter obituaryFormer leader of Westminster city council found to have misused her powers in the ‘homes for votes’ scandal

5 May

Shirley Porter is a reminder that the corruption of a political group using power for its own political advantage is not new. But it is disgusting, preventable and warrants days of reckoning for those who do it. www.theguardian.com/society/2026...

Antony Hook@antonyhook.bsky.social

1/5 🚨 Nigel Farage’s new plan isn’t a policy—it’s a protection racket. Suggesting that detention centres should be allocated to "punish" communities who don't vote Reform is a direct assault on the rule of law and the principles of British democracy. 🧵

4/5 It’s also incredibly telling: Farage is admitting his own flagship policy is a burden. If he thinks these centres are a blight to be "prioritised" in opposition areas, he is effectively admitting his plans are detrimental to the communities that host them.

5/5 Liberal Democrats believe in an asylum system that is firm, fair, and evidence-based. We believe in the rule of law and respecting every community—no matter how they vote. Our country deserves better than government by vendetta. 🔶

2/5 In a democracy, government must serve the whole nation. We don’t allocate national infrastructure based on a map of political grudges. To weaponise the machinery of the state against your political opponents is a hallmark of authoritarianism.

3/5 This proves Reform UK is fundamentally unfit for office. Public service requires integrity and impartiality. By promising to "shield" their own areas while seeking to penalise others, they show they have no interest in governing for the common good.

Antony Hook reposted

European Parliament

@europarl.europa.eu

2 May

Come celebrate Europe Day with us at the European Parliament in Brussels on 9 May and Strasbourg on 17 May! Have fun with interactive activities for all ages, learn something new about Europe, and ask questions to MEPs and experts. Learn more: link.europa.eu/dfDFfR