Tory leader M.Howard snubs local eco group FoE's General Election Hustings despite having 7 weeks notice and having quite happy to attend 3 previous ones at Election time.
What's he afraid of this time??....
Michael Howard snubs Shepway Friends of the Earth and the local environment.
Since 1992 Shepway FoE has organised a General Election Hustings meeting prior to each election (1992 (when Michael Howard was the Home Secretary), 1997, & 2001). A bit like ‘Question Time’ with questions and answers on environmental issues only. On each occasion all prospective Parliamentary Candidates including Michael Howard attended quite happily and Michael Howard praised us for organising it.
This time round however Michael Howard’s office took over 7 weeks to reply to our invite, and with no explanation or apology, offered County Councillor Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart as a substitute. How can someone who lives in Headcorn answer questions on Shepway’s environment, and how can he know what Michael Howard would do for his constituency when questioned by a member of the public?
The whole idea of a Hustings is to help people decide
who they want to vote for at the forthcoming General Election!
Below in chronological order are copies of correspondence between Michael Howard and Shepway Friends of the Earth:
8th February 2005
Dear Michael,
In anticipation of a General Election being called this May, Shepway FoE are
planning to hold a General Election Environmental Hustings meeting sometime
in April. The
format will be identical to those we have held in the past. (Will send more
details later)
The venue will be the same, The URC Church and Hall, Folkestone. We shall
also have the same chairman as we had last time.
We would hope to commence promptly at 7pm as before. We sincerely hope that
you will be able to attend and below are the dates that the URC Church is
available throughout April:
Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th, Friday 15th, Saturday 16th, Sunday 17th, Thursday
21st, Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th, Friday 29th & Saturday 30th.
We look forward to an early reply so that we can make a provisional booking
with the Church whilst those dates are still available.
Yours sincerly
Shepway FoE
SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS LATER:
1st April 2005
Dear
I am sorry it has taken so long to get back to you with some convenient
dates for the Hustings meeting which you plan to organise. Sir Sandy
Bruce-Lockhart will be standing in for Michael and he has offered the
following dates that he is available in order of preference.
1st - 17th
2nd - 15th
3rd - 9th
Please do confirm which one is acceptable to you, together with timings
and venue. I look forward to hearing from you.
Lorraine Pitcher
Private Secretary to Michael Howard
Dear Lorraine Pitcher,
We are extremely disappointed that Michael cannot find the time to appear at
our Hustings meeting especially as he has attended the last three meetings
going back as far as 1992.
We cannot accept any substitute speakers as it is Michael Howard who
represents our constituency and only he can say what he will do for the
environment in the Folkestone and Hythe District if he gets elected. We can
only assume that the environment does not feature very high on his political
agenda this time round.
We have decided that there is no point organising this event if the main
candidate is not present and reluctantly we have cancelled the Hustings for
2005.
yours sincerely
Shepway FoE Steering Group
----------------------------------------------------------
It has been revealed that Howard took one of the dates above for a meeting to attend an election gathering of Churches Together !!
Local eco issues in Howard's constituency include (on Romney Marsh- a windfarm (he opposes), Lydd Airport expansion-(he supports). The decommissioning of Dungeness A 'N' Power station (magnox) -due end 2006 and the 5 year extention to Dungeness B (agr) to 2018. Also the question of Nuclear new build.
Other local issues include getting the local council (and Kent County Cl) to adopt EU Article 19 against GM crops-both are stalling on this.
Sea water quality- Gov has moved goalposts to make it look 'better'.
Local council is launching a fortnightly recycling refuse collection scheme from July- there are questions over whether every two weeks is sufficent.
Transport- CTRL due in town by 2007- two train stations have to be ready Main one Folkestone Central too small to be other than an ordinary stop (with bus connection to town-10 mins walk otherwise) Main link via revamped Folkestone West- at least 30mins walk from town centre. currently 500 car spaces proposed and only 1 bus link!
Marsh link rail line (Ashfor Hastings line) long overdue for twintracking and electrication.
Housing- local council likely to reject stock transfer very soon- vast majorities against it.
------------------------------------------
Tory leader Howard must be terrified at having to field public questions and attacks from other candidates including this time round the Green Party to have ducked out.
Since 1992 Shepway FoE has organised a General Election Hustings meeting prior to each election (1992 (when Michael Howard was the Home Secretary), 1997, & 2001). A bit like ‘Question Time’ with questions and answers on environmental issues only. On each occasion all prospective Parliamentary Candidates including Michael Howard attended quite happily and Michael Howard praised us for organising it.
This time round however Michael Howard’s office took over 7 weeks to reply to our invite, and with no explanation or apology, offered County Councillor Sir Sandy Bruce-Lockhart as a substitute. How can someone who lives in Headcorn answer questions on Shepway’s environment, and how can he know what Michael Howard would do for his constituency when questioned by a member of the public?
The whole idea of a Hustings is to help people decide
who they want to vote for at the forthcoming General Election!
Below in chronological order are copies of correspondence between Michael Howard and Shepway Friends of the Earth:
8th February 2005
Dear Michael,
In anticipation of a General Election being called this May, Shepway FoE are
planning to hold a General Election Environmental Hustings meeting sometime
in April. The
format will be identical to those we have held in the past. (Will send more
details later)
The venue will be the same, The URC Church and Hall, Folkestone. We shall
also have the same chairman as we had last time.
We would hope to commence promptly at 7pm as before. We sincerely hope that
you will be able to attend and below are the dates that the URC Church is
available throughout April:
Saturday 9th, Sunday 10th, Friday 15th, Saturday 16th, Sunday 17th, Thursday
21st, Friday 22nd, Saturday 23rd, Sunday 24th, Friday 29th & Saturday 30th.
We look forward to an early reply so that we can make a provisional booking
with the Church whilst those dates are still available.
Yours sincerly
Shepway FoE
SEVEN AND A HALF WEEKS LATER:
1st April 2005
Dear
I am sorry it has taken so long to get back to you with some convenient
dates for the Hustings meeting which you plan to organise. Sir Sandy
Bruce-Lockhart will be standing in for Michael and he has offered the
following dates that he is available in order of preference.
1st - 17th
2nd - 15th
3rd - 9th
Please do confirm which one is acceptable to you, together with timings
and venue. I look forward to hearing from you.
Lorraine Pitcher
Private Secretary to Michael Howard
Dear Lorraine Pitcher,
We are extremely disappointed that Michael cannot find the time to appear at
our Hustings meeting especially as he has attended the last three meetings
going back as far as 1992.
We cannot accept any substitute speakers as it is Michael Howard who
represents our constituency and only he can say what he will do for the
environment in the Folkestone and Hythe District if he gets elected. We can
only assume that the environment does not feature very high on his political
agenda this time round.
We have decided that there is no point organising this event if the main
candidate is not present and reluctantly we have cancelled the Hustings for
2005.
yours sincerely
Shepway FoE Steering Group
----------------------------------------------------------
It has been revealed that Howard took one of the dates above for a meeting to attend an election gathering of Churches Together !!
Local eco issues in Howard's constituency include (on Romney Marsh- a windfarm (he opposes), Lydd Airport expansion-(he supports). The decommissioning of Dungeness A 'N' Power station (magnox) -due end 2006 and the 5 year extention to Dungeness B (agr) to 2018. Also the question of Nuclear new build.
Other local issues include getting the local council (and Kent County Cl) to adopt EU Article 19 against GM crops-both are stalling on this.
Sea water quality- Gov has moved goalposts to make it look 'better'.
Local council is launching a fortnightly recycling refuse collection scheme from July- there are questions over whether every two weeks is sufficent.
Transport- CTRL due in town by 2007- two train stations have to be ready Main one Folkestone Central too small to be other than an ordinary stop (with bus connection to town-10 mins walk otherwise) Main link via revamped Folkestone West- at least 30mins walk from town centre. currently 500 car spaces proposed and only 1 bus link!
Marsh link rail line (Ashfor Hastings line) long overdue for twintracking and electrication.
Housing- local council likely to reject stock transfer very soon- vast majorities against it.
------------------------------------------
Tory leader Howard must be terrified at having to field public questions and attacks from other candidates including this time round the Green Party to have ducked out.