The Globe "Presidential Debate"

Or "Meet the Election Candidates".
(Anyone who's already sick and tired of the General Election should just skip over this post!)

The Globe was packed - up on the balconies as well as the main floor - and so was the stage. There was only just room for the seven candidates and the chairman to squeeze on. Looking around, though, I didn't see much evidence of any first time voters (maybe there were some there and they were hiding) but I did see plenty of grey hair.

Moving across the stage, we had (and I can't remember many of the names) the UKIP man, bearded, with a smart blazer; the Green lady; the Labour lad (I'm sorry, but he looked about twelve!); the chairman (who did an admirable job of giving everyone a fair chance to answer the questions); Suzy Davies the Conservative lady; Roger Williams the Lib Dem sitting MP; the Plaid Cymru lady and, squeezed on the end because he came in late, Lord Offa of the Dyke of the Monster Raving Loony Party, in a fetching pale blue coat and a top hat with a bobble on the top.

Some of the questions were emailed in and some came from the floor - and each one took quite some time to answer.
Initially, I wasn't too impressed with the Labour lad - he sounded as if he'd swallowed the Party Handbook, but he settled down as the debate went on. Roger Williams was the only one on the platform who could mention his voting record, but the Plaid Cymru lady has eight years experience with the Audit Committee of the Welsh Assembly.

They talked about tax (and the UKIP chap got a bit huffy after he'd been asked to explain his party's flat rate tax for the third time over the course of the evening). They talked about saving money by making economies (but where) and by raising extra taxes like a "Mansion tax" or increasing National Insurance.

They talked about Proportional Representation. The Lib Dems have been in favour of this for years, and the Greens and Plaid Cymru also said they were in favour. The Plaid Cymru lady said that the system she favoured, the Single Transferable Vote, gave the choice but also kept the link with the constituency and the electorate, which could be lost under some methods.
The Labour party are considering holding a referendum on PR. They all agreed that the present system, where people attempt tactical voting in certain marginal constituencies, and other people can never be represented because they live in a constituency with a huge majority for an alternate party, is unfair.
The Conservative lady said there should be a way for a constituency to get rid of their MP - if he's done something criminal for instance - and force a by-election.
When someone asked if the whip system should be abolished, the Green lady said rather smugly that they didn't have whips in Parliament for their party.

When it came to local issues, there was a lot to be said about health, and it emerged that the Labour lad was born in Knighton hospital, and supports Bronllys. The Local Health Board seemed to be a bone of contention, but the Plaid Cymru lady made a plea that the system isn't re-organised again, because they don't know if they're coming or going. Someone from the floor pointed out that there are only six ambulances to cover the entire county, and the average journey to hospital here is 37 miles. In England it's typically 17 miles. The gentleman speaking from the floor said he had been a Disability Advisor for the Health Board, so knew about it from the inside, and his plea was "Bring back Matron!"

They were just talking about how to pay for local services when one of the seats in the audience collapsed! No-one was hurt, and the Green lady went on to oppose privitisation of health services and to propose a Peace Office rather than a War Office (to be told from the floor that we haven't had a War Office for over fifty years - it's the Ministry of Defence).

Someone asked if we should come out of Europe, and just about everyone except the UKIP chap said no. Roger Williams pointed out that he belonged to the first generation ever who had never seen a war in Europe, and the Plaid Cymru lady said she remembered watching the German bombers overhead - and having overpaid Europeans going to endless committee meetings was a lot better than having them going to war with each other.

Finally, with time running on, the chairman got the audience to vote for the most important last question, out of the ones he'd been sent and other suggestions from the floor. The winner was the environment, and here the UKIP chap displayed a slightly surprising (to me, anyway) knowledge of tidal barrages, and supported us all trying to use less energy. The Green lady talked about Peak Oil and how petrol was only going to get more expensive, so the more localised we could become, the better. The Conservative lady praised the Green Valleys project to the skies. Plaid Cymru supported lots of little, local projects rather than big showy projects like the Severn barrage and the Monster Raving Loony was very supportive, and said we should re-open all the disused water mills in the area.

By that time, everyone had had enough, and the meeting was wound up - with plenty of food for thought.