Six months after he became leader of the Labour party Ed Miliband visited Kent and declared: ‘We are fighting incredibly hard across the south east because I think it is important there are no “no go” zones.’

Kent needs to be much more than this for Labour; if we are to win a majority next year, the south-east has to be a key battleground. The upcoming by-election in Rochester and Strood therefore presents an opportunity for Labour to show that it can perform above expectations in the south, as it must, and that it can meet Ukip head-on.

There is no real need to worry about ‘expectation management’. The by-election has already been framed as a straight fight between the Tories and Ukip with two alternative stories already at the fingertips of every political editor – either a crisis for Cameron or the wheels coming off the Ukip bandwagon.

As Luke Akehurst has argued however it is perfectly possible that both of those stories could go to print. A recent Survation poll shows that Labour is far from out of the race and has the significant advantage of a highly credible candidate. The kick-boxing Naushabah Khan was not brought up on a diet of socialism around a London dinner table, but found that Labour’s values matched her own through a campaign against the British National party. She could not be better placed to convince voters, through community-based campaigning, that Labour shares their values too.

Rochester and Strood should also be the current focus for Labour’s ‘Ukip taskforce’. Thurrock, a mere 45 minute car drive away from Rochester, is number two on Labour’s list of 106 target seats. Without a win in Thurrock next May a Labour majority is highly improbable – and yet a recent Ashcroft poll had Tim Aker, Ukip’s head of policy, on track to beat Labour to the seat by a clear six points.

From this year’s European elections we know that Ukip will drastically alter its message in different parts of the country. Labour has the strength of policies that speak as much to a shop worker in Kent as they do to a builder in Doncaster, but it also has to be prepared to adapt to fight Ukip in different ways. Dictats passed down from Labour headquarters will only achieve patchy results – do voters in Kent respond as strongly to Labour highlighting Nigel Farage’s love of Thatcher and Thatcherite policies as, say, working class voters in South Yorkshire, or is a more directed approach required?

The Labour party needs to spend as much of the next four weeks camped out in Rochester and Strood as possible. Winning may prove too big a hurdle but the party has little to lose and would gain a great deal from hearing the messages that people in Kent want us to act on. We cannot claim to be the natural party of government if, less than seven months from the general election, we are portrayed as trembling in the wake of Ukip in the south-east.

Luckily for readers it is very easy to pitch in: phone 01634 814566 to arrange a campaigning visit. One such visit is taking place this coming Sunday, leaving for the very short journey to Rochester on the 09.25 from London St Pancras station.

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Jack Tunmore is a member of Progress. He tweets @JackTunmore

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Photo: John Stratford