The results for the County Council election in Tonbridge were announced today. The election, held on Thursday, May 1st, 2025, saw 10 candidates vying for two seats, with a voter turnout of 39%.
Elected Candidates:
- Mark Antony James Hood (Green Party) – 5,415 votes (26%)
- Paul Andrew Stepto (Green Party) – 4,533 votes (22%)
Both Green Party candidates secured the two available seats, with Mark Hood topping the poll at 26%.
Not Elected:
- Matt Botten (Reform UK) – 2,355 votes (11%)
- Jennifer Sandra Elizabeth Lewis (Conservative) – 2,188 votes (11%)
- Frixos Glafcos Tombolis (Conservative) – 2,025 votes (10%)
- Gary Paul Longley (Reform UK) – 1,856 votes (9%)
- Frances Annabel Hoskins (Liberal Democrat) – 997 votes (5%)
- Garry Christopher Bridge (Liberal Democrat) – 651 votes (3%)
- Callum Ryan Lake (Labour) – 433 votes (2%)
- Catherine Moyra Tuke (Labour) – 305 votes (1%)
Voting Breakdown:
- Total votes cast: 20,758
- Electorate: 27,240
- Ballots rejected: 12 (mainly due to voting irregularities, such as voting for more candidates than allowed or unclear markings).
Wider Picture in Kent
As things stand, the Green Party have secured 5 seats in Kent, taking 14% of the vote overall. But, the big news story is really about Reform UK, who have “taken control” of Kent County Council with a huge number of seats – 57. Scooping up 37% of the vote. After 28 years of the Conservative’s controlling Kent County Council, this is quite a change. And it’s fair to say, that the Conservative Party have had a pretty bad day at the office.
So what happened in our neighbouring districts? Tonbridge is an island of green surrounded by a sea of yellow and blue (of varying shades!)
- Malling – The Rural East Seat and the Malling West have both gone to Conservative candidates, as has the Malling North East. Malling North elected the Reform UK candidate. Whilst Malling Central has gone to a Liberal Democrat candidate.
- Tunbridge Wells – all five seats in Tunbridge Wells have gone to the
Liberal Democrats. - Sevenoaks – Three Sevenoaks seats have gone to Reform UK candidates, one to Liberal Democrat (Sevenoaks Town) and one to Conservative.
You can find a full breakdown of the results here – on the Kent Gov website.
Have you subscribed?
Get our weekly newsletter, including a curated list of events for the weekend, straight to your inbox.
Bringing you all the latest news and events in Tonbridge.
Leave a Reply