I fundamentally believe in the importance of free debate to democracy & find it utterly unhealthy that some seats have historically been considered so safe the candidates hardly meet voters & don’t even bother with local hustings anymore. So, in standing as a Green Councillor in Thames View, I made sure the first local hustings in the seat in decades took place last night. Two fascinating takeaways: - The empty chair where the Labour candidate should have been sat was a powerful reminder to local people of the contempt they are held in by @BDLabour. Labour has such entitlement you can sense how offended they are that other parties are daring to contest ‘their’ seat. - Why its important to let Reform speak: The Reform candidate has already described Barking as a “nasty, disgusting place” & his hustings performance continued in the same vein. Weird rants about immigration (which he cannot change as a councillor), interspersed with threats to close down the much loved local social club (because it’s discriminatory for it to serve alcohol 🤷‍♂️) & for developers to build over local green spaces as it is important for them to make profit that can “trickle down”. The hustings was important at bringing attention to Labour’s complacency & contempt and Reform’s weird incoherent mix of authoritarianism & Thatcherite community destruction, all in the same event.