ELECTION: Candidates face grilling from the electorate at Cullen hustings
BREXIT and indyref 2 were among a range of issues under the spotlight when a general election hustings was held in Cullen.
Run and hosted by Cullen and Deskford Community Council (CDCC) in the town’s Hall Church last Thursday, the evening was a joint effort between the neighbouring community councils in Portknockie, Findochty, Buckie, Strathisla and Fordyce/Sandend.
During the event - which saw around 60 people attend - a broad range of questions and issues were posed to three of the candidates contesting the new seat of Aberdeenshire North and Moray East.
The evening was hailed as a success by CDCC chairman Colin Burch, who chaired the hustings meeting.
He said: “I think the hustings went really well and so far we’ve had really good feedback.
“There was a good range of questions, both submitted and from the floor and it was great to see debate between the candidates, which is what it’s all about.
“I believe that so far this has been the only hustings in the constituency.
“I think people often don’t fully realise just how politics affects their lives so it’s very important they get a chance to question those who seek to represent them. It’s a very good thing for democracy.”
Mr Burch added that the community council were planning to hold another hustings for the Scottish Parliament election due to be held in 2026.
On hand to face both pre-submitted questions and those from the floor were Ian Bailey (Scottish Liberal Democrats), Seamus Logan (SNP) and Douglas Ross (Scottish Conservatives).
Not present on the night were the other two candidates in the race, Andy Brown (Scottish Labour) and Jo Hart (Reform UK). However, Mr Brown - who has been suspended by his party over allegations that he made statements on social media denying that Russia or the country’s President, Vladimir Putin, had any involvement in the Salisbury poisonings in 2018 - sent a message to the hustings stating that these accusations were “totally untrue”. He added that “I do not nor never have supported Putin” and that he was on the “centre ground” of the Labour Party.
He also paid tribute to the outgoing MP for the former Banff and Buchan seat, David Duguid, who is currently in hospital.
After the candidates present made their opening statements - which all touched on issues such as the cost of living crisis, the economy, health and education - it was straight into the questions for the hopefuls.
In what was a good natured evening that could be said to have been in danger of giving politics a good name, the issues of Brexit and indyref 2 sparked passions both onstage and off.
A question asking the panel as to what they thought the benefits of Brexit had been saw Mr Ross leap to the defence of the controversial - and historic - move.
He said: “During the pandemic, for example, being out of the EU helped our vaccination programme as the system we used was more advanced - this is something the figures back up.
“There have been challenges for certain [business] sectors but both businesses - including fishing - and individual communities have seen the benefits.”
However, both Mr Bailey and Mr Logan went on to describe Brexit as “completely crazy” and “absolute madness”.
Mr Bailey commented: “We were promised a whole lot of things and then we had a botched Brexit deal.
“Everything costs more now. I’m in the food industry and if you talk to anyone in that sector they’ll tell you the paperwork they have to do is crazy. That wasn’t on the ballet paper [at the referendum].
“The deals the government have made have screwed us over.”
Mr Logan was equally as scathing.
He continued\; “I think you might struggle to see any [benefits].
“I believe we were conned - where is the glorious, sunny upland we were supposed to have when we left Europe?
“It’s estimated that the fishing industry is losing £280 million in quotas and the fish processors can’t get labour.
“Farmers have been at the wrong end of trade deals - they can’t even export seed potatoes now.
“It’s absolute madness; the SNP would give the people of Scotland the opportunity to re-join the EU after independence.”
On the subject of independence, a question from the floor raised the “muddy waters” of the constitution and whether there should be the opportunity, as there is in Northern Ireland every seven years, to look again at the constitutional settlement in place.
Mr Bailey said that for the matter to be approached again would require sustained majority support for independence in the polls and also a sustained electoral majority in favour of leaving the UK.
He added: “I’m a federalist and the current set-up is fundamentally past its peak.
“When are we going to rethink this?”
Mr Ross stated that the people had spoken in the 2014 referendum with 55 per cent in favour of remaining in favour of staying in the UK.
He continued: “If the vote had been to separate there would never have been a suggestion from the SNP that there should be an opportunity to revisit it every seven years.
“It was an extremely divisive period, we want to move on and concentrate on what matters to the people.”
Mr Logan challenged Mr Bailey’s statement regarding sustained support for independence.
He said: “Opinion polls have been putting support for Scottish independence at 50 per cent.
“For the last 17 years Scotland has elected a party committed to independence.
“The Tories have been gaslighting the Scottish people. They’ve failed to answer the question ‘What is the democratic path for that 50 per cent?’.”
Other issues raised at the hustings including pension issues - in particular, the WASPI women - the electoral system, levelling up funding for the north-east and an emotional appeal for the UK government to cease selling arms and weapons components to Israel due to the conflict in Gaza.
