27/02/2017 South East Today

Here in the South East tonight: Two Kent Labour Party candidates

apologise for selling off charity donations to raise funds,

After seven men drowned last year, a ?50,000 plan to prevent

any more deaths on Camber Sands is approved.

We'll be live in Bexhill with the details.

And after a wet and blustery day, further showers tonight.

There are calls tonight for an investigation

into the conduct of two prospective Labour candidates for

Kent County Council, after they raised party funds

by selling off cosmetics and toiletries which had been

donated to charity and were supposed to go

Karen Constantine and Raushan Ara, who are standing for election

Our Political Editor Helen Catt reports.

We were fortunate enough to be given thousands and thousands

And within that, we give out to charities and good causes

and today is a good cause that I stand for,

which happens to be the Labour Party.

These boxes of toiletries were supposed to go to the needy.

Instead, they ended up on sale in a Ramsgate pub to raise money

By anybody's standards, taking charitable donations destined

for homeless people and destitute people to use and sell

and fund your election campaign is morally reprehensible.

The products were given by Lush to one charity,

the Kindness Offensive, on the condition

That charity passed it to another, Food For All,

and it was they who gave it to Labour.

But there are rules restricting donations from charities

Charities must only carry out activities to achieve its own

charitable purposes and donation of funds or objects

to a political party would be contrary to the purposes

Food For All's Jenny Matias has sent a letter of apology

She said she was informed they were not to be sold for profit

and they apologised and they had not totally adhered to

and that they are devastated that their unwise actions

to a certain group have since become problematic.

As for Labour, they told us they have not breached electoral law

and there are no allegations they have broken any rules.

Its candidates, Karen Constantine and Raushan Ara have apologised

and said the ?415 raised will be split between two local charities.

In Ramsgate today, some thought that was enough.

If the money is going to charity, then yes.

It shouldn't have happened in the first place.

The Charity Commissioners said they are contacting the trustees

of Food For All but a formal inquiry has not been opened.

Our reporter Lauren Moss has been following this story

Lauren, what's been the political reaction to this?

We've spoken to several local politicians and there are mixed

feelings. Some think the Labour Party should carry out its own

internal investigation but they have told us they are satisfied there

does need to be one. Others think this is a genuine mistake and action

has already been taken to put it right. A complaint has been made to

Kent Police but they say it is too early to say whether they will

investigate further. Plans for lifeguards to be stationed

at a popular beach in East Sussex where seven people drowned

last summer have been Rother District Council has set

aside more than ?50,000 to fund the service

at Camber Sands, near Rye. Families of the men who drowned say

they believe a lifeguard service This is one of the two men who lost

their lives last July. He died after attempting to rescue this Brazilian

man. That was after he got into difficulty at Camber Sands. In

August, tragedy struck again when five more men drowned. Six months

on, tonight, clients have been approved to fund a lifeguard service

in the summer months. Our thoughts to remain with the

families and friends of the young men tragically killed on Camber

Sands but following tonight we are obviously satisfied that the funds

have been made for the provision of lifeguards on Camber Sands.

It means 15 lifeguard will be stationed here over the summer, with

eight on duty at any one time. June to September, that will be an

excellent idea. I know how quickly things change.

There hasn't been an accident for a while but the best way to prevent it

Ever since the five young men died Ever since the five young men died

last August, the relatives of the action.

I was shocked because you have I was shocked because you have

25,000 people every day and these five kids that have died, young

healthy people. If there were lifeguard fear they could have been

saved. The cancer has set aside more than

?15,000 to fund the lifeguard service -- ?50,000.

And Charlie's at Bexhill town hall now, where the meeting

Those plans have now been given the full unanimous thumbs up and the

lifeboat service will get its full recruitment drive under way. It has

already recruited to lifeguards and wants to get a full quality team

together to serve the people at Camber Sands. Meanwhile, inquests

into the deaths last summer have yet to take place and, as it stands, no

date has been set. The train drivers union Aslef is due

to resume talks over the introduction of driver only operated

trains. The previous deal was rejected by union members earlier

this month. This week marks the end of a era

at the Tower of London, as the Chief Yeoman Warder,

effectively Alan Kingshott from Newhaven has

been living in the Tower in recent years, but is about to move back

to the Sussex coast To even be considered for the job,

you must have spent at least 22 years in the Armed Forces

with a good conduct record, and have As well as keeping the Crown Jewels

safe, duties include giving visitors a guided tour,

though training takes six months When it's your final

time here at the Tower and it's after 19 years,

it is very emotional and very surprising to me

how my family are affected by it, watching us pack the boxes

for the very last time. My grandchildren were baptised

and my children were married here, As the Tower of London's head

Beefeater, these Tudor lodgings above the Tower's main entrance have

been home for just But now, Alan Kingshott

is heading home to Sussex. The best bits for me are living over

the top of the gate and there's 2.8 million visitors coming

in and out, underneath my house. The loudest thing I'm

going to hear now when I go back to my house is probably

a seagull landing somewhere. As Chief Yeoman Warder

here at the tower, of an extraordinary chain

of tradition, The tower's nearly 940

years old and I've only In comparison to that,

it is just a blip in history. But from my perspective, being part

of this iconic heritage site, This Thursday, he will don uniform

for the final time and admits the relative anonymity of retirement

may just take some getting used to. I shall just blend in with

everything within the countryside. I will probably go and have a quick

coffee with my wife at home and just But while Alan may no

longer have the uniform, his name will remain at the Tower

for centuries to come. That's it from me, so let's take

a look now at the South East weather It was a fairly miserable start of

the working week. Really blustery and wear it. We've had these intense

thunderstorms throughout the day. We have them tonight as well and have

the next couple of days will be intense rains, particularly through

the afternoon. It will stay cold with a blast delay -- blustery

westerly wind. Temperatures will stay above freezing for the most

part. Along the coast first thing it will be a wet start to the day. For

most of the morning it should be dry and bright but by the afternoon and

this other weather front moves on from the West and that will be wet

and windy. One or two scattered showers first thing, potentially win

through. Dry and bright for the rest of the morning and then the second

band of rain comes in in the afternoon. It will feel cooler than

that with the wind and rain. Into Wednesday we see that fronts to

clear and because it is breezy we should see temperatures above

freezing. First thing on Wednesday it should be a dry picture but

should see further rain pushing in from the south. Here is the outlook

for