Helen Catt

Residents and business owners in Margate outline what they want from incoming Prime Minister Andy Burnham’s plan to give seaside towns more control over their development. Despite recent cultural and tourism-driven regeneration, the area still struggles with high youth unemployment, seasonal work and housing pressures linked to short‑term holiday lets. Locals call for investment guided by community needs, more year‑round economic activity, improved training and apprenticeships, faster transport links and the reopening of major cultural venues. Uncertainty remains over how and when Burnham will transfer powers to areas without elected mayors.

A man who threatened former MP Rehman Chishti with being “put in a grave” during a 2023 funeral in Kent has been sentenced to 18 weeks in prison and banned from holding public office for five years. Farris Wilson confronted Chishti over the Gaza conflict and made a death threat that the court described as violent intimidation. The case has renewed focus on the safety of current and former MPs, with the home secretary announcing a review of security guidance following recent political violence. Wilson, formerly a parish councillor and Green Party candidate, had already been suspended from the party after the charges were filed.