Election Hustings at the Coninghams

Wednesday 28th April saw Broadway’s Coninghams hostel play host to an Election Debate between the local MP candidates for Hammersmith. Shaun Bailey (Conservatives), Merlene Emerson (Liberal Democrats) and Andy Slaughter (Labour) all took centre stage for a memorable debate. Each candidate also brought with them some of their local councillor and staff.

There was a good turn out from Coninghams residents as well as other Broadway staff. Each candidate was given 5 minutes to do an introductory speech about their party and their policies following which we opened things up to the floor for questions.

There were some great questions posed by residents which caused some vigorous debating between the candidates. The topics debated included services for the homeless, work and employment  (specifically around new deal) as well as affordable housing, availability and creation of social housing.

The debate could have gone on for a few more hours and it was great to see that the residents were left keen to continue asking questions. As such each candidate and their colleagues were invited to stay behind for a BBQ and were able to chat to residents informally and individually. The debating continued for some time!

The event was a great way of encouraging residents in participating in active citizenship and encouraging them to vote but also was great for them to have their voices and opinions heard by the next potential Local MP’s for the area.

One resident commented “I haven’t voted for 45 years and don’t know a lot about politics but I got to sit, listen and learn, it was good. It was good that people could get their point of view across ”.

The candidates also expressed that they enjoyed the challenge of a debate with our residents and were pleased to have taken part in the hustings.

Andy Slaughter said of the day: “It was a real honour to be able to speak with the residents at Broadway. The barbecue afterwards was a welcome break from the routine of campaigning, but I still managed to pick up several bits of casework, which I hope to be in a position to follow up after the election!”

Shaun Bailey commented: “I was very grateful for the opportunity to visit the hostel to see the good work that's being done and to discuss the issues with the other Hammersmith candidates. The work the hostel does is important because we have a homeless problem nationwide that needs to be solved. It was great to see that the staff hold their residents in such a high regard that they are prepared to hold a hustings with the local political candidates for the benefit of their residents. I was glad to take part!”

A huge thanks must also go out to the staff at the Coninghams who all helped and contributed to thinking of, arranging and co-ordinating the day so well.