Bradford By-Election Hustings snubbed

Bradford College Students union, the University of Bradford Students Union, Bradford Muslim women’s council and the community organization Just West Yorkshire have been snubbed by the Conservative candidate Jackie Whiteley and Labour’s Imran Hussain for the public husting meetings for the Bradford West By –Election which has been brought about due to the ill health of sitting MP Marsha Singh.

Nabeel Hussain, the President of the Bradford College Student’s Union said,

“Our college students are incensed that the Labour and Conservative candidates have shown so little respect for young people. The withdrawal of the Educational Maintenance Allowance and the rise in university fees has had a devastating impact on many of our young people who are mostly home students. Many of them are voting for the first time and the Conservative’s policies have had a detrimental impact on their life chances. The failure of both the Labour and Conservative parties to give first-time voters an opportunity to genuinely engage in democracy accounts for much of the cynicism that has infected the political process.”

Ratna Lachman, Director of JUST West Yorkshire, stated that,

“the extremely short campaigning period makes it even more imperative for voters to know the platform on which the incumbent PPC’s are standing on. Canvassing votes on a street-by-street basis has its place in democracy but it fails to give voters the opportunity to know how their candidates are going to perform in the brutal cut and thrust of Westminster life.

She added,

"It does not bode well for the Labour incumbent to say that he will not share a platform with George Galloway when his role as a potential MP will require him to make his mark in politics amidst MPs who may not necessarily share his political views. Likewise the attempt by the Conservative candidate Jackie Whiteley to garner the Muslim vote by campaigning alongside Baroness Warsi represents a cynical political gesture”.

The event will go ahead. The other candidates for the by-election include: George Gallaway  - Respect, Jeanette Sunderland - Liberal Democrats, Dawud Islam - Green Party and Sonja McNally - UKIP.

The Bradford West by-elections hustings will take place on the 21st of March, 2012 from 6.30pm - 8.30pm at:

University of Bradford Students’ Union

AMP Hall, Student Central Building

Longside Lane

Bradford, BD7 1DP