It was the Ham & High, Hornsey & Wood Green hustings last night.
Streets must have been empty of Labour activists – as they were all in the hall! I recognised most of them. Planted questions and prepared answers – very Gordon Brown.
Labour activists in the hall didn’t seem that interested in the Whittington A&E, nor fair funding for our schools or fairness in the tax system – they appeared interested in one thing – whether LibDems would prop up a Cameron Government. Nick Clegg has made it quite clear that our four key pledges on fair taxes, fair funding for our schools, green jobs and clean, reformed politics are what matters and that we have to wait to see what the people say on May 6. It is not for politicians to decide – but the country. He also said he would work with anyone – even the man in the moon – to delivery our fairness agenda.
By the third time of asking another chap jumped up – same question. Same answer – obviously! This was Steve Hart, Chair of the Hornsey & Wood Green Labour party – not that he mentioned that!
Still as I say – great to see such a large number of Labour activists tied up in the hall and not out campaigning.
Judging by the line Labour were taking in the Ham & High this morning – Labour are clinging to a desperate hope that they can scare people into voting Labour.
Vote LibDem – get LibDem – I say!
Lynne Featherstone 
Dear Lynne,
as far as I can see, the local hustings are one of the few grassroot democratic opportunities which allow the voters to put questions directly to the candidates and are free and open to all residents.
As far as I could see the meeting was run by the local paper and questions were taken at random and put to the candidates.
I understand that you have ample resources to publicise your appearances in the many leaflets you are distributing and you even publish your own newspaper! So you can certainly not blame the Labour for the composition of the crowd attending.
Your blogpost gives the impression that the only issue was your parties post-election strategy. This is a complete and utter misrepresentation.
The meeting lasted over 2 hours and a large range of topics (Environment, Whittington A&E, Housing amongst others) were discussed and all candidates present had a chance to respond.
The audience was polite and extremely patient in listening to all participants answers, with a few heckles directed mostly at the Conservative candidate. It was, overall, a very successful meeting in my opinion.
So I don’t know why all you can report is your dislike of the audience.
Dear Lynne,
We weren’t all at the hustings. I was out delivering leaflets. However, I heard that the questions at the hustings were on a range of topics including, environment, economy, and international development and not just the possibility of a hung parliament as you seem to suggest. Incidentally, it would be useful to have more on these topics in your communications with the electorate rather than just complaining about pot holes!
Dear Lynne,
I do get irritated when you claim fair funding for Haringey schools as your own personal crusade, and yours alone! As I understand it, there’s been a sustained cross-party campaign on the issue by councillors, parents, the NUT, the Schools Forum representing heads and governors of schools across the borough, our local MPs — yes, you, and your Tottenham counterpart David Lammy — and many other individuals of all parties and none.
At a briefing for governors and heads on Monday, the schools finance officer urged us all to respond vigorously to the consultation on the new schools funding formula. But he also pointed out a number of times that the outcome would largely depend on what happens on May 6th. In other words (mine, not his!) our votes will make more difference than signing petitions. And from all I hear and read, I personally feel Haringey schools stand a far better chance of decent funding under a Labour government than a Tory-Lib Dem coalition.
I was at the hustings as an interested member of the electorate and agree with the first comment that your blog completely misrepresents the event. I personally found it a more useful way to come to an informed view on the policies of the candidates than the hundred-weight of leaflets put through my door by your ‘activists’.
Sue – yes – everyone is now on side for the fair funding campaign – which is excellent. And whilst I am sure it irritates you – it actually was me who started the campaign. Ask Tony Brockman. I discovered the funding gap in answer to a parliamentary question three years ago – which is when I started the campaign. Just google on this website for entries related to that.
The Labour council certainly knew because it had been that way for years – but when there was a Labour council, with a Labour MP and a Labour government – they kept it quiet and did nothing.
Once I started my campaign, and my having written as soon as I discovered it to all the Heads and Governors in Haringey – others then joined in over time.
And the NUT and Tony Brockman have been great.
Now – the more the merrier. However, your view that it would be better under a Labour Government may have more to do with you being an ex-Labour councillor than the real situation.
And if a Liberal Democrat government is elected – then our commitment to £2.5 billion funding for education every year from the second year of our government would deliver more to Haringey than the hybrid option in the consultation.
So the answer is to vote LibDem – and respond to the consultation!
Actually Lynne, I did forward the link to Tony Brockman, when somebody let me know about this thread today. He may come in and contribute, if he picks up my message. In the meantime, I’d like to respond, if I may.
The NUT, led by Tony, have worked very hard to build a cross-party campaign supported by everybody. This is absolutely unprecedented and we’ve been well placed to draw some very disparate groups together. There’s been a fair bit of squabbling about who takes the credit and we’ve always taken the view that we don’t care, as long as we end up getting a better deal for Haringey children. However, it would be helpful if we try to keep together on this and not let political differences turn this into a competition. I’m sure you would not want to continue to suggest that you discovered the funding anomaly and then alerted the NUT, and all the other parties, signatories to the petition, parents, governors and community groups on both sides of the borough who have all come together on this. You just didn’t, I’m afraid.
It’s an unfairness that has existed for a long time, under different regimes. It has been taken up, repeatedly, by local partners and politicians, but there are times when, because of the way funding is set for several years without the possibility of review, that prospects of success have been unrealistic. A review of the area cost adjustment is underway and now is the time to press the case with the DCSF. The arguments and model letters for governing bodies are on the website: http://www.fairdealforharingeychildren.org/ This is urgent, and much more important than who takes the credit.