North Devon Constituency Hustings
George Nympton Village Hall, June 27th, 7pm. Doors open 6.30.
Meeting to be Chaired by Robin Milton, Independent District Councillor for the Bishops Nympton Ward.
This is intended to be a completely impartial opportunity to meet our local parliamentary candidates in a friendly setting and ask them the questions that concern and interest you. All six candidates in the election have been invited; as things stand, we have:
Confirmed attendance:
Steve Cotten (Independent),
Ian Roome (Liberal Democrat),
Cas Lay (Green),
Nigel James (Reform UK).
Declined invitation: Selaine Saxby (Conservative)
Unable to attend: Nicky Edwards (Labour)
Format:
- 5 minute introduction from each candidate.
- Q&A. A mix of Qs from the floor and Qs written on paper slips at the entrance
- Answers limited to 3 minutes.
Unfortunately the Village Hall bar will not be open for various reasons, including insufficient notice for a licensing application. Everyone is welcome to bring their own picnic food and drink as they see fit – hopefully it will be a fun and informative evening.
There should be ample parking in the Village Hall car park and nearby
Working in Torridge and North Devon to build a fair voting system and society in the UK
Compass Northern Devon is a branch of the national Compass organisation which comprises members of the Liberal Democrats, Greens, Labour and non-aligned people who think we need to make some fundamental changes to how we do politics in the UK. We are not a political party, we are a part of a campaign to make political parties better and our politics more transparent and representative of society as a whole.
We think our voting system is broken. Governments are regularly elected, sometime with huge majorities, but with only a minority of the vote (for instance, in 2019, the Conservatives received only 43.6% of the vote but now govern with a majority of 80 seats).
In fact, for those of us who live in so called “safe seats” our votes don’t contribute to the final result. The outcome of general elections is decided in a small number of so called “marginal” or “swing” constituencies.
Because of our First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) voting system, many people's views are not represented in Parliament. Our political system is dominated by two large party machines which reduces choice and the representation of a huge a swathe of the population. People are often forced to vote tactically against the party they don’t like rather than for a party they do like. Let’s end the political postcode lottery.
Most other countries (including Scotland and Wales) use Proportional Representation for their parliaments which means that every vote counts.
We want to see Proportional Representation (PR) rather than our current First-Past-The-Post (FPTP) voting system which is unfair and unrepresentative.
We want to strengthen our democracy, to make it more open and transparent so that all voices are heard and nobody feels left out of the system.
We are working to get the parties to work together at the next election to return an MP who will support Proportional Representation and the introduction of a fair voting system in the next parliament.
Why not join us?
We need people like you – ordinary decent people who think we deserve a better politics and politicians who listen to their constituents, not just their party machine. Contact us or sign up today
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