09 April 2015

Parliamentary Election Hustings - 24th April (CANCELLED)

The Forest Hill Society and Sydenham Society have arranged a Parliamentary election hustings for Lewisham West and Penge on Friday 24th April at 7pm. This meeting is free and open to all.

All Candidates have been invited to speak and answer your questions on local and national issues.

This event will take place at Holy Trinity Church, Trinity Path, off Sydenham Park, London SE26 4EA.
Closest bus stops are five minutes walk away on Kirkdale, served by 122, 197, 176, 356. Both Sydenham and Forest Hill station are 10 minutes walk away.


6 comments:

George Whale said...

Dear Forest Hill Society

May I ask why you have not invited the smaller parties to this event?

Hustings are great opportunities for small parties - who do not have large publicity and PR budgets - to engage with the public and to challenge the dominance of the main parties, and thus they are an important aspect of local democracy at election time.

I do hope that you will reconsider.

Best regards

Dr George Whale
Liberty GB parliamentary candidate for Lewisham West and Penge
http://libertygb.org.uk/v1/index.php/news-libertygb/6747-election-liberty-gb-to-contest-lewisham-west-and-penge

Forest Hill Society said...

The choice of five candidates was based on their results in the previous general election and covers all of the parties; a) who stood in the seat in 2010 and are standing in 2015, b) who got more than 1% of the vote in 2010, c) all the candidates representing a party that currently have at least one seat in parliament. I have checked with the Electoral Commission recommendations regarding hustings and this is an appropriate basis on which to select from a large list of candidates.

By restricting the hustings to 5 candidates there will be more chance for members of the public to ask questions and to give all candidates on the platform an equal opportunity to answer.

Dominic said...

Personally, I'm really glad (whatever the reason) George Whale hasn't been invited. There's no place in Forest Hill for racists.

Forest Hill Society said...

I can confirm that we have now invited all candidates (not just the initial 5) to attend the hustings. This includes George Whale.

Dominic said...

Well, that seems more democratic. I expect he'll be in for a "whale" of a time come the actual event...

Forest Hill Society said...

This event has now been cancelled