This week’s Kent Politics Podcast welcomes Chatham and Aylesford MP Tracey Crouch who announced she will be stepping down at the next election.

She discusses why she’s decided to walk away from politics, what she’s achieved for her constituency, what she’ll miss about Westminster, and what she plans to do next.

The Conservative MP was first elected in 2010 and served as the minister for sport and civil society before resigning over a delay in the reduction of the maximum stake for fixed odds betting terminals.

In 2020 she announced she had been diagnosed with breast cancer which she has said made her re-evaluate what was most important in her life.

She completed treatment in February 2021, but in her announcement she was stepping down she said her diagnosis played a role in her reconsideration of what career challenges she wanted to pursue.

Also in this episode our reporters discuss the suspension of two Medway Labour candidates due to an alleged fight, what Canterbury City Council plans to do with levelling up funding, and the numbers of children getting into Kent’s grammar schools despite doing poorly on the 11-plus.

The weekly podcast, which launched last month, brings together local democracy reporters, Simon Finlay, Robert Boddy, Dan Esson and KM Media Group political editor Paul Francis.

Simon covers Kent County Council while Robert reports on Medway Council and Dan specialises in borough and district councils.

Paul brings his weekly Westminster Watch review – highlighting what’s happening in parliament and how it affects the county.

Next week we’ll be joined by Medway Council leader Vince Maple to discuss the financial difficulties the authority has faced and how it will avoid effective bankruptcy.

You can listen to the podcast at IM Listening, or download it from Apple Podcasts, Spotify, Google Podcasts and TuneIn – just search for Kent Politics Podcast.

New episodes are available each Friday.

The podcast is the latest move to increase KentOnline’s political coverage ahead of a general election likely to be held later this year.

In recent months we also launched bespoke sections on KentOnline highlighting Kent Politics and Medway Politics.

Added to this is the highly-respected Kent Politics Show which airs on KMTV each Friday evening.