Follow the Leader: Conservative Candidates Failing to Attend Local Climate Hustings

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Conservative Party candidates across the UK appear to be following their party leader by failing to participate in public debates on the climateย crisis.

From Glasgow to Hastings, hustings are being held to grill potential MPs about their plans to curb the nationโ€™s emissions โ€” but a number of Conservatives have declined toย attend.

Local climate hustings took place during the previous general election but there are far more this year. Many are being hosted by local chapters of Extinction Rebellion or coalitions of greenย groups.


Read all of DeSmog’s General Election 2019 coverage


Conservative candidate Sally-Ann Hart was empty-chaired during a hustings in Hastings and Rye. The constituency only needs a 0.32 percent swing to fall into Labourย hands.ย 

Rob Lee, Hartโ€™s party agent, said he made the decision because he โ€œcouldnโ€™t guarantee her safetyโ€ at the event, which was hosted by the local Extinction Rebellion group. However, Hart did attend the wider electionย hustings.

Other absent Conservatives were Laura Trott for Sevenoaks โ€” one of the safest Tory seats in the country, being vacated by former Defence Secretary Michael Fallon โ€” and Jeremy Quin for Horsham in West Sussex. Neither candidate responded to a request to comment on thisย story.

A spokesperson for XR Horsham claimed Quin declined to attend the hustings, which were held on a Friday as part of the global climate strike, because he disagreed with the concept of the school strikes.ย  โ€œA lack of proactive engagement with this growing group of people, many of who have always been Conservative voters, doesn’t give us reassurance or confidence that our voices are being heard,โ€ theyย said.

In Bristol, six climate hustings are being held to cover each of the cityโ€™s electoral areas. Extinction Rebellion Bristol said Conservative candidates in all the constituencies refused to attend โ€“ย including science minister Chris Skidmore. The local Conservative party disputedย this, however, saying its candidatesย had not been invited to all these events.ย Bristol North West only needs a four percent swing for the Conservatives to win the seat fromย Labour.

Russell Mark Perrin, competingย in Cambridge, did not appear at his local hustings, with the local Conservative office again claiming he had not been invited. Perrin, a science teacher, said climate change โ€œis not something we can ignoreโ€ and stressed that he had voted to declare a climate emergency earlier this year in his role as a districtย councillor.

In Dulwich and West Norwood, the Conservative candidate Jane Lyons withdrew a few days before the hustings was due to take place. Jemima Hartshorn, founder of clean air campaign group Mums for Lungs who chaired the event, said she was โ€œdisappointedโ€ by Lyonsโ€™ decision because there was significant local interest in environmentalย issues.


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Some absent Conservative Party hopefuls, including those standing for Broadland in Norfolk and Bristol West, told DeSmog they had pre-existing campaign commitments or familyย emergencies.

Will Quince, incumbent Conservative MP for Colchester, said he โ€œpolitely declinedโ€ but would be โ€œout with my team speaking with constituents on a range of issues including this one.โ€ Colchester needs a five percent swing to fall into Labourย hands.

The organisers of at least five other upcoming climate hustings contacted by DeSmog say they are still waiting for a positive response from their Conservative candidates, even though other political parties have agreed toย attend.ย 

The Guardian’s climate hustings is reportedly under threat because the Conservative representative pulled out, according to journalist Lucy Siegle, who was due to chair the event next week. Sheย tweeted: โ€œIf Conservatives are so green, why can’t they talk about it? As we don’t empty chair, it’sย off.โ€

Climate is expected to be a key topic in this general election. A YouGov poll in November found that the environment had risen to become one of the top three issues for voters, behind only Brexit andย health.ย 

And according to a survey by the New Economics Foundation and polling agency Survation, 68 percentย of people in Labour-held marginal seats in North and Midlands considered climate change to be an important deciding factor for theirย vote.

Meanwhile, 64 percent of voters polled by YouGov thought prime minister Boris Johnson should attend the climate debate being broadcast on Channel 4 tonight.

Both Johnson and Brexit party leader Nigel Farage are expected to skip the event, which will be the first ever election debate specifically on climateย change.ย 

The broadcaster cancelled an earlier leadersโ€™ debate snubbed by the Prime Minister, but this time is threatening to leave an empty chair in his place should he notย attend.ย 

According to Channel 4 News editor Ben de Pear the Conservative Party offered to have former Environment Secretary Michael Gove attend instead, but this was rejected as the other participants had agreed to take part on the basis that only party leaders were on theย podium.

Boris Johnson’s absence would leave Labour Party leader Jeremy Corbyn, Liberal Democrat leader Jo Swinson, Green Party co-leader Sian Berry and Scottish first minister and SNP leader Nicola Sturgeon to answer questions during the hour-longย programme.


Editorโ€™s note โ€“ Why DeSmog joinedย the call for a climateย andย natureย debate

We are journalists, not activists. But transparency is at the core of everything we do. And we can think of few things more important than forcing political leaders โ€“ and ultimately the next Prime Minister โ€“ to explain, in detail, their plans to tackle the greatest challenge ofย aย generation.

We exist to try and provide people with the best information possible about theย UKโ€™s climate policy. A climate emergency debate gives politicians the opportunity to explain from the outset what their climate plans areย . We believe that is aย democraticย good.

So we wereย proud to be the first media organisation to sign up to the campaign for a debate on climate and nature. Letโ€™s put the spotlight on the leaders, and make this the climate election it deserves to be.ย Find out more about the campaign here.

The Leaders’ Climate Debate will be broadcast by Channel 4 at 7pm onย 28 Novemberย 2019.


Image credit: Chatham House/Flickr CC BYย 2.0

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Isabella Kaminski is a UK-based freelance journalist specialising in the environment and climate change.

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