The Scottish Federation of Housing Associations held a by-election candidate hustings on Wednesday 4 November and STV held a hustings on Politics Now on Thursday 5 November.
Was John Smeaton invited to either of these? No.
Who was invited? Labour’s Willie Bain, SNP David Kerr, Lib Dem’s Eileen Baxendale, Conservatives Ruth Davidson and the Scottish Green’s David Doherty.
It would seem that the existing system of inviting the ‘main’ parties serves only to respect the status quo and does not give Independent and newer candidates a chance.
Inviting your candidates based on ‘Westminster representation’ is clearly not the right way to do things. Since when were the Green Party relevant in Glasgow North East? And are the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats going to be able to muster up more than 10 per cent of the vote between them?
Who qualifies as a ‘main’ candidate?
Should it not include someone who is consistently polling third in the run up to the by-election?
Should it not include John Smeaton?
A danger to democracy lies in the rise of the career politician. The career politician is typically characterised by an individual who seeks a career in a public office and has allowed his or her allegiance to the electorate to become diluted.One of the principle tenets of democracy is the concept that the politician is a direct representative of the people.
A British politician should stand for the constituents who elected him or her. A career politician finds their allegiances to the constituency receding by acceding to the party political line, they often see an election as an opportunity to further their own career and climb the party ladder.
The concept that democracy is a government of the people by the people for the people has been eroded by the loss of principles. There is the election of MPs who consider their own interests and those of the party, before those of the people.
A clear example can be found in Glasgow North East where when MPs were claiming for second homes, mortages already paid off and first class travel, one in four of those in this constituency remained unemployed.
This is where the Jury Team ethos comes into its own. There is a jury where ordinary people are trusted to have the final say on major and complex issues.
John Smeaton is not a career politician.
He has vowed to bring those in Westminster accountable if he is elected. “I’ll bring a storm down on Westminster, knock down doors and badger them until they listen”
The BBC elected to record a ‘hustings’ for BBC Radio Scotland’s Brian Taylor Big Debate last week. Candidates representing Labour, the Conservative Party, Liberal Democrats, and the SNP were present. No other candidates were issued an invite. This included John Smeaton.
When the Jury Team challenged the omission of John Smeaton, the response from the BBC was that only the ‘top’ parties were invited. This was a gross error as John Smeaton was at the time polling third behind Labour and SNP and ahead of both the Liberal Democrats and the Tories.
BBC editorial policy states that “News judgements at election time are made within a framework of democratic debate which ensures that due weight is given to hearing the views and examining and challenging the policies of parties.”
Thus it appears that under the said editorial policy John Smeaton would have, and should have, qualified for a place at the BBC Radio Scotland hustings.
This is not the first occasion the Jury Team has questioned BBC coverage. Published analysis has shown that previous BBC broadcasting decisions in the European Elections affected the votes for the BNP and UKIP.
As a public broadcasting body, BBC policy should reflect the current situation and not what has happened in past elections. The electorate are disillusioned with the politicians from traditional parties and the BBC must give a voice to this by giving new entrants, like John Smeaton, a fair chance.
