Winchester election candidate describes hustings snub as 'scandalous'

Chris Barfoot is one of nine candidates hoping to be Winchester's new MP on July 4. 

A hustings event has been organised for Perins School on Thursday, June 27. Organisers have invited candidates from the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, Green Party, Labour and Reform UK. 

Two independent candidates, and one Hampshire Independent as well as a candidate for the Social Democratic Party, have not been invited.

Mr Barfoot said: “As a candidate for Member of Parliament, I am shocked that the Alresford hustings should only feature representatives of the 'major parties' withholding invitation to independent candidates. This is a snub and is undemocratic. 

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Chris Barfoot (Image: Contributed)

“I wish to voice my utter contempt for this. Whatever chances we as independents may have of promoting our wares, they are seriously blighted by this elitist behaviour. Perhaps the Hustings organisers would care to reimburse those of us standing for forfeiting fair representation. It is scandalous. 

“This is our shopfront, a place to flout our wares. It is undemocratic and an insult.”

Mr Barfoot was one of seven candidates who attended the hustings at Waltham Chase Methodist Church on Sunday, June 23. 

He added: “The event was brilliant. It was created and engineered by Mark and Julie Tizard and minister Phil Griffin who also hosted the event. Seven of us managed to attend and the audience was almost to capacity. The questions were intelligent and I really enjoyed the company of my fellow peers. We were all a little tense and excited and it was a brilliant experience.”

Organiser of the Alresford hustings Andy Sprott said: “We spent a good deal of time carefully considering all the issues, ranging from practicalities to how the interests of democracy could be served best. We were left with the dilemma of having to choose between inviting all the main party candidates, holding an unworkable event with all nine or no hustings at all.

"We researched The Electoral Commission's guidance. This states that hustings can be considered "non-selective" if "you have impartial reasons for not inviting certain candidates or parties." Impartial reasons may include considerations such as "resources and other practicalities that limit the numbers of people you can invite, for example time or space." These were the overriding factors for us.

"We explored the idea of starting earlier and finishing later. Unfortunately the venue is only available to us for a limited time. If we had invited all nine candidates, we calculated that after opening and closing statements from everyone, we would have had enough time for just six questions to be answered if we allowed a minute per candidate per answer - and just three questions if we allowed two minutes for more substantial answers. I believe that this would not allow for a satisfactory debate. There is also an issue of space and safety on stage for 11 people.

"Local prominence of some parties or candidates over others", "the number of elected representatives at the local or national level" and "recent election results in the area" are other factors The Electoral Commission says are relevant and that we took into consideration.

"Hopefully it is clear that we have also followed TEC’s recommendation for good practice that the "candidates or parties you invite represent a reasonable variety of view, from different parts of the political spectrum."

"Candidates didn’t come to Alresford for hustings in the past and events such as this only happen if people commit a considerable amount of time to organising them. The first Alresford Hustings in 2019 proved the value to the community, so we decided we would arrange another one. I do not believe the community would have felt it was a worthwhile exercise if they were to come and hear just three or six of their questions answered.

"We are genuinely disappointed that we could not justify doing what we did at the hustings in 2019, when all candidates participated, including one who went on to poll 0.5 per cent of the vote.

"I understand that Churches Together in Winchester, which is holding its own hustings on Wednesday June 26, has independently taken the same decision and Mr Barfoot is not on the platform for those hustings either.

"Although I am organising the hustings alongside one of my sons, I would like to make it clear that the decision to limit the invitations to the main party candidates this year is one I take full responsibility for myself.

"Having established that inviting all nine candidates would make the event unworkable, the conclusion I came to was that it would be better to hold the hustings with just the candidates of the main five parties than not to hold them at all.

"I wish Mr Barfoot and all the candidates the best for their campaigns."

In Winchester the candidates in alphabetical order, are: Independent, Chris Barfoot; Liberal Democrat, Danny Chambers; Independent, Kevin D'Cruze; Social Democratic Party, Andrew Davis; Labour, Hannah Dawson; Conservative, Flick Drummond; Green, Lorraine Estelle; Hampshire Independents, Andy Liming; and Reform UK, Sean Whelan.