I’ve now had four hustings and wherever I go, we get the same questions – nitty gritty details about spending and taxes, TTIP, deficit, debt etc. the usual stuff. Now these are the questions that politicians WANT to be asked. Very much up their street! The kind of things they’ve been preparing for.
It is sad that the run up to election is dominated by questions like these. It plays straight into politicians’ hands. The public can do better by asking questions about values which are lesser likely to change as easily as policy. Take politicians out of their comfort zone and ask them questions about things like electoral reform and reform of the systems they work in, the things that affect them and their political jobs. That will tell you more about the candidates than anything else will!
There are bigger questions to answer.
- What is the role of a Westminster MP representing a Scottish seat in a Westminster parliament in an era of increasing devolution of powers to Holyrood and hopefully to local authorities?
- What is the role of a Westminster MP representing an English seat in a Westminster parliament in an era of increasing devolution to the regions of England and hopefully, as in Manchester’s case, to local authorities. How federal do we want to be? how local do we what to be?
- What do we want to discuss when selecting our MPs? The nitty gritty of policy? Which can change easily due to multiple and varied reasons especially in this era of post election coalitions? Or a set of values?
- Do we want 650 MPs in Westminster when we have devolved so many matters that they may once have been responsible for to local authorities, regions, and nations?
- Should MPs at Westminster interfere in devolved matters?
- Should MPs at Westminster or MSPs at Holyrood interfere with matters devolved to local authorities?
- If we are going to have multiple tiers of politics and politicians, shouldn’t we clearly define their job descriptions? Pay them according to the responsibilities of those jobs and ask them to only speak in an official capacity on matters that only they can vote on or influence directly?
Let’s remove the blurred lines from politics first and then address the right question to the right person so the right decisions are made for the right people.
* Pramod Subbaraman is the Liberal Democrat PPC for Edinburgh South
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7 Comments
On the contrary TTIP needs to be raised more, and the full positions of the parties on ISDS, GMOs, outsourcing, Mode 4 immigration, and regulatory harmonisation, which are all within the deal.
From what I can gather the Greens are 100% against all of it, Labour are against ISDS and having any public services in the deal, and UKIP are against the NHS being included.
What is the exact Liberal Democrat position?
The questions you want to answer are not the ones the public are interested in. I have seen the questions that candidates are being asked at a MENCAP hustings which include:
Will there be better bus services for people with learning difficulties and the elderly in my town?
How will we get home if dial a ride funding gets cut?
Trying to understand the values of candidates can be difficult. Would their answers to the following question help?
Which of your party’s policies would you vote against if elected and if you were a minister would you resign to do so?
Would you reform the sanctions system for the unemployed and long term sick and disabled and if so how?
I can see your point but I don’t think politicians get to decided what issues the electorate think are important 🙂
No matter what, all political parties tell porkies – ‘EU Referendum for the People of the United Kingdom will NEVER happen – because Our Political Elites do not Want It to happen’ – http://worldinnovationfoundation.blogspot.co.uk/2015/04/eu-referendum-for-people-of-united.html
Well, I go with both approaches. A really good hustings would feature both. The first list may include questions about specifics where the parties have been vague and although it’s likely that candidates can spout standard answers, they’ll sound like standard answers and floating voters will give credit to the non-Daleks. Questions on values could get some very woolly replies, so a good question might ask candidates how their basic values were reflected in their position on (the E.U., benefits, immigration, renewable energy, academies).
Pramod, some good points. I specifically like the questions on the role of an MP. I find it ridiculous that the Prime Minister and in fact all ministers are expected to also be constituency MPs. Separating these two would also make politics more “family friendly” – a nice “progressive” policy, as they say.
Regards
One of my client organisations, specialising in providing services for adults with learning disabilities, has just completed a series of really good sessions with the local candidates, whilst many good questions were raised the one that sticks out is the question put to the Green Party candidate and their aide:
Q: So how did you get here today?
A: By car.
Q: Separate cars?
A: Yes.
Q: Not very Green then.