General Election candidate criticises ‘undemocratic’ hustings

A General Election candidate has labelled a hustings event “undemocratic” after smaller parties did not receive an invite.

Victor Silkin is standing for the Rejoin EU party in South West Hertfordshire which covers all of the Three Rivers district as well as parts of Dacorum.

But Mr Silkin raised concerns when he and candidates for the Women's Party, Social Democratic Party and UK Voice were not invited to a hustings debate at St Lawrence Church in Abbots Langley this evening, June 27.

The candidate said: “People’s interests are now much wider so there must be a much wider array of opinions presented."

Rejoin EU candidate Victor Silkin called the general election hustings undemocratic. (Image: Victor Silkin)

Representatives for the Conservatives, Labour, Liberal Democrats, Green, and Reform UK have confirmed they will attend the debate, but the Rejoin EU candidate called for the smaller parties to also be included.

He labelled the event “undemocratic”, adding: “The people who support Rejoin EU, who support the SDP, they’re not represented at all.”

Despite his criticism, Mr Silkin said that he would not have been able to attend the event personally and would have sent another party representative in his place.

The hustings will take place at the St Lawrence Church in Abbots Langley from 7.30pm.

The Vicar of St. Lawrence Peter Waddell said he was “pleased” to host the hustings and that the decision had been made after consulting advice from the Electoral Commission.

The Revd. Dr. Waddell said: “The primary reason was that to invite all nine candidates would have meant that the time available for debate was sharply limited.

“Even with only five candidates present, they could only speak for two minutes in response to each question. Any less than that couldn’t do justice to the issues at stake.

“The subsequent decision as to which candidates should be invited was based on the national and local prominence of the parties, reflected in polling and past election results.”

He said he will mention all the candidates standing in his opening remarks and has invited each party to leave leaflets at the church for residents to take away.

“We appreciate how disappointing it is for candidates not to be included, and wish all of them well for the remainder of the campaign,” the vicar added.

The hustings takes place tonight at St Lawrence Church, in High Street, Abbots Langley, between 7.30pm and 9.30pm.

All the general election candidates standing in South West Hertfordshire:

• Alex Sufit – Labour Party

• Bernadette O’Malley – Party of Women

• Gagan Mohindra – The Conservative Party

• Ketankumar Pipaliya – UK Voice – for Safer and Stronger UK

• Keith Steers – Reform UK

• Michael McGetrick – Social Democratic Party

• Narinder Sian – Green Party

• Sally Symington – Liberal Democrats

• Victor Silkin – Rejoin EU