Saturday 27 March 2010

Hustings in Wisbech

The first, and so far only, hustings meeting of the General Election campaign took place in Wisbech last night, organised by Churches Together in Wisbech at St Augustine's Church Hall.

Steve Barclay (Conservative) wasn't there - his office said he'd been double booked, and apparently didn't offer an alternative representative. The organisers had tried to contact UKIP, but the telephone number offered 'doesn't accept incoming calls' according to their answerphone message. And Peter Roberts (Labour) arrived half an hour late for what was therefore a two-way meeting.

Some interesting questions, including education for employment in the light of the recent Evan Davis TV programme; mental health and the criminal justice system; restoring public confidence in politics and politicians after the expenses scandals; and whether political debate in the current era was now just about 'better ways of managing capitalism'.

Thank you to Churches Together for facilitating an event enabling local residents to discuss important issues face to face with their candidates - it's the stuff of politics, and a shame not all the candidates were there to take part.

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