A General Election hustings in Bridgend saw only half of the six candidates standing in the constituency turn up.
Organisers of the event said Labour’s Madeleine Moon was not available, the Brexit Party’s Robert Morgan had a pre-existing business meeting and Plaid Cymru’s Leanne Lewis was stuck in work.
It meant the questions, written down by members of the audience before the hustings began and read out by a moderator, were only answered by the candidates who attended.
This involved Alex Harris for the Green Party, Jamie Wallis for the Conservatives, and Jonathan Pratt for the Lib Dems, who was celebrating his 35th birthday on the night.
Giving the apologies at the start of the hustings, Steven Bletsoe, a Bridgend town councillor who organised the event, said: “It’s obviously extremely frustrating and disappointing but each individual candidate has their own reason for not attending.
“In my personal opinion hustings are an extremely important part of the process of a general election.”
Questions from the audience included how the prospective MPs would go about ending austerity, increasing employment and supporting the homeless, with others involving whether they would support an independent Wales, if manifestos should be legally binding and why people should vote for them.
There were also questions on funding for local government, what they would do first when elected and the “oven-ready” Brexit deal.
The latter prompted Mr Wallis to say: “I’m a big fan of ready meals, as you can probably guess.”
Mr Pratt responded with: “Oven ready meals are not great. They look good in packaging but in reality it’s just slop on the floor.”
One local resident, Simon Cash, asked why with a week to go before the election, there had been no literature or canvassing from any party on the Wildmill estate that he had seen.
He said: “In the previous election and the run up to the Brexit referendum, the public were bombarded with leaflets.”
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Ms Harris said the Green Party had limited resources and trying to get the message out there wasn’t easy, while Mr Wallis said he had been campaigning in Wildmill, as he had in every ward.
Mr Pratt said it was down to money, adding that he had a budget of £1,500 for the campaign.
Speaking after the hustings, Mr Cash said he was a floating voter.
He said: “Coming here tonight hasn’t answered any of my questions, I still don’t know how I’m going to vote.
“It’s very disappointing that some didn’t turn up, I would have thought it would be important to them.
“Voters have got to be able to make an informed decision.”
He claimed: “We haven’t had anyone come round to our part of the estate, I went online to read about the manifestos but some people are not computer literate.
“I think it’s because it’s seen as a safe Labour seat and they’re not trying as hard.
“But it’s just a question of being able to chat to a candidate or their representative on your doorstep rather than being fed information from big newspapers.”
The event took place at the Compassion Church in Nolton Street, Bridgend, on Thursday, December 5.
