Northampton North candidates face public at Chron debate
More than 100 people packed into the Chron's election debate for Northampton North to hear an intense and at some points heated range of arguments from the nine people hoping to be their next MP.
Topics ranged from immigration and fox hunting to housing and Afghanistan in the two-hour session which also saw all the hopeful candidates receive a tough grilling from the public.
The very first question of the night saw Labour's Sally Keeble put on the back-foot when she was asked about Gordon Brown's gaff, where he called a member of the public 'bigoted' after asking questions about immigration.
Mrs Keeble said: "A person isn't a bigot if they raise these kind of issues. Gordon Brown has apologised for what he said and he was absolutely right to do so."
But other candidates weighed in on the issue, with Conservative Michael Ellis arguing: "Of course it's not bigoted to raise these issues and this is one of the problems we've got now, that people think they can't speak about certain things. Now the truth has come out, Gordon Brown thinks if people talk about certain issues they're bigoted."
Liberal Democrat candidate, Andrew Simpson, added: "Gordon Brown made a mistake, he was disrespectful to a voter and has apologised, and I think that's right."
The issue of immigration did become heated as the BNP candidate, Ray Beasley, claimed most people who come to Britain come simply to claim benefits.
He was quickly shot down by the other candidates, including Mr Ellis, who said: "We've benefited immensely from immigration into this country. Our immigrant communities are a tremendous asset to our society."
Mrs Keeble added: "This idea about immigrants coming here and claiming benefits is completely wrong. Only three per cent of recent immigrants claimed benefits and that's an incredibly small proportion."
Other hot topics on the night included crime, pensions and what candidates would do for Northampton if they won.
On that issue, Mr Ellis said: "I would help as many people in my community as I possibly could, be a servant for the community and serve people as widely as possible."
Mrs Keeble said: "I have five commitments, more support for families, more jobs for young people, more protection for pensioners, tackling binge drinking and I'd also work to get a new hospital for Northampton."
Mr Simpson added: "We need to raise Northampton's game. We're getting overlooked with money for regeneration and investment and our MP needs to be fighting for that."
That approach from the Liberal Democrat candidate seemed to convince a lot of people in the room, with a snap Chron poll showing most thought he had won the night.
First-time voter Anthony Weston, from East Hunsbury, said: "I thought Andrew Simpson was very impressive. The Liberal Democrats weren't a party I'd thought about before, but I was very impressed."
Sarah Jones, from Headlands, added: "It was a very good debate and I thought the Liberal Democrat came across best.
"He was very good on the whole spectrum of issues and he has a nice, fresh, young approach."
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Tuesday 07 February 2012
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