Five of the six candidates standing for election in the Hove and Portslade constituency faced a grilling from voters at an event hosted by co-working space business Platform 9.
Questions covered several topics including the conflict in Gaza, youth homelessness, the two-child benefit cap, the Equalities Act and immigration. Gaza dominated a third of the event’s 110-minute running time.
More than 200 people went along to event at Platform 9’s premises at Hove Town Hall last night (Monday 17 June).
Conservative candidate Carline Deal did not attend. In a statement, she said that the election had been called at short notice and she would be attending one event, the Jewish community hustings.
Platform 9 founder Seb Royale chaired the event last night and asked candidates: “What is your position on the ongoing conflict in Gaza and what steps would you or your party take to support a peaceful resolution?
“How would you ensure that our country plays a constructive role in promoting human rights and stability in the whole region going forward?”
The Liberal Democrat candidate Michael Wang, 29, an immigration lawyer, said that what happened to the Israeli victims of the 7 October attacks was “horrible” and what has happened since was a “humanitarian catastrophe”.
He said that the Liberal Democrats called for an immediate ceasefire before Labour and the Conservatives and would recognise the state of Palestine.
Mr Wang said: “We will make sure our existing laws are implemented by the government properly. Our laws say we must not export UK-made arms to places where civilians might be killed or injured.
“There are exports because of the government’s interpretation of these laws. We are in favour of a two-state solution because it is the only way towards peace in the region.”
Independent candidate Tanushka Marah, 49, a theatre director, said that the conflict in Gaza had been going on for 76 years and was the reason why she is standing for election.
Ms Marah said: “I can’t sleep at night because of what is happening, I speak for many people who are physically ill when people talk about this being over there. Think about this as a human being.
“If all the children who go to primary school in Brighton and Hove were counted, that is the amount of children who are dead or missing in Gaza.”
Reform UK candidate Michael Hess, 64, a former IT executive and investor in small and start-up businesses, said that the recent war started after the massacre on 7 October which was “beyond comprehension”.
He said that Hamas should be excluded from talks because they want to wipe Israel from the face of the earth, and the international community should be involved but Israel’s occupation of the West Bank made negotiations difficult.
Mr Hess said: “It’s tragic to see what’s happening to poor innocent people in Gaza but they (Hamas) must have known what they were doing. I think it was calculated.”
Green candidate Sophie Broadbent said that her party had called for a ceasefire within days of the Hamas attacks and the response from Israel.
Ms Broadbent said: “It’s hard because I don’t want to go into how I feel about it. I’m a mother, when I see images of children and what happened it’s horrifying.
“We need to find a political solution and the practical things we can do to make change happen. That means working together, ending the arms sales, dismantling weaponry across the board.”
Labour candidate Peter Kyle, 53, said that Israel had a right to retrieve hostages, to secure its borders and keep its citizens safe but to act with restraint.
He said that the conflict would stop instantly if Hamas released the hostages that it is still holding since the 7 October attack.
Mr Kyle said: “In Parliament, I voted for a permanent ceasefire that leads to a two-state solution set of negotiations, a permanent settlement to the challenges.
“I voted for recognising the jurisdiction of the International Criminal Court in all matters both in the jurisdiction of Gaza and the jurisdiction of Israel and recognising and respecting any judgments that come from it.”
Audience members asked Mr Kyle about his membership of the Labour Friends of Israel and he said that he supported socialist and left-wing parties in countries around the world where there are right-wing governments.
The Local Democracy Reporting Service posted on the social media site X (formerly Twitter) as the debate happened. The posts can be viewed all together here.
The General Election is on Thursday 4 July, with polling stations open from 7am until 10pm.
Approved photo ID is required. The deadline for securing a voter authority certificate is Wednesday 26 June.
What about our problems with NHS, education, housing, inflation, crime and immigration? Surely they are more important to be dealt with than a war taking place in another country, however terrible that is. And does the Independent lady know which country she is living in?
You can be as angry as you like about Palestine but the UK’s ability to influence the situation is limited.
So us doing arms sales to a government committing war crimes and killing civilians en masse doesn’t influence the situation?
Not remotely, look to the US who actually do support Israel, read a history book on the subject and move on with your life. Tennis is a good hobby
Drop in an ocean realistically, Darren. Even in an optimal set of circumstances.
1% of arms sales from the UK – its the U.S. that are the influence.
How ridiculous. I don’t have a ‘horse in this race’ and consider both sides to be as bad as each other.
Stop wasting time on a matter we have no influence over and start talking about
NHS
Transport
Economy
Education
Welfare
Immigration
So, the election is about how we want our country to function for the next 5 years and they let in these time wasters who have nothing better to do than bleet on about a war that’s being going on in the middle east since religion itself.
Absolute time wasters
Independent candidate Tanushka Marah, can you ask your supporters to stop illegally fly posting western road lamp posts with your flyer I would most grateful. City is a mess enough without even more illegal posters
I share the sentiment that a seems to be common here. All wars are bad, and what is happening abroad is of course terrible, but the UK has next to no influence on it, and a single MP realistically has even less of a chance of making the slight bit of difference.
What can be done is address the domestic issues. I’d be keen to bench, or at least limit, any further discussion about Gaza at these events, because for the majority of us, it is irrelevant.
Almost all Israeli jets are reliant on parts from uk.. thus we are complicit in assisting the war or as is their right to retaliate to the grim attack they suffered by hamas. The toll in Palestine is sky high and completely wrong and we should not assist massacres and genocide if it gets that way .
Nope – all parts are exported to the USA, who may fit them to planes that they sell to the Israeli defense force. Go and demonstrate outside the US Embassy if it is true.
Food banks, fat kids, lack of investment in our infrastructure, high interest rates and the Gazans voted for Hamas and are now reaping the whirlwind.
Our own citizens are using food banks and people are worried about someone else’s war? We pay our taxes to look after us in this country, not to meddle in other countries’ affairs.
We need to stop pretending we are still an empire rather than a few small islands.
No single word about Brexit?
Chip wrappers now mate. Not even sure we could afford to re-join the EU or if indeed we should wish to given the right-wing governments rising up there.
Or even if we’d be let back in.
Who writes articles like this ? Surely something else was said but all we can read about is Gaza. Shame! Shame!
Q: – who is responsible for more deaths ?
1) The IDF in Gaza.
2) Lock down and the dysfunction of the NHS
I suspect it is easier to talk about how bad another government is rather that own the local mess that you seemingly cannot fix.
The Chairman is supposed to be impartial and is not there to promote his (or her) own prejudices. So a debate about the general election became a meeting about Gaza. Well, that’s Brighton & Hove for you.
If you really want to see who is selling arms to who, and how much.. look here:
https://www.sipri.org/sites/default/files/2024-03/fs_2403_at_2023.pdf
Britain sells the majority of its arms exports to Qatar. And we all know we sell a chunk to Saudi as well. These countries reputations for human rights abuses precedes them. If you are concerned about weapons and humanity, look there.
Now back to the UK, Brexit, education, hospitals, the young, the poor, the rich, the elderly, the immigration, the defence, the taxation, for and in, this. country.
The likes of Marah trying to build an attention seeking, self serving, political career based upon her own personal woke views of a war happening in the middle east simply has no place here. It borders on the obscene.
There are big enough problems in the UK , who cares about Palestine , the NHS not functioning, there is lots of vandalism in the street since this attack, the crime is rising, and this is what important for Tanushka and the Green Party. Give me a break!
And by the way it’s not genocide – what happened in Darfur is genocide , what happened to gays in Russia is genocide , what happened to Muslim in china is genocide. So stop act like antisemite bigots.
And what happens to gay people in Arab countries is also genocide.
So few in Hove and Portslade will vote because of the Israel conflict on either end of the arguement, (I would be surprised if Marah gets a thousand votes). This country is broken and it needs urgent fixing.