Election hustings arranged for Chipping Barnet

Barnet parish church of St John the Baptist is to host an evening hustings meeting for the general election on Thursday 5 December for candidates in the Chipping Barnet parliamentary constituency.

There are five declared candidates for polling day on Thursday 12 December:
Gabriella Bailey, Green Party
Isabelle Parasram, Liberal Democrat
John Sheffield, Advance Together
Theresa Villiers, Secretary of State for the Environment, who was first elected as Conservative MP for Chipping Barnet in 2005, and who is seeking re-election.

Emma Whysall, the Labour candidate, who stood in Chipping Barnet in the 2015 general election, and who came within 353 votes of winning the seat.

The hustings meeting, which will start at 7.30pm, is being arranged by rector of the parish church, Father Chris Ferris, who chaired proceedings at the hustings held before the 2017 general election.

A healthy democracy gives people the opportunity to ask questions of their representatives

Once the full list of candidates was known in mid-November, the parish church invited residents to submit questions which will be marshalled by the parish administrator, Tony Long.

This will be the third hustings organised by Chris Ferris who became rector in 2014 and who believes that providing a platform for a dialogue among political opponents in the constituency is an important role for the parish church.

“The Church of England is the established church of the land and we have a responsibility to facilitate democracy and what better venue than the parish church which is the focal point of High Barnet.

“A healthy democracy gives people the opportunity to ask questions of their representatives.

“In a very fractured and divided society we need to come together to learn how to disagree well and the church can provide a platform for dialogue among political opponents.”

Questions can be emailed in advance to hustings19@barnetparishchurch.org.uk

The deadline to apply for a proxy vote is 5pm Tuesday 4 December.