I attended the Dundee West hustings at St Peter’s Free Church on Perth Road last Thursday.
To my dismay, I discovered only four of the six prospective candidates in attendance as the audience was informed that two standing candidates had “prior engagements”.
There was no representation from either the Scottish National Party or the Conservative Party, despite them having ensured candidates were in attendance at the last hustings held there in the general election campaign of 2015.
A large proportion of those who attend a hustings event have already made up their mind but, in this case, I genuinely went with an open mind as an undecided voter.
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Despite having made clear my view during open questions that it was reprehensible that a representative could not be produced by the UK Government or the Scottish Government, I must say I was impressed with each of the candidates in attendance, all of whom broke from the party line on several occasions.
Prospective candidates from the Brexit Party, Christian People’s Alliance, Labour and the Liberal Democrats passionately discussed everything from deprivation and drug deaths in Dundee to referendums on intra-national and international constitutional affairs.
I have yet to decide against whose name I will place my X but there are two parties which lost not only a potential vote last week but also my respect.
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