With just over three weeks until Greater Manchester's mayoral election, a hustings hosted by the Manchester Evening News at Stoller Hall in Manchester city centre on July 8 revealed that many voters remain undecided. None of the audience members spoken to by the M.E.N had yet chosen a candidate to succeed Andy Burnham, who vacated the role in June after winning the Makerfield by-election by a massive majority and is widely tipped to become the next Prime Minister.
The ten boroughs will go to the polls on July 30. Candidates from six parties—Restore Britain, the Liberal Democrats, the Conservative Party, Labour, the Green Party, and Reform UK—spent over an hour answering questions from an audience of more than 100 people representing sectors including education, charity, housing, and the courts.
Candidates Clash on Key Issues
Marlon West (Restore Britain), Richard Kilpatrick (Liberal Democrats), Phil Eckersley (Conservative), Bev Craig (Labour), Geraldine Coggins (Green), and Sian Astley (Reform UK) debated topics ranging from immigration to women's spaces and the state of the high street. However, some audience members felt key issues were overlooked.
Linda Hazeldine, 70, who runs the Lower Kersal Young People and Community Group with her husband Martin, said: "All we heard about was housing, housing, housing. And there wasn't a mention of Salford—just Wigan, Rochdale and Oldham. We're a charity and there was no mention of us. We wanted to ask about funding. It all goes to a central funding office, they give it out, and we get it when half the funding is gone."
Sarah Howarth-Flanagan, who works at Places for People in Salford, found the answers "samey." She noted: "I was surprised by the Greens and the Lib Dems. They're not my party that I would usually vote for, but I thought the Green candidate was a very good public speaker, quite humorous and down to earth. The Lib Dems candidate was very down to earth, very normal. Restore and Reform came across how I thought they would and were quite controversial. Labour sat on the fence a little bit and the Tories struggled. This hustings probably has swayed me one way rather than the other but I'm not happy to say yet who I'd vote for."
Voters Seek More Detail on Housing and Homelessness
Keely Dalfen, who works at the Brick homelessness charity in Wigan, said: "I think it was positive, but it's not swayed my opinion. In some respects I think it's made it clear who isn't capable."
Ben Clay of the Greater Manchester Tenant's Union wanted "more detail" on future housing policies. "There's a lot more that needs to be dug into. Affordable housing, genuinely affordable housing, what does that mean? It can mean all sorts of things." He appreciated the focus on young people but felt some issues were neglected: "I'm not sure every policy area was looked at, in particular housing and homelessness. Mayors have a lot of power over those issues. We want rent control in the private rented sector and we want social housing to remain social housing." Clay remained undecided but said he was "leaning towards Labour or the Green party based on what I've heard today."
Tamsin Ward-Lush, also leaning between two parties, said: "The hustings hasn't swayed the direction I would lean to, but I do still think I'm undecided. I found the whole thing really interesting. I liked what a few of the candidates had to say. There was some repetition of comments and not really answering questions—some fluffy ideas. My interest was about community spaces and the lack of youth clubs. Someone asked that but there wasn't really a concrete answer."
She also noted recent polling showing just three points between Labour and Reform, which Labour candidate Bev Craig mentioned. "That surprised me—I guess I was hoping that things might start to change with recent events in the news about Farage. You never know, they still might..."
