Yahoo News Labour accused of 'taking votes for granted' in Newcastle as constituency's only hustings cancelled
Labour has been accused of taking votes in Newcastle “for granted”, after a hustings was cancelled due to candidates declining to take part.
A debate at Heaton Baptist Church was due to be held on Tuesday, June 18, and was the only hustings scheduled for the Newcastle East and Wallsend constituency ahead of the general election. But organisers have confirmed to the Local Democracy Reporting Service (LDRS) that it was called off due to the “limited” number of candidates from the main national parties willing to attend.
The constituency is considered a safe Labour seat but will have a new MP for the first time in more than 40 years, with the long-serving Nick Brown stepping down at this election. Labour candidate Mary Glindon, whose previous North Tyneside constituency is being abolished under boundary changes, said she had originally agreed to take part in the hustings but pulled out due to security concerns.
The Green Party’s Matt Williams was left furious at the event’s cancellation, particularly after it was reported that Labour candidates in safe seats have been instructed to spend more time in battleground constituencies instead of their own. He said: “In three weeks’ time we’ll be electing the first new representative of the area in 40 years, and the most likely candidate seems to think local people don’t deserve a chance to ask what they stand for.
"This is a textbook case of our area being taken for granted. Local people deserve better. Unfortunately Labour is only concerned with winning over Tory voters in swing constituencies - they’re not even trying to make an offer to areas like this. They’re taking the North East for granted. Someone has to challenge this, so that in government they're forced to listen to us.”
The Greens claimed that Conservative candidate Rosie Hanlon had also declined the invitation, though her campaign had not responded to an enquiry from the LDRS at time of publication. It is understood that Liberal Democrat Mark Ridyard had agreed to attend, while Reform UK’s Janice Richardson said she “saw it as her job interview” and criticised Mrs Glindon for a “lack of direct engagement with constituents”.
Also standing in Newcastle East and Wallsend are Workers Party candidate Muhammad Ghori, the Social Democratic Party’s Robert Malyn, Liz Panton from the Party of Women, and Emma-Jane Phillips of the Communist Party of Britain.
Mrs Glindon said in a letter to one constituent that she was happy to attend the event if tickets had only been issued to parishioners of the Heaton churches, rather than being opened to anyone. She added: “I wanted that assurance due to the number of recent angry protests, at public events in our region and nationally, I am particularly concerned about public safety for everyone taking part in any planned event.
“Unfortunately, the event was then opened-up to the general public, with adverts for the hustings going out via Eventbrite and social media, which meant security was compromised. I took advice and with a heavy heart, took the responsible decision, and withdrew from the event in the interests of public safety.”
Rev Dave Tubby, minister of Heaton Baptist Church, said he was “disappointed” by the cancellation and urged locals to contact the candidates directly with questions about their policy platforms. He added: “Our hope had been to enable a platform for a wide variety of parties in the upcoming election so they could publicly debate their policies. Regrettably though, the threshold required to make this event as valuable as possible to the local constituents was not met, and so we made the difficult decision to cancel it.”
