The boss of Kent's main train operator has dismissed claims service cuts are being designed to benefit Tory-voters in wealthier parts of the county.

Southeastern is bringing in a new timetable in December in response to a sustained drop in commuter levels and "new preferences" for travel since the pandemic.

As part of the railway shake-up the company said most trains would leave stations at about the same time each hour, with extra services at peak times.

It means from December 11 the train company will withdraw all off-peak and weekend services to Charing Cross on the Bexleyheath line, affecting travellers in Dartford and Bexley.

The operator, which was taken over by the government last year, will also reduce direct peak trains on the Sidcup line causing further commuter disruption in north Kent.

Steve White, the managing director of Southeastern, has since addressed the lack of consultation on the new timetable, explaining the status quo was "not sustainable" amid fears the railway would buckle under the strain and so "doing nothing was not an option".

He was speaking at Greenwich council’s transport scrutiny committee last Thursday, where he fielded questions on the shake-up's rationale.

During that meeting, Chair Lauren Dingsdale (Lab), raised the point that while south east London’s Labour constituencies were seeing cuts, certain Conservative areas in Kent were seeing an increase in services from the government-owned company, as reported by community news service 853.

This includes a new all-day service from Maidstone East to Charing Cross via London Bridge, and more peak services running on the Ashford line.

"Areas in Kent have actually had an increase in services including Maidstone East, which is a station sitting within the Conservative constituency of Maidstone and The Weald," Cllr Dinsdale said.

"It's going to have a near hourly service to Charing Cross and that's going to benefit commuters from the Conservative consituency of Sevenoaks."

She added: “Just so we’re all clear... is it the case that all the winners from the new timetable are Conservative areas and all the losers are Labour seats?"

But Southeastern's rail chief dismissed as folly any "class war" suggestion its timetable was being re-structured to favour Tory-voters in the Kent shires.

“We serve the many, not the few. We are not prejudiced in our outcome."

"No it isn't and to be absolutely clear we would never design a timetable to that affect,” Mr White said, adding that the new Maidstone service was part of a separate "long term commitment" formed through the expansion of Thameslink services.

"We have not traded one for another," he said. “We serve the many, not the few. We are not prejudiced in our outcome."

Southeastern’s changes are designed to reduce pressure on key "pinch points" such as the junction at Lewisham, which sees trains cross over as part of separate routes terminating at Cannon Street, Charing Cross and London Victoria.

Mr White, a chartered engineer, added similar timetable alterations had also angered commuters in Tonbridge.

"The people at Paddock Wood are not happy because guess what we've simplified the junction," he explained. "We have trains that come down from Maidstone West no longer stop at Tonbridge, they only stop at Paddock Wood, except the school trains in the morning...

"Why? We have simplified Tonbridge as a junction in the same way we have simplified Lewisham."

The Southeastern franchise was stripped last year after it was accused of failing to declare £25m of "historic taxpayer funding".

Ownership of the train company later transferred from the private company Govia to the Department for Transport.

When asked at last week's meeting how much influence the government has over its decision-making, Mr White replied: "I think it is fair to say that all train operators have regular meetings with the Department for Transport.

"So we meet them weekly and periodically on a formal basis."

Passenger footfall has not returned to the levels seen pre-Covid amid long term hybrid working trends. Although Southeastern did report its off-peak travel numbers were "nearly back" to pre-pandemic levels.

On the lack of consultation on the timetable changes, Mr White responded this was regrettable but necessary in order to avoid the collapse of the railway.

"To be clear. We wouldn't do this if we didn't think in the long term it would give you a more punctual and a bigger and better railway," he said.

Mr White added the changes needed to be made quickly to ensure the timetable was "scalable" and could equate for "future growth".

But the move has angered many with more than 10,000 people signing a petition, started by SEnine magazine, to save the affected services in north Kent.

Earlier this month a spokesman for Southeastern responded: "How our customers use our trains has changed.

"So, we've looked to improve our timetable so our trains can run on time more often and with fewer cancellations.

"We've also removed First Class and looked to reduce congestion at busy times, meaning more seats on trains across the entire Southeastern network. We will continue to look at what further improvements we can make in the future."

Southeastern has been running the train service between London and Kent and parts of East Sussex since 2006.

It is one of the busiest networks in the country with more than 1,600 trains a day carrying more than 400,000 passengers.

The route also serves channel routes to Europe and has the UK’s first domestic high-speed service, with high volumes of freight traffic, while also transporting large numbers of leisure travellers to the Kent coast and other tourist destinations.