Smaller parties left “out in the cold” says candidate excluded from Doncaster North hustings

On 30 June, three general election candidates in the Doncaster North constituency are set to participate in a hustings in Sprotbrough.

The ticketed event will take place at Sprotbrough Methodist Church from 7.30pm to 9.30pm, and is set to be livestreamed on YouTube.

Three of the constituency’s nine candidates were invited to take part, with event organisers citing venue space and time constraints as the reason for this.

Candidate Andy Hiles, representing the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition, criticised the event for failing to accommodate all candidates.

He said: “Many people on the doorstep tell me they are fed up with the two main parties and do not know who to vote for, yet when organisations such as the Church organise a hustings for local people to hear what is on offer at this General Election they exclude smaller parties on the ground that had no seats in the last parliament.

“They use the excuse there isn’t enough room or time to host all the parties. In other words they want to give maximum time to the established parties to get their message across and leave smaller parties out in the cold.

“On the doorstep people have little or no enthusiasm for this election, they view the main parties with contempt. They want the Tories out but have no desire to see a Labour government.

“There must be fair coverage and small parties must be given equal opportunity to put their message across to voters.”

Mr Hiles stated that he discussed the issue with candidate Frank Calladine of the British Democratic Party, who shared his views.

In response, event organisers said: “We appreciate Mr Hiles’ concerns. Given adequate time and space it would indeed be good to have all candidates present. In practice, with nine candidates for the constituency, that is not feasible.

“We are a community group working alongside local churches, and we don’t have access to a space that can accommodate all the candidates, nor enough time for every candidate to answer every question. It is normal practice in, for example, BBC hustings, to invite a selection of candidates to answer audience questions.

“Our choice of candidates follows Electoral Commission guidance for “non-selective” hustings (i.e. not intended to influence voters for or against particular parties or activities) with limitations to resources such as time and space.

“Guidance refers to “local prominence of some parties or candidates over others”, “the number of elected representatives at the local or national level”, and “recent election results in the area”.

“Whilst applicants from small parties will not be involved in answering questions from the public, we have given them the same time allocation as invited candidates to answer the question: “Why are you standing as a candidate in this election?”. This will take the form of a video that we will show during the hustings, and we are hoping to receive a video from Mr Hiles.”