The Blackpool Gazette and Blackpool Lead invited the candidates standing for the Blackpool North constituency at next month's general election to a hustings in which they fielded questions from voters.
The candidates standing for election on 4th July were each given 90 seconds to answer questions from an audience at a Cleveleys venue.
Six out of the eight people on the ballot took part in the event with Jeannine Creswell (Social Democratic Party) missing and a stand-in taking the place of the absent Lorraine Beavers.
In order of appearance on stage:
PAUL MAYNARD (Conservative Party)
JAMES RUST (Monster Raving Loony Party)
GITA GORDON (Independent)
BILL GREENE (Liberal Democrats)
TINA ROTHERY (Green Party)
DAN BARKER (Reform UK)
CLIVE GRUNSHAW (Labour [Stand-in])
The candidates standing for election on 4th July were each given 90 seconds to answer questions from an audience at a Cleveleys venue.
Six out of the eight people on the ballot took part in the event with Jeannine Creswell (Social Democratic Party) missing and a stand-in taking the place of the absent Lorraine Beavers.
In order of appearance on stage:
PAUL MAYNARD (Conservative Party)
JAMES RUST (Monster Raving Loony Party)
GITA GORDON (Independent)
BILL GREENE (Liberal Democrats)
TINA ROTHERY (Green Party)
DAN BARKER (Reform UK)
CLIVE GRUNSHAW (Labour [Stand-in])
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NewsTranscript
00:00Ron Barker, Blackpool South Green Party. This is directed at the Reform Party candidate.
00:07What is his view of what Nigel Farage said in regarding partly supporting Putin?
00:16My name's Dan, I have a name, Dan Barker.
00:19So, Nigel Farage made comments and he's been widely misreported and twisted in the media.
00:26But I will tell you what he meant by it. He said that 10 years ago, 10-14 years ago, he saw coming the conflict with Putin.
00:34So by advancing the EU and NATO to the east was going to give him an excuse for what he wanted to do for 20 years, which is invade Ukraine.
00:41That is all he said. He didn't say he supported Putin and he's made it clear that he doesn't support him.
00:46Let me finish your answer, sir. He's made it clear that he doesn't support him.
00:50I watched the interview and I've read his article. He did not say he was in support of Putin.
00:57I did say that. I said what he said on TV and what he said regarding Putin and I said he was in support of Putin.
01:03OK. I'll miss all the suggestions.
01:05Open your ears.
01:11I was of a generation where I was born immediately after the Second World War.
01:16And that war happened because people sat back and allowed things to happen.
01:20When you see things which are wrong, you've got to say that they're wrong.
01:25Absolutely.
01:31I won't be loony, but there's two sides to every argument and no one is giving the Russian side.
01:39Now, as someone who's quite well-travelled...
01:43There's two sides to an argument. One side to the fact and the truth.
01:47Exactly.
01:51OK. A quote from a Russian friend of mine. I've been all over the world in business.
01:55And a Russian friend of mine says, why are you treating us like this? Why is the West treating us like this?
02:01You've got far more in common with us than you have with the Africans and the Arabs and anybody else.
02:08And it just seems we're not hearing the Russian point of view.
02:15If you saw the talk of the council interview, two hours with Putin, listen to what he said.
02:21Oh my God.
02:30Like probably many in the constituency, I've met with the Ukrainian refugees who came over.
02:35They've been welcomed by local churches, by local families.
02:38I've told them their tales of what they experienced in the aftermath of the invasion, the fears and concerns they had.
02:46I think we need to listen to the people who have experienced invasion to properly try to understand why it is right that we oppose what Putin is doing at the moment.
02:54And why we must not walk into a wider conflagration while he needs to be opposed from the start.
03:03I'm not going to go right into it, but I am going to ask a question about why we're so sympathetic and understanding to Ukraine and they deserve it.
03:11They deserve that.
03:13What about Palestine? What about Palestinians?
03:19Why is a Palestinian child not as important as Ukrainians?
03:23And why is it that we gave the Ukrainians, and I'm glad we did, the right to escape that war, but we do not give an outdoor to anyone stuck in Palestine?