All eight candidates standing in the Westbourne and Poets’ Corner by-election are due to take questions at a hustings event this weekend.
The event has been organised by Possability People, a charity based in Brighton that helps people with disabilities and long-term health conditions.
Possability People plans to hold the disability-focused hustings at Hove Methodist Church, in Cowper Street, on Sunday (27 April), four days before voters are due to go to the polls.
The charity’s chief officer Lucy Vallis said: “This is a chance to hear directly from the candidates standing in the area and to ask how they plan to support disabled people and champion inclusion across the city.
“Candidates will be asked some pre-submitted questions and take questions from the floor. The event will be relaxed and inclusive.
“The aim of the event is to make sure the disability community is informed, engaged and empowered.”
Eight candidates are standing in the by-election which was called after Labour councillor Leslie Pumm stood down for health reasons.
He was elected to Brighton and Hove City Council at the local elections in May 2023 and chaired the council’s Equalities, Community Safety and Human Rights Committee.
When the council replaced policy-making committees with a cabinet, he became the cabinet member for communities, equalities and human rights.
The eight candidates are Gary Farmer (Reform UK), Keith Jago (Independent), David Maples (Independent Socialist), Georgia McKinley Fitch (Independents for Direct Democracy), Tony Meadows (Conservative), Sam Parrott (Labour), Geoff Shanks (Green) and Michael Wang (Liberal Democrats).
Questions can be submitted in advance to hello@possabilitypeople.org.uk.
Doors open at 6.30pm for a 7pm start. The event will also be available to follow live online on Zoom through the meeting ID 871 2520 5205 with the passcode 146622.
Hove Methodist Church, in Portland Road, has an accessible entrance in Cowper Street.
Polling stations are due to be open from 7am to 10pm on Thursday 1 May. Valid photographic ID is required to vote.
Tories didn’t show up, Labour just read a script provided by the office, Lib Dems got all feisty over nothing (amusing), Greens fell asleep / made the audience fall asleep and Reform got harassed by the 3 of them at every opportunity – but like bear baiting (but he remained composed and did not throw mud back at them). Quite a ding dong, the MC was not as unbiased as he should have been (poor show) and the audience were already cooked and were not going to change their voting intentions. Socialist Workers Party (Labour’s fire breathing lunatics) were outside distributing flyers (to no-one) and going on and on about the “far right” (do they even know what it means) to themselves.