Election rivals quizzed
BREXIT, renaming Hyndburn and plans to rejuvinate the borough were hot topics for debate at a General Election hustings.
Business leaders across the borough were given the opportunity to put their questions to three of the five candidates at North Lancs Training Group in Accrington.
In attendance were Labour’s Graham Jones, Sara Britcliffe of the Conservatives and the Brexit Party’s Gregory Butt.
Organisers said Liberal Democrat candidate Adam Waller Slack and the Green Party’s Katrina Brockbank were invited but ‘sadly could not attend’.
The hustings was held on Thursday, December 5, and hosted by Murray Dawson, managing director of Scott Dawson Advertising.
Stuart Rogan, of HML
Recycling, opened the debate by asking the candidates to elaborate on their plans for rejuvenating the borough of Hyndburn.
Murray said: “This question provoked various responses from the candidates, but two key themes which came to the surface were those of civic pride and regional identity.
“These two ideas became central to the discussion and other points seemed to arise from them: the opportunities for young people in the area; the potential sources of investment for rejuvenation projects including the town centre.
“Brexit was another hotly contested topic discussed by the candidates, when one canny business leader asked the trio about their understanding of what local business wants with regard to this issue.
“All three responded that business needs greater clarity and detail in order to make effective plans. A burning question at the end of the debate was renaming the borough to Accrington and District Townships.”
Voters were set to head to the polls in the general election on Thursday, after we went to press.
The country is due to discover in the early hours of Friday whether we will have a majority government or a hung parliament in what has been labelled by some as ‘the Brexit election’.
Labour’s Graham Jones is bidding to hold off the challenge of Conservative Sara Britcliffe, the Greens’ Katrina Brockbank, Gregory Butt of The Brexit Party, and Liberal Democrat Adam Waller-Slack.
Full analysis and reaction to the results locally and across the country will be on the LancsLive website and in next week’s Observer.