New leader of KCC voews to remove Ukraine flag from chamber

The new Reform leader of Kent County Council (KCC), Linden Kemkaran, sets out her plans to remove the Ukrainian flag from the chamber.

Transcript

00:00You've got a Ukrainian flag in the chamber right now. Is that going to be coming down soon?

00:03Yes.

00:05How quickly?

00:07Well, I don't know about timescales, but my point is, we are here to serve the residents of Kent.

00:13And if you'd been out on the campaign trail with me and my fellow councillors,

00:16you would have seen that some parts of this county are utterly, utterly destroyed.

00:21They've been neglected for years. The residents are, they're just in despair.

00:25But what's taking the Ukrainian flag down?

00:27I'll tell you what it's going to do.

00:29This is Kent County Council. We are here to represent the residents of Kent.

00:33A foreign war that's happening thousands of miles away is simply a distraction.

00:37We are here to serve the people of Kent. That's what we were elected on.

00:41That's what we're going to do.

00:42But thousands of the citizens now in Kent are from Ukraine.

00:45Refugees came over. They will say this feels like their voice is being heard by having the flag flown here.

00:51What would you say to that?

00:52I think the fact that they're here and they've come here legally and they've made their lives in Britain, some of them.

00:57Some of them have gone back home to Ukraine. Others may stay for a long time.

01:01That's absolutely marvellous. They're amazing people, the Ukrainians.

01:04They've contributed amazingly to our society.

01:06That's great. A flag doesn't change any of that.

01:08That's great.