An election debate scheduled to take place this evening has been cancelled as campaigning is on hold for a second day in the wake of Monday's terror attack in Manchester.
Wilmslow High School were due to host the debate with all five Tatton candidates who are standing in next month's General Election.
A school spokesperson said "We are disappointed to confirm that due to the national suspension of campaigning not all five candidates could be represented at this evening's hustings, and therefore, we have taken the decision to cancel this event. We explore whether it will be possible to rearrange for a future date."
Comments
Here's what readers have had to say so far. Why not add your thoughts below.
However, I would say that overall information about the candidates has been incredibly sparse so far. Feel no one is trying to earn my vote. Lib Dems sending three (pretty useless) glossies through the post (one for each registered voter in our household) destroyed any green pretentious they may have had in my humble opinion. Ester sending us PhotoBox montage of her being a local hero... umm.
Where is Martin Bell when you need him?
An MP that works for their voter and makes sure that the true needs of the people in that constituency are met and brought to the attention of parliament. That is all we can ask of them. A pitiful few indeed that live up to promise.
Anyway, what are the "true needs of the people"? Are my needs the same as yours? Is a 21 year old starting out life worrying about a career and housing the same as a 70 year old wanting to preserve the value of their pension and probably not very worried about jobs at all? There is no way that everyone's needs can be met or even represented.
And this is the danger of independents. We've already seen on here how many people calling for an independent candidate seem to sort of automatically assume the candidate's views and opinions will coalesce perfectly with theirs. Several instantly backed the independent as soon as his candidacy was announced before anyone knew what he stood for, but there has been a noticeable cooling since he revealed he wasn't a Brexiteer!
This is at least part of the success of Trump in the US. He gave precious little detail of what he would do and how he would govern beyond broad strokes, enabling many to project their own vision and hopes and dreams onto him. And now he actually has to do things, those voters come to realise that perhaps the devil really was in the detail...
And flawed as they are, this is value of political parties. Whilst there may be some differences of opinion within them, we know that broadly Labour stand for X, and Tory for Y, Green for Z, etc. We might not have all the detail, but we have enough information of the principles on which they are founded to predict what their stance may be on a particular issue or event that arises. You certainly can't say the same for an independent.
I know that Gareth Wilson and Sam Rushworth are keen to attend. I hope the others will be able to come as well. It will be good to have at least one opportunity to quiz all candidates on their views.
Hope to see you there.
An Independent candidate can stand for any single issue "save our local hospital" or wider issues. (Local Plans?)
A true Independent should adhere to the Martin Bell & Lord Nolan Principles for Public Office.