Perry Barr Hustings – Tory turns Environment issues into joke

• May. 5 by Liam Richardson (1)

At the recent Perry Barr Hustings Debate, environmental issues were on the agenda for all, except prospective parliamentary candidate William Norton, who could only offer jokes.

At the well attended Hustings debate held at St Augustine’s Primary School in Handsworth, 5 out of the 6  PPC’s were present to answer questions ranging from immigration, to the conflicts in the middle east. Those PPC ’s present were Karen Hamilton of the Liberal Democrats, the incumbent Khalid Mahmood of the Labour party, Willian Norton of the Conservatives, Melvin Ward of the UK Independence party and John Tyrell of the Socialist Labour party, unfortunately Deborah Hey-Smith of the Christian party was unable to attend.

After a heated start where one member of the public showed his anger at the current war in the middle east, the ppc’s started on their opening statements. Mr Tyrell very firmly stated his opinion on the use of coal where he insisted on if we do need to use it, we should use our own rather than importing it, he also stated his wish for more renewable energy resources.

Following on from him Mrs Hamilton stated:

“I got into politics because of litter, infact I’m currently handling  a review on business waste minimisation and recycling”

She then gave an brief statement about what she would look at if she became the MP for Perry Barr. The next three opening statements talked about everything except the environment, including Mr Mahmood who as the incumbent should of made more of an effort to acknowledge the issues. After all the opening the statements were conducted, attention was turned to the original outburst made at the start. After the public heard responses by each of the PPCs the next topic to be discussed was the Environment.

Conservative PPC William Norton, started off with a curious comment, asking:

“What makes things green?

Before then continuing to make fun of recycling by concluding its useless having flower beds in his garden any more he might as well just turn them all into compost heaps.  He did add at last that he believe polluters should be made to pay for what they do, but that was a very rushed comment. He failed to add anything of actual detail on the issue and treated it more like a stand up show than a serious political debate, he would go on to do the same in other areas of the debate.

Mr Ward believes that everyone is responsible for the environment and has no idea why certain protesters believe wheelie bins are unsightly. Mr Mahmood did put a lot more thought and detail into answering the question that he did during his opening statement, he stated that fast food chains should be held responsible for the litter that is dropped on the street that was brought from their stores and that they should pay a tax for it. He continued to comment on the need to segregate rubbish so it can be recycled better and the need for jobs to be created based on the need for sustainable living.

Mrs Hamilton stated she was in fact a member of green peace and again mentioned her role within the waste minimisation review. She added that the simplest of things can help such as the recycling of flower buckets used by flower shops. She called for better green transport and the need to create “green jobs” based again on renewable energy sources.

Finally Mr Tyrell added that the corporations should take more responsibility for the rubbish they create and that if they can create jobs and make things for war, then they can make jobs and create green equipment for the environment.

Out of all the PPCs both the Labour and Liberal Democrat representatives had the most to say on the issue, the conservative representative however turned the green issue into a green joke.