Quakers stand for general election
Two with Quaker links contest newly created seat in Bristol
Two parliamentary candidates with Quaker links are standing against each other in a newly-created seat in Bristol.
Carla Denyer, co-leader of the Green Party and former member of Young Friends General Meeting, is aiming to become the party’s second MP by pushing Quaker Thangam Debonnaire, the shadow culture secretary, out of Bristol Central.
Polling suggests that Labour might struggle to hold onto the seat in parliament at the general election on 4 July, despite having one of its largest majorities. Most polls are predicting a possible defeat to the Greens in the newly-created constituency Bristol Central.
Thangam Debbonaire secured a majority of more than 28,000 in Bristol West at the 2019 general election, receiving 47,028 votes. Carla Denyer came second with 18,809. The Green Party narrowly missed out on an overall council majority in May’s local elections but now leads as the largest party.
Some of the other Quakers standing for election include Ruth Cadbury, Labour candidate for Brentford & Isleworth, and Catherine West, Labour candidate for Hornsea & Friern Barnet. Quaker Tania Mathias, former Conservative MP for Twickenham from May 2015 to June 2017, is also standing in Maidenhead, which was the seat of former prime minister Theresa May. Meanwhile, John Courtneidge, another Friend from Sussex West Area Meeting, is standing as an independent candidate in the Eltham & Chislehurst constituency.
As the general election approaches next month, Friend Rhiannon Grant signed a joint statement, on behalf of Central England Quakers, acknowledging the sacrifice involved for all who offer themselves for election to public office. The statement encouraged each parliamentary candidate to ‘commit to work to eradicate systemic poverty’; to ‘build an immigration system that operates with compassion, justice, transparency and speed in its decision-making’; and to support ‘efforts to create an environmentally sustainable future’. The statement was signed by twenty-one senior leaders of churches based in and around the West Midlands.
