Heywood & Middleton hustings: would-be MPs answer your questions on leaving the EU, foreign aid, poverty, the environment and asylum seekers

Date published: 10 December 2019

All five parliamentary candidates fighting for the Heywood and Middleton seat in the upcoming general election got together at Heywood Baptist Church on Sunday evening (8 December) to take part in the 2019 constituency hustings chaired by Father Paul Daly.

Green Party candidate Nigel Ainsworth-Barnes, Conservative candidate Christopher Clarkson, Brexit Party candidate Colin Lambert, Labour Party candidate Liz McInnes and Liberal Democrat candidate Anthony Smith answered questions submitted in advance by members of the public.

The order in which candidates would answer each question had been drawn at random prior to the meeting.

 

 

To start the hustings, candidates were asked “whether they would reflect the wishes of the majority of your constituents who voted to leave the EU.”

Colin Lambert said: “If I were to go to London, I will represent the views of the people of this constituency. Not just on Brexit, but on all the issues you bring to us. You cannot claim to be a representative and ignore the voice of the people. I see Brexit as being a clean break. Once we have left the EU, then we will be in a better position to negotiate.”

Liz McInnes said: “My job over the past five years has been to represent all my constituents – not the majority – but all my constituents. I respected the result of the referendum: I voted to invoke Article 50, but the deals that the conservatives have negotiated are completely unworkable.

“I cannot vote for those deals that will tank our economy, leading to job losses in Heywood & Middleton. Labour will get a deal and will put it to the people to give you the final say. Not just a vote on whether we should leave the EU, but a vote on how we are going to leave the EU.”

Anthony Smith said: “The best deal we can get with the EU is the one we already have. A vote for the Liberal Democrats is a vote for a people’s vote. I am unapologetic about believing that we are better together, working with the EU trying to enact change from within that partnership.

“There is no such thing as ‘getting Brexit done’; this is going to go on for a generation. The only way to stop the madness, and to continue to deal with the things that need to be dealt with – such as investment in public services, the NHS, education, mental health – is to revoke Article 50.”

Chris Clarkson said: “Fundamentally, people voted for something and it should be delivered. It’s about trust in politics. We have reached the stage where our politics has been damaged by this. People don’t trust politicians. On the doorstep, people are saying to me that they won’t vote anymore, not just in this election, but ever again because they don’t trust the political class. Quite a lot of Remainers that I have spoken to on the doorstep just want to get it boxed off now.”

Nigel Ainsworth-Barnes said: “The Green Party’s position is to remain, so if you voted for me as your MP, then I would assume the majority had changed their minds. We already have the best deal possible with the EU. For three years we haven’t got anywhere with Brexit and we have had everything else stuck in Parliament. The only way out is to have another referendum on what the deal is.”

 

 

The candidates were then questioned on health, social care, poverty and the rise of foodbanks.

Anthony Smith said: “[It is] plain to see the effects of the deep cuts and austerity on the health service. It is an absolute disgrace that we live in the fifth largest economy in the world and our health services and education are in such dire straits. Our manifesto contains a commitment to mental health services. We need to put resources into mental health services. I would push for an increase in the minimum wage and an end to zero-hour contracts and proper working rights for people, which will be shredded when we leave the EU.”

Nigel Ainsworth-Barnes said: “The Green Party policy is to introduce a universal basic income. Every single person, man, woman and child would get a set amount of money that they could fall back on. Everyone would get that, all of the time, whether they are working or not. This would be paid for by changes in taxation. Rolling all the taxes into one tax, with the same rate. This would hopefully alleviate some of the problems causing people to go to foodbanks. We need to fund the NHS better; we need a more caring society.”

Chris Clarkson said: “I don’t think that more tax is the answer; I think the best way to help people out of poverty is to reduce their tax burden. In terms of social care, this is too large an area to simply be done in one go. It will require cross party working as it will be a generational change.”

Colin Lambert said: “We will invest real money into the health service. Social care needs a separate department, a separate budget for everyone in this country. When it comes to foodbanks, what a disgrace that the fifth largest economy in the world has families working and otherwise relying on foodbanks.”

Liz McInnes said: “Labour would repeal the Health & Social Care Act 2012 which has fragmented our health care. We will invest in the NHS, we will invest in social care, we will give mental health parity of esteem with physical health. We will reinstate nurse and allied health professional bursaries. It is a scandal that foodbank use is going up in Heywood & Middleton. A Labour government will work to eradicate the need for foodbanks.”

 

 

The candidates were then questioned about what they would do to restore dignity to people seeking asylum in this country and asked whether they would restore asylum seekers’ right to work.

Liz McInnes said: “People are left in limbo for months and years. They want to work and contribute to society. The Labour Party will ensure that we have enough staff in the immigration and home office department to process all these applications. It’s Labour’s policy to restore asylum seekers right to work, and we have promised to close the detention centres and ban indefinite detention.”

Chris Clarkson said: “I think that people should have the right and dignity of work while they are waiting for their applications to be processed. I don’t like the idea of people who are looking for a safe haven in this country to be treated inhumanely.”

Nigel Ainsworth-Barnes said: “Yes, asylum seekers should be able to work. They shouldn’t be locked up in detention centres indefinitely and they should be housed in decent housing where they are secure and safe – the same as everyone else in this country.”

Anthony Smith said: “The Liberal Democrats would put an end to detention centres. We need to restore right to work and fix the broken application system. In Heywood & Middleton we are faced with an unfair burden, which is not properly funded by government.  The burden should be evenly distributed across the country, and refugees should be processed quickly so they can return to being a productive member of society.”

Colin Lambert said: “Asylum seekers should be allowed to work while they are here, then they can maintain themselves and keep their dignity. If everybody on this panel agrees, then we can make a pact that whichever one of us is elected, they will try to change the system.”

 

 

Following on from asylum seekers, the candidates were asked about the environment and how their party would achieve net zero carbon emissions, about global poverty and the UK’s overseas aid budget and whether they would like to see a world free of nuclear weapons.

Nigel Ainsworth-Barnes said: “The Green Party supports the abolition of nuclear weapons, starting with this country and then moving on to negotiate with the rest of the world. We would introduce the most radical possible solutions to achieve net zero carbon emissions we could, including renewable energy, insulating homes, encouraging public transport, walking and cycling.

“We should be supporting people overseas by leading the way on changing the environment. By introducing new technologies, we could start to lead the world and hopefully export those technologies elsewhere and improve people’s lives elsewhere as well.”

Colin Lambert said: “In terms of the environment, we have natural resources, which can produce energy and we should use that. We will change the planning rules to protect the greenbelt and build on brownfield sites first. I cannot say I would agree with the UK abolishing nuclear weapons by itself, but I would be part of any attempt by the UN to abolish nuclear weapons around the world.”

Anthony Smith said: “The Lib Dems have a very ambitious 10-year programme to halve greenhouse emissions and generate 80% of our energy from renewables by 2030. We also need to encourage people out of their cars and onto public transport, which needs to be better quality and a lot cheaper.

“Liberal Democrats have fought to increase overseas aid fund and maintain it. I think the nuclear deterrent along with the EU has gone a long way to giving us peace in the past 70 years. I would not want to see any proliferation, or for us to spend billions and billions of pounds on nuclear programmes.”

Liz McInnes said: “Labour’s manifesto has launched our green industrial strategy, where we will invest in clean energy and in apprenticeships to work in the renewables industry. Every new build home will be an eco-home. We will encourage the rolling out of electric vehicles and phasing out petrol and diesel. Our goal is to achieve net zero emissions by 2030.I think that the climate change issue is the most important that is facing us today. A lot of global poverty is driven by climate change.

“I’ve always supported 0.7% of our GDP going on foreign aid. It helps maintain world peace and it helps our standing in the world. As for nuclear disarmament, I wish…  the world is a very dangerous place, possibly more dangerous now than it ever has been. I wouldn’t support any campaign for unilateral disarmament, but I would support a UN-led worldwide initative.”

Chris Clarkson said: “I definitely think climate change is something we in the UK have been late to the table on. A lot of changes can start at home, with recycling, transport, housing policy and we need to look at energy mix and move away from fossil fuels.

“I support the 0.7% spending on overseas aid, but it should be spent on education, vaccinations, infrastructure in countries that don’t have it so that they can start to build up the support themselves.

“Disarmament is not an option due to the number of nuclear weapons around the world.”

Candidates

Full details of each candidate standing for the Heywood & Middleton parliamentary seat can be found at: 

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/elections/election-summary/32/heywood-and-middleton-general-election-2019

The hustings planned for the Rochdale constituency this week, on Tuesday 10 December, has been cancelled.

Details of the candidates standing for the Rochdale parliamentary seat can be found at:

• www.rochdaleonline.co.uk/news-features/elections/election-summary/33/rochdale-general-election-2019