{"id":32350,"date":"2024-06-25T23:08:39","date_gmt":"2024-06-25T22:08:39","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=32350"},"modified":"2024-06-25T23:08:39","modified_gmt":"2024-06-25T22:08:39","slug":"pre-election-hustings-for-oxford-west-abingdon","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/?p=32350","title":{"rendered":"Pre-election hustings for Oxford West & Abingdon"},"content":{"rendered":"


\nThe general election is scheduled for July 4th, and a pre-election hustings for Oxford West & Abingdon provided voters with a chance to hear from the candidates. The hustings, organized by the Church in Abingdon, took place last Friday at Abingdon Baptist Church and was live-streamed. You can watch a recording at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/3VCJuzWwhGk<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Each candidate had an opportunity to introduce themselves (from 20 minutes 00 seconds into the recording):
\n
\nAnni Byard<\/strong> – Social Democratic
\nChris Goodall<\/strong> – Green
\nJames Gunn<\/strong> – Reform UK
\nLayla Moran<\/strong> – Liberal Democratic
\nVinay Raniga<\/strong> – Conservative
\nIan Shelley<\/strong> – Christian Peoples Alliance
\nStephen Webb<\/strong> – Labour
\nJosh Phillips, an Independent candidate, was absent.<\/p>\n

The event featured questions addressing various national and local issues:
\n* Food Banks<\/strong>: Discussing strategies to eliminate the need for them (from 37:11).
\n* Top Concerns<\/strong>: Identify the three most important issues the electorate are concerned about (from 50:26).
\n* Assisted Dying<\/strong>: Sharing views on this matter of individual conscience (from 59:07).
\n* Abingdon Reservoir<\/strong>: Addressing the need for a public inquiry (from 1:07:50).
\n* Solar Farm at Botley West<\/strong>: Stating their positions on this project (from 1:15:38).
\n* Community Contributions<\/strong>: Highlighting their contributions over the past five years and future plans if elected (from 1:27:30).
\n* 20 MPH Rollout<\/strong>: Opinions on the implementation of this speed limit (from 1:38:12).
\n* Immigration<\/strong>: Discussing the need for a timely, affordable, and fair path to citizenship (from 1:47:56).
\n* Climate Change<\/strong>: Proposing national and local actions for drastic climate measures (from 1:57:00).
\n* Military Spending vs. Diplomacy<\/strong>: Debating the balance between increased military spending and diplomacy (from 2:07:22).<\/p>\n

All candidates agreed on the necessity of a public inquiry into the Abingdon Reservoir. The chairman, Chris Bryan, said this was the first time in his memory that all the candidates had agreed on an issue.<\/p>\n

In terms of what three issues the electorate are most concerned about:
\nJames Gunn – Reform UK<\/strong>: Cost of Living, NHS Waiting Lists, Net Zero will crash the economy
\nLayla Moran – Liberal Democratic<\/strong>: NHS GP appointments, Cost of Living, Sewage scandal
\nVinay Raniga – Conservative<\/strong>: Cost of Living, Public Sector Reform (NHS), Immigration
\nIan Shelley – Christian Peoples Alliance<\/strong>: Immigration, Free Speech, Economy
\nStephen Webb – Labour<\/strong>: NHS GP appointments, Cost of Living, Affordable Housing (younger people)
\nAnni Byard – Social Democratic<\/strong>: Cost of Living, Environment, Affordable Housing (younger people)
\nChris Goodall – Green<\/strong>: Nature and Climate, NHS, Palestine<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The general election is scheduled for July 4th, and a pre-election hustings for Oxford West & Abingdon provided voters with a chance to hear from the candidates. The hustings, organized by the Church in Abingdon, took place last Friday at Abingdon Baptist Church and was live-streamed. You can watch a recording at https:\/\/www.youtube.com\/live\/3VCJuzWwhGk. Each candidate […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[122],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-32350","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-politics"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32350","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=32350"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/32350\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=32350"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=32350"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.abingdonblog.co.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=32350"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}