A CHURCH filled with voters was left without election candidates to query, and a bishop was left with nothing to do, after a hustings was cancelled on the last minute on Tuesday evening.
The Bishop of Blackburn, the Rt Revd Philip North, had been attributable to chair the hustings in St Thomas’s, Lancaster, but, after the Conservative candidate for Lancaster and Wyre pulled out, the Labour and Liberal Democrat hopefuls did likewise, leaving just the candidate for the Green Party, and the event was cancelled.
“The parties aren’t really prioritising in-person hustings,” Bishop North said on Tuesday evening. “What we’re seeing is the ‘TikTokification’ of politics; that social media and national push matters greater than local candidates meeting local voters, and that’s an actual loss, I believe, to our public life.”
St Thomas’s had hosted events for previous elections, and provided a superb forum for voters to satisfy the candidates, he said.
“Churches have a very vital role to play, because we are able to organise hustings where there’s respectful listening. We can set the correct sort of environment, and encourage mature debate . . . It’s a terrific pity that that sort of thing just appears to be getting harder to organise.”
At St Mary’s, Gainford, within the Bishop Auckland constituency, the candidates got here for a hustings on Monday evening. The Priest-in-Charge, Canon Eileen Harrop, said that the structure of the event, through which the six candidates weren’t permitted to interrupt one another, made for a “less noisy hustings”.
Churches Together in Britain and Ireland has published updated hustings guidance for churches on its website. It provides practical advice on the several formats that hustings can take.
In a webinar last week, the Baptist Union’s Public Issues Enabler, the Revd Steve Tinning, emphasised the importance of “curating an environment of mutual respect which honours those willing to face as candidates, and all those willing to come back out and have interaction”. One piece of recommendation shared on the webinar was to try to substantiate the attendance of the expected winner, as this encouraged their rivals to interact.
It is a challenge being faced by the Interim Priest-in-Charge of Thornbury, Woodhall and Waterloo, the Revd Calum Burke, who has organised a hustings in Leeds West and Pudsey, where the Labour Shadow Chancellor, Rachel Reeves, is standing for election.
Ms Reeves has yet to substantiate her attendance, and, in consequence, other candidates were wavering, he said. “I believe it’s really sad for constituents who deserve the chance to ask questions. Many of the questions we’ve had sent in usually are not mentioned in manifesto, so it looks like a missed opportunity for the general public.”
Despite the challenges involved, Bishop North encouraged churches considering hosting an event to “plough on”.
“We mustn’t quit. It’s very vital that we model how we are able to take heed to politicians and provides them respect as those that want to serve, and to offer the opportunities through which they might be directly accountable, nose to nose with those that they want to represent,” he said.
