Hustings in Thirsk
Geof Sewell writes about a Churches Together initiative
Despite the limited space available in the Thirsk Quaker Meeting House, we have a long tradition of sponsoring debates before national elections. These used to be held in The Golden Fleece hotel but in 2015, as part of a Churches Together initiative, we used St Oswald’s parish church. This year I was asked to chair the event.
When this year’s general election was called, we decided to use the same format – with groups from various churches assisting with the publicity, stewarding and refreshments. All seven candidates in the Thirsk and Malton constituency agreed to come on 31 May, just eight days before the election.
As in 2015, the church was full. On their way in, those attending the meeting were given a form and invited to write a question. Almost forty people did.
The questions ranged from: ‘Do the candidates believe that a “no deal Brexit” is better than a bad deal?’ to ‘When will politicians be honest about the costs of the NHS and social care?’ and ‘Do you support the ban on fracking – given the challenges we face with climate change?’
We started with a welcome and prayer from St Oswald’s curate, the reverend Diane Gamble. Then, as chair, I introduced the candidates and outlined the way the meeting was to be conducted.
We began by inviting each candidate to speak for two minutes so that they could introduce themselves and make an opening statement. While this was going on, I picked out seven questions to put to the group. In order to give everyone an equal chance, we rotated the speaker order. Each candidate was given just two minutes to answer each question. Some hustings allow a right of reply but we wanted to keep things simple, so the candidates – and the questioner – only had one bite of the cherry.
At the end there was a short closing statement from each of the candidates. The audience was encouraged to stay afterwards for refreshments and a chance to meet the candidates.
Someone asked me why on earth I wanted to put myself through the chairing of another hustings, so soon after the previous one! The answer I gave at the end of proceedings was: ‘So many recent elections in the free world have been disfigured by fake news, the engineering of social media and unbalanced campaign funding. In our hustings we hope there has been a chance for local voters to meet and challenge the candidates face to face, in a way that is both civil and enlightening. We hope that this venture will maintain the tradition of respect for the community, the candidates and the truth.’
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