Pride in Place

Kevin McKenna Excerpts

Wednesday 15th October 2025 Commons Chamber

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I 100% agree. That example shows the difference that a Labour Government working with a Labour council can make. We inherited a decade and a half of decline and neglect, and it is—[Interruption.] The hon. Member for Broadland and Fakenham (Jerome Mayhew) is sighing from the Conservative Front Bench. He should be far more ashamed about his Government’s record. It is our job to turn around their failure and neglect.

[Kevin McKenna (Sittingbourne and Sheppey) (Lab)]

Since the announcement of £20 million for the east of Sheppey, my constituents have been fizzing with excitement. I am getting loads of responses to my online surveys, and the coffee morning I held on Saturday—the first of many I will hold—was very well attended. People had really great ideas, but they had two main things to feed back. First, they want local people to be at the heart of this initiative. The citizens of Eastchurch, Warden, Leysdown and Shellness all want to be part of it, but they want to make sure it is centred on them, not on outside voices. Secondly, they want the funding to be a catalyst for further change and investment in the area. I would like to hear the Minister’s thoughts on that, and I would also quickly remind her that I have three more neighbourhoods in the bottom 10% of the country—just to add that to the list.

[Miatta Fahnbulleh]

I congratulate my hon. Friend on his amazing work to reach out to his community and get that engagement and feedback from people. That is what will drive the change. I thank him for the feedback from his residents and community; will take it on board. We completely agree that residents need to be in the driving seat and that this initiative needs to be a catalyst. If we get this right, we can take the model to Whitehall, local businesses and philanthropy and say, “This is how we drive change in our communities. Continue to co-invest.”