Editing Kent (section)

== Governance ==
[[File:Arms of Kent County Council.svg|thumb|The coat of arms of Kent County Council]]
[[Kent County Council]] and its twelve [[Local government in the United Kingdom|district councils]] administer most of the county (3352&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), whilst the [[Medway Council]] administers the more densely populated [[Medway]] unitary authority (192&nbsp;km<sup>2</sup>), independently of the county council.<ref>Kent (Borough of Gillingham and City of Rochester upon Medway) (Structural Change) Order 1996 {{cite web |title=Kent (Borough of Gillingham and City of Rochester upon Medway) (Structural Change) Order 1996 |url=http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1876/contents/made |url-status=live |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20101219141538/http://www.legislation.gov.uk/uksi/1996/1876/contents/made |archive-date=19 December 2010 |access-date=17 March 2010 |publisher=HMSO }}</ref> Together they have around 300 [[town council|town]] and [[Parish councils in England|parish councils]]. Kent County Council's headquarters are in [[Maidstone]],<ref name="kccdem">{{cite web |title=Council and democracy |url=http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/ |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20070206185542/http://www.kent.gov.uk/council-and-democracy/ |archive-date=6 February 2007 |access-date=19 April 2007 |publisher=Kent County Council}}</ref> while Medway's offices are at Gun Wharf, [[Chatham, Kent|Chatham]].

For most of its history since the local government reforms instituted by the [[Local Government Act 1972]], Kent County Council has been under [[Conservative Party (UK)|Conservative Party]] control; the exception was between 1993 and 1997 when the party came under [[no overall control]] with [[Labour Party (UK)|Labour Party]] leadership. At the [[2021 Kent County Council election|most recent county council election in 2021]], the Conservatives won 62 out of 81 seats. Also elected were seven Labour councillors, six [[Liberal Democrats (UK)|Liberal Democrats]], four from the [[Green Party of England and Wales|Green Party]], one [[Swale Independents|Swale Independent]] and one [[residents' association]] representative.

Of Kent's thirteen districts, two are under Conservative control (Sevenoaks, Dartford), four are under Labour control (Gravesham, Medway, Thanet, Dover), one is under Liberal Democrat control (Tunbridge Wells), and six are under no overall control and are administered by coalitions (Tonbridge and Malling, Maidstone, Swale, Ashford, Canterbury, Folkestone and Hythe). Notably, Thanet is the only council in the United Kingdom to have come under [[UK Independence Party]] (UKIP) control, which it did in [[2015 Thanet District Council election|2015]].<ref>{{cite news | title=Ukip Takes Control of Thanet Council the Day After Nigel Farage Lost MP Bid | url=https://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11594819/Ukip-takes-control-of-Thanet-council-the-day-after-Nigel-Farage-lost-MP-bid.html | date=9 May 2015 |newspaper=The Daily Telegraph | access-date=9 May 2015 | url-status=live | archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20150510233514/http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/politics/ukip/11594819/Ukip-takes-control-of-Thanet-council-the-day-after-Nigel-Farage-lost-MP-bid.html | archive-date=10 May 2015 }}</ref>

At the national level, Kent is represented in the [[House of Commons (UK)|House of Commons]] by [[List of Parliamentary constituencies in Kent|eighteen Members of Parliament]] (MPs). The county has historically been dominated by the Conservative Party at general elections. Prior to 2024, the party had won a majority of Kentish seats in every election since the local government reforms of 1974, including during Labour's [[Landslide victory|landslide victories]] of [[1997 United Kingdom general election|1997]] and [[2001 United Kingdom general election|2001]]. In both [[2010 United Kingdom general election|2010]] and [[2015 United Kingdom general election|2015]], the Conservatives won every seat in the county.<ref>{{Cite web|last1=Watson|first1=Christopher|last2=Uberoi|first2=Elise|last3=Loft|first3=Philip|date=17 April 2020|title=General election results from 1918 to 2019|url=https://commonslibrary.parliament.uk/research-briefings/cbp-8647/|language=en-GB}}</ref> The [[2024 United Kingdom general election|2024 election]] saw a sharp decline in support for the Conservatives, and the county is currently represented by eleven Labour MPs, six Conservatives and one Liberal Democrat.

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+[[2015 United Kingdom general election|General Election 2015]]: Kent
|-
!Party
!style="background:{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Conservative
!style="background:{{party color|UKIP}}; color:white"|UKIP
!style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Labour
!style="background:{{party color|Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"|Lib Dem
!style="background:{{party color|Green Party of England and Wales}}; color:white"|Green
!Others
!''Turnout''
|- class="nowrap"|
!Votes
|422,119 {{wbr}}'''(49.2%)'''
|174,476 {{wbr}}'''(20.3%)'''
|171,990 {{wbr}}'''(20.0%)'''
|54,151 {{wbr}}'''(6.3%)'''
|31,069 {{wbr}}'''(3.6%)'''
|4,221 {{wbr}}'''(0.5%)'''
|''858,026''
|-
!Seats
|17<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|-
|}

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+[[2017 United Kingdom general election|General Election 2017]]: Kent
|-
!Party
!style="background:{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Conservative
!style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Labour
!style="background:{{party color|Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"|Lib Dem
!style="background:{{party color|UKIP}}; color:white"|UKIP
!style="background:{{party color|Green Party of England and Wales}}; color:white"|Green
!Others
!''Turnout''
|- class="nowrap"|
!Votes
|503,068 {{wbr}}'''(56.4%)'''<br />{{increase}}80,949
|282,296 {{wbr}}'''(31.7%)'''<br />{{increase}}110,306
|49,153 {{wbr}}'''(5.5%)'''<br />{{decrease}}4,998
|31,732 {{wbr}}'''(3.6%)'''<br />{{decrease}}142,744
|19,469 {{wbr}}'''(2.2%)'''<br />{{decrease}}11,600
|5,818 {{wbr}}'''(0.7%)'''
|''891,536''<br />{{increase}}33,510
|-
!Seats
|16<br />{{decrease}}1
|1<br />{{increase}}1
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|-
|}

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+[[2019 United Kingdom general election|General Election 2019]]: Kent
|-
!Party
!style="background:{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Conservative
!style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Labour
!style="background:{{party color|Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"|Lib Dem
!style="background:{{party color|Green Party of England and Wales}}; color:white"|Green
!Others
!''Turnout''
|- class="nowrap"|
!Votes
|532,342 {{wbr}}'''(60.1%)'''<br />{{increase}}29,274
|221,554 {{wbr}}'''(25.0%)'''<br />{{decrease}}60,742
|91,974 {{wbr}}'''(10.4%)'''<br />{{increase}}42,821
|28,264 {{wbr}}'''(3.2%)'''<br />{{increase}}8,795
|11,063 {{wbr}}'''(1.2%)'''
|''885,197''<br />{{decrease}}6,339
|-
!Seats
|16<br />{{steady}}
|1<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|-
|}

{|class="wikitable" style=text-align:center
|+[[2024 United Kingdom general election|General Election 2024]]: Kent
|-
!Party
!style="background:{{party color|Conservative Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Conservative
!style="background:{{party color|Labour Party (UK)}}; color:white"|Labour
!style="background:{{party color|Reform UK}}; color:white"|Reform
!style="background:{{party color|Liberal Democrats (UK)}}"|Lib Dem
!style="background:{{party color|Green Party of England and Wales}}; color:white"|Green
!Others
!''Turnout''
|- class="nowrap"|
!Votes
|251,130 {{wbr}}'''(30.3%)'''<br />{{decrease}}281,212
|249,069 {{wbr}}'''(30.1%)'''<br />{{increase}}27,515
|168,652 {{wbr}}'''(20.4%)'''<br />''New party''
|81,309 {{wbr}}'''(9.8%)'''<br />{{decrease}}10,665
|64,303 {{wbr}}'''(7.8%)'''<br />{{increase}}36,039
|13,147 {{wbr}}'''(1.6%)'''
|''827,610''<br />{{decrease}}57,587
|-
!Seats
|6<br />{{decrease}}10
|11<br />{{increase}}10
|0<br />{{steady}}
|1<br />{{increase}}1
|0<br />{{steady}}
|0<br />{{steady}}
|-
|}