Star date: 7th June 2017

ALMOST TWO THIRDS OF SALFORD CANDIDATES IGNORE PUBLIC SURVEYS

While tomorrow's General Election may be fought on the popularity of the parties' national leaders, people also need to know the views of candidates standing in their Salford constituencies.

There have been no public hustings and, depressingly, two surveys by Manchester Friends of the Earth and the Greater Manchester Law Centre were ignored by almost two thirds of the 15 candidates standing in the three Salford seats. Meanwhile, the Salford Star itself has had no direct communication from any candidate.

Full details here...

General Elections are supposed to be a time when democracy is seen to be working, as candidates vie for people's votes. In this election, however, few seem to be bothered.

During the run up to the last General Election in 2015, there were hustings, where the public could grill candidates directly, there were photo-calls; there was even an election rally party near Salford Precinct. This time, there's been nothing (see previous Salford Star article: Is This The Quietest General Election Campaign Ever? – click here).

Over the last two days, the results of two surveys of local candidates have been released by Manchester Friends of the Earth and the Greater Manchester Law Centre. Only six out of 15 Salford candidates filled in the former, while only one of 15 Salford candidates bothered to fill in the latter. Yet they covered crucial issues like pollution, fracking, benefit sanctions and the restoration of legal aid.

Manchester Friends of the Earth asked twelve questions...

Q1 – Will you support a new Clean Air Act?

Q2 – Do you support a Frequent Flyer levy?

Q3 – Do you agree the Government should urgently publish a UK climate strategy to play our part in delivering the Paris Climate Agreement goal to keep global temperature rises below 1.5 degrees?

Q4 – Will you support the following statement: "If my constituency is at risk of fracking, I will oppose it. If my constituency is not at risk, I will oppose fracking nationwide."?

Q5  - Do you support the next Government setting a target for making all electricity generation "carbon free" by 2030?

Q6 – Will you support a national programme to insulate at least 1 million homes per year over the course of the next parliament?

Q7 – Will you call for all the existing EU environmental laws and principles to be fully maintained in UK or devolved nation law?

Q8 – Will you support a permanent and comprehensive ban on neonicotinoid chemicals, and ensure future pesticide regulations are science based, precautionary, independent and transparent?

Q9 – Will you support the introduction of a binding target to halve food waste from farm to fork by 2030?

Q10 – Will you support a new food and farming policy – that protects and enhances the ecosystems that underpin food production, builds resilience to climate change and supports sustainable diets?

Q11 – Will you support the inclusion of rights and protection of climate refugees in international law?

Q12 – Will you protect the freedom to campaign by voting to reform the Lobbying Act?

In the Blackley and Broughton constituency, only two of the six candidates replied...

David Jones, for the Green Party, answered 'Yes' to all the questions. Abi Ajoku, for the Christian People's Alliance, also answered 'Yes' to all questions except questions 3, 7 and 11 for which he was 'undecided'.
 
Richard Gadsden (Liberal Democrats); David Goss (Conservative Party); Martin Power (UKIP) and Graham Stringer (Labour Party) didn't bother answering at all. 

In the Salford and Eccles constituency, only two of five candidates replied...

Wendy Olsen, for the Green Party, answered 'Yes' to all the questions. John Reid, for the Liberal Democrats, answered 'Yes' to all questions except questions 2 and 12 for which he was 'undecided'.

Christopher Barnes (UKIP); Rebecca Long-Bailey (Labour Party) and Jason Sugarman (Conservative) didn't bother answering at all.

In the Worsley and Eccles South constituency, only two of four candidates replied...

Kate Clarkson, for the Liberal Democrats, answered 'Yes' to all questions, except questions 2 and 5 which were answered 'No'. Barbara Keeley, for the Labour Party, answered 'Yes' to questions 1,3, 4, 6,7,8 and 12...'No' to questions 2 and 5, and was 'undecided' on questions 9, 10 and 11.

Tom Dylan (Green Party) and Iain Lindley (Conservative) didn't bother answering at all.

Manchester Friends of the Earth surveyed all candidates standing in Greater Manchester and not one of the Tory candidates responded, only 48% of Labour candidates responded, 16% of UKIP candidates, 52% of LibDems and 89% of Greens.*

"Our aim is to ensure all parties have the strongest possible policies to protect the environment promises. And that they can be held to account for them in future" states Friends of the Earth. It seems that the majority of Salford candidates don't want to be held to account.

Meanwhile, the Greater Manchester Law Centre is urging people to vote "for a candidate who will stand for a welfare and justice system that works for those most in need".

Candidates standing in Greater Manchester for the Greens, Labour, Tory and LibDems were sent a survey about their attitudes on these issues...

"We could proudly tell you that almost 100% of respondents agreed with all of our demands and some took the time to share their thoughtful comments" states the Law Centre "...But we are speaking about altogether 15 respondents of 96 we wrote to...

"We could show you well designed graphs to show the split between the parties and contributions for all ten Greater Manchester boroughs...Instead we just say a heartfelt thank you to the six Green, five Labour and four Liberal Democrat candidates for their participation."

In the three Salford seats, shockingly, only Barbara Keeley, the Labour Party candidate for Worsley and Eccles South, bothered to respond. For the record, here's the questions...

1- If elected to the Westminster Parliament, would you vote for the restoration of legal aid, that has been severely cut and restricted by the Legal Aid, Sentencing, Punishment of Offenders Act 2012 (LASPO) and implemented by the Legal Aid Agency since?

2 - Draconian sanctions have been imposed on benefit claimants. Would you be willing to speak and vote against these?

3 - Benefit restrictions have particularly affected people with disabilities? Would you be willing to learn more about these and speak in Parliament about the hardships, which they have caused to individuals in need?

4 - Would you vote for improved and enforceable rights for tenants, in "social housing" and in private rented accommodation?

5 - Would you vote to ensure that "immigration" was restored to the "scope" of legal aid, so that there would be effective legal advice and representation for people with human rights claims, people seeking to appeal against deportation and people seeking to be (re)united with their families from abroad?

6 - Specifically, locally, would you be willing to use your voice to ensure the funding of free and accessible provision of legal advice and representation in your own constituency, whether through local or Greater Manchester services?

And, for the record, Barbara Keeley answered 'Yes' to all questions. The GM Law Centre also sent the survey to all the main party leaders and only Jeremy Corbyn responded...

"…For those in the legal profession, this change is urgently needed. Seven years of Tory Governments has seen an assault on our justice system: with access to justice severely limited, the role of courts in scrutinising the decisions of the authorities deliberately curtailed and now human rights legislation a target.

A fair, accessible and effective justice system is a public good which benefits everyone. One of my first actions as Leader of the Party was to ask Lord Bach to conduct a commission of inquiry into access to justice. That critical work will inform future policy.

In Government, Labour will restore legal aid to its rightful place as a a fourth pillar of the welfare state and fulfil our Party's longstanding commitment to abolishing the Tories' unfair employment tribunal fees...
In solidarity. All the best, Jeremy"**

If Jeremy Corbyn himself can be arsed responding, voters might think that a few more local candidates could spend a bit of time answering a few questions on issues that might well shape some of their constituents' lives.

Similarly, the Salford Star has had no correspondence or press releases directly from any candidate asking for people's votes tomorrow. Nor have there been any photo-calls, press conferences or anything. It is at press conferences and public hustings where candidates can actually be grilled on their records and attitudes.

For this election, however, candidates seem to be relying on direct social media, snail mail and shoving leaflets through doors marketing – which is all one way hype.

*See the full Friends of the Earth survey, broken down into local constituencies – click here

**See the full results of the GM Law Centre survey – click here