Public Response To Actions By Craig Mackinlay MP

Public Response To Actions By Craig Mackinlay MP Re. Parliamentary Petition regarding Ramsgate Town Council & Manston Airport

This statement has been issued by the Chair of Ramsgate Town Council, Cllr Steve Albon, in response to Craig Mackinlay’s numerous press releases encouraging residents to partition Parliament to “request that the House of Commons urges Ramsgate Town Council to accept the decision of the Parliamentary Under Secretary of State for Transport, work constructively with the Government, RSP, Thanet MPs and other local authorities and elected representatives towards the re-opening of the airport, and to refrain from spending more public money on further legal challenges”.

“On behalf of Ramsgate Town Council please may I take the opportunity to respond to our MP’s extremely churlish behaviour, we find it very disappointing that Mr Mackinlay is willing to stoop to attacking a democratically elected local council for political gains.

The MP knows that Parliament has no power to intervene in parish council matters, which would go against the Government principles on localism.  The petition is a waste of Parliamentary time and the electorate’s time.

The MP is of course entitled to his opinion, but he has no evidence to back-up his assertion of wrongdoing by the Town Council.  Mr Mackinlay is welcome to contact me if ever wants to discuss matters or seek clarification on the activities of Ramsgate Town Council, which he has never attempted to do.

Until such time, we remain disappointed that our own MP continues to use his position of power to undermine and discredit the hard work that this Council puts into promoting Ramsgate and supporting our community and residents in ways that our larger councils are not able to meet.”