Sustainable Bishopston Hosts Bishopston Candidates Question Time 2014

Most people don’t vote in local elections. Many of those who do will decide based on party allegiance, leaflet campaigns or the local press but there is no substitute for meeting the candidates and hearing what they have to say.

Sustainable Bishopston ran our first ever Bishopston hustings in 2013 and the Bishopston Candidates Question Time 2014 will be their second event. The event will be run from a neutral stand-point, questions will be from the audience (or submitted in advance to hustings@sustainablebishopston.org.uk) and Sustainable Bishopston will not direct the event towards its sustainability issues. This is the same approach that was taken last year and it worked well.

The exact workings of this event are still to be announced but it’s likely to be very similar to the hustings that was ran last May:

• All candidates were given 3 minutes to introduce themselves to the audience. Candidates not present were given the opportunity to have a statement read on their behalf.
• We did not announce in advance which candidates had confirmed their participation.
• Questions were submitted in advance or from the audience on the night. Sets of three questions at a time were addressed by each candidate. Candidates not present were not offered the opportunity to have a substitute answer on their behalf.
• Questions requested to focus on local Bristol / Bishopston issues rather than national / international politics.
• Equal time and opportunity given to each candidate present.
• No particular focus on sustainability issues (despite being led by Sustainable Bishopston). The focus came from the questions asked and so was led by the audience. The event was open to everybody, aimed at Bishopston voters and widely advertised locally.

Bishopston is represented on Bristol Council by two councillors, who are currently elected in alternate years and serve for four years. This year the position held by Councillor David Willingham (Lib Dem) is up for election in May (on the same day as the European Parliament elections). We’ll be inviting all the Bishopston candidates to introduce themselves to us and answer questions from the audience. We’re expecting a lively debate on Bishopston and Bristol issues – so join us to hear what the candidates have to say and why you should vote for them.

In the local elections May 2013:

• Turnout in Bishopston was 33.9% (3490 of 10287), better than the average turnout over all the Bristol wards of 27.5% (seehttp://www.bristol.gov.uk/sites/default/files/documents/council_and_democracy/elections/election_results/Turnout%20final03052013.pdf )
• The Greens won with a substantial majority, 36.10% compared to nearest rival with 19.40% (see http://www.bristol.gov.uk/LocalElectionViewer?XSL=main&ShowElectionWard=true&ElectionId=67&WardId=35 )
• The second, third and fourth placed candidates (Labour, Independent and Lib Dem) all achieved very similar numbers of votes (675 to 626 votes)
• The Conservative and Trade Unionists and Socialists Against Cuts candidates trailed far behind.
• The Green Party, who never held Bishopston before, fielded a relatively high profile candidate, Daniella Radice, who had lots of recent media coverage from her mayoral campaign.
• Bishopston could be considered strongly Lib Dem, with two Lib Dem councillors and a Lib Dem MP at this point in time. Bev Knott the previous Lib Dem councillor retired and the party selected Chris Harris, a long term local party activist and local resident. Chris was unable to campaign actively due to personal health problems and the death of his father. His party still campaigned strongly for him. National politics (the Con-Dem alliance) seems likely to have had an affect on his vote.
• Labour fielded a relatively unknown and inexperienced candidate with minimal local connections, but he achieved a respectable second place.

My thoughts on the 2014 candidates:

• The European (MEP) elections are on the same day, this might help bring more voters out than last year.
• The Lib Dems have a sitting candidate who is well known locally. The ward has a history of voting Lib Dem. The party has low national support at present, very similar to last May (see http://ukpollingreport.co.uk/ ).
• The Greens have a less known candidate, but they started to campaign early and may be buoyed by the success of Daniella (and other Greens, the party had more local electoral success in the previous 12 months than ever before, including two councillors in neighbouring Montpelier). Voters now know that Greens can win and will no longer see them as a protest / wasted vote, which could have a significant effect.
• Labour are fielding a more experienced candidate and latest national surveys show the party having strong support, and they are sure to remind voters that they came second last year.
• The Conservatives have yet to announce a candidate for Bishopston but rumour has it (see https://twitter.com/O_J_Evans ) that it could be a student candidate. I wonder if the large numbers of students eligible to vote in the ward might be motivated to support a student candidate, in an election where relatively few votes could make a difference.
• I’ve not yet been able to identify any other candidates, nominations are still open and the official list won’t be announced until 25th April.

Ward boundaries are confusing – many votes who think of themselves as Bishopston residents will actually be voting in Redland or Ashley or Horfield (see https://www.bristol.gov.uk/WardFinder/pdfs/bristol-ward-map.pdf )

Bishopston Candidates Question Time 2014 will be held on Monday 19th May, 7.30pm at St Michael’s Church Hall, 160a Gloucester Road, BS7 8NT. All Bishopston voters are welcome.

For further information: www.sustainablebishopston.org.uk or hustings@sustainablebishopston.org.uk