Friday June 28th 2024
This View has been written by Midlothian View reader Bill Kerr-Smith.
I’d like to sincerely thank Midlothian View for promoting the only Midlothian General Election Hustings last Thursday and to extend those thanks to Black Diamond FM for recording the event and making it available to listen to on their website.
I was at the Hustings, but was unable to hear much of the exchanges because I was on Reception at the One Dalkeith Hub that night, so it was extremely helpful to be able to listen to the entire event online.
The Hustings provided the only opportunity for Midlothian residents to really question the individual candidates and to find out more about them as human beings, rather than simply being party representatives.
It was apparent that some were content to parrot the party line but that official manifesto didn’t limit the potential for others to pursue their individual passions, if elected.
The unique value of the online audio stream is the ability to replay anything that seemed unclear on first listening and to check up on the “did he really say that?” statements, of which there were a few.
It was entertaining to hear the LibDem candidate espouse positions he would never put forward if he had a significant chance of being elected and he certainly added to the pressure on the Conservatives and Labour regarding their “conspiracy of silence” on funding shortfalls in their manifestos. It was obvious that he is now a seasoned campaigner, with an honest and very straight-forward attitude and I think he would get a lot more votes under a Proportional Representation system.
The Scottish Libertarian was startling with his “tax is theft” and “people shouldn’t vote” positions, but I gained the impression that, if he was elected, he wouldn’t bother to take up his post as MP because of his belief that he shouldn’t be telling people what to do (which would certainly make law-making problematic).
The Conservative candidate was simply a vehicle for channeling the manifesto, with no sign of personal passion or independence, but the one certainty I had before the Hustings was that I couldn’t seriously consider voting for his party in any case.
The SNP candidate is a well-known MP and has the advantage of knowing the ropes at Westminster, but still has the “we have one hand behind our back” attitude that has done so much to hamper the SNP in governing Scotland.
The Labour candidate gave the most impressive performance of all the candidates and, apart from being the only woman standing, had the most encouraging and relevant back-story of them all.
I certainly found the event helped me to finalise my decision about where my vote should go, as I had debated whether or not to vote SNP for the first time, or to vote Labour, despite their refusal to consider a number of options that I personally would like to pursue. Roll on Thursday.
In conclusion, I would also like to congratulate Malcolm McGregor (KC) for his expert and entertaining management of a proceedings that could so easily have disappeared down so many rabbit holes.
To listen to the Black Diamond FM recording of the hustings CLICK HERE.
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