Yahoo News North Northumberland general election candidate slams 'undemocratic' hustings after she wasn't invited
An independent general election candidate in North Northumberland has claimed a planned hustings event is "undemocratic" after she didn't receive an invite.
Coun Georgina Hill is standing to be an independent MP in North Northumberland in the 2024 election. Her candidacy was announced on June 7 - the deadline for applications to be submitted.
The Northumberland county councillor, who has represented the Berwick East ward since 2017, has spoken out after only candidates from Labour, the Conservatives, the Lib Dems and Greens were asked to an event in Chatton. The organisers have explained that the venue - Chatton Village Hall - simply does not have the space required to fit all the candidates for the seat at the event on Friday, June 21.
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Coun Hill said: "You need to invite all the candidates. That's democratic. It's just a bit odd.
"I have contacted the organisers to find out why. If I don't get a good answer, I will just turn up. It's not good at all."
Organiser of the Chatton event Jim Railton responded to Coun Hill's comments.
He said: "Coun Hill came into the race at the last minute - I didn't know she was standing. We don't have room for eight candidates, we would have to extend the village hall.
"We invited all of the candidates from the main parties and some of the smaller parties too."
Coun Hill was also initially left off the list for the Alnwick hustings on Wednesday, June 19. However, organisers the Friends of the Earth have now extended an invitation to the councillor.
Spokesman Mike Powell said: "When we last met there were six candidates. There is two sides - we want to be open to everyone and democratic as possible, but if you have lots of people on the stage it makes for a much less interesting and informative debate.
"We had six for county council elections and it was notably harder to chair than a panel of four. We did decide to invite all six candidates that were then standing on the day of the meeting that we knew about.
"Coun Hill has approached us to say she will be taking part. She is clearly a serious political player in the county and on that basis we were happy to extend the invitation to her."
The candidates expected at the Chatton event are Natalie Younes of the Liberal Democrats, David Smith of Labour, Anne Marie Trevelyan of the Conservatives and Jan Rosen of the Green Party. The same candidates, as well as Coun Hill, are expected at the Alnwick event.
The other candidates standing in the constituency are Katherine Hales of Reform UK, Independent Michael Joyce and Andrew Martin of the SDP.
