GE2019: Question Time
Many weeks of national as well as local focus on voters in the marginal constituency of Hastings & Rye (Conservative majority 346 in 2017) should come to a head next Thursday 5th December when all four candidates will enter an open debate in East Sussex College organised by ourselves – the Hastings Independent Press. Sally-Ann Hart for the Conservatives, Peter Chowney for Labour, Nick Perry for the Liberal Democrats and Independent Paul Crosland have all agreed to take part, giving short addresses to a public audience and taking questions.
The event will start at 6.30pm and is open to all who wish to attend. However, all attendees are required to register, and are encouraged to do so in advance to ensure a place – see the HIP Facebook page for full details. There will be a maximum of 250 seats available on the ground floor of the college’s atrium hall with up to a further 100 standing places only.
We are very keen that the candidates should be pressed to explain their own and, in the case of party contenders, their party’s ideas and practical policies on both national and local issues. However, we also expect the debate to be conducted in a positive and respectful spirit that shows all of us capable of airing differences democratically and peacefully.
Immediately following the hustings event we aim to provide full coverage online (facebook and website) of who said what and how it was received. We encourage our readers to tap into this, if they are able, without waiting for our next newsprint edition. Our Issue 142 may hit the streets while the polls are still open, but the political beauty parade will be over by then.
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Sally Ann Hart believes its OK to pay disabled and neurodiverse people less than the minimum wage. I can truly say that as an autistic person that is the first time I have ever can as if I was somehow less than human. This is someone who wants to be our MP and the idea that she must think there are enough people in this town who will agree with her is disturbing. I can’t speak for any other neurodiverse and/or disabled residents of Hastings but I was heartened to see the reaction she has provoked and hope that she has learned something here. Ideally I’d like her to withdraw her remarks if not her candidacy for the office of Member of Parliament, but I doubt shame will trump ambition. A full apology would be good though
Sally Ann Hart apparently believes that it’s OK to pay disabled and neurodiverse people less than the minimum wage. I can truly say that as an autistic person that is the first time I have ever been made to feel as if I was somehow less than human. This is someone who wants to be our MP and the idea that she must think there are enough people in this town who will agree with her is disturbing. I can’t speak for any other neurodiverse and/or disabled residents of Hastings but I was heartened to see the reaction she has provoked and hope that she has learned something here. Ideally I’d like her to withdraw her remarks if not her candidacy for the office of Member of Parliament, but I doubt shame will trump ambition. A full apology to the disabled and neurodiverse community would be good though
Yet again her comments have been taken out of context..she did not say disabled and neurodiverse people should receive less than the minimum wage. Read the full article where she discussed this with Rosa Monkton…this election campaign is becoming a cess pit of nastiness now.