Slough parliamentary hopefuls go head-to-head at hustings

Slough’s general election hopefuls went head-to-head in a hustings debate on Asian Star Radio on Monday evening.

Sitting in Asian Star’s studio in the Queensmere Observatory Shopping Centre was Labour’s Tan Dhesi, the Conservative Party’s Mark Vivis, Liberal Democrat Tom McCann and UKIP’s Karen Perez.

Independent candidate Paul Janik was unable to attend due to personal reasons.

Members of the public quizzed candidates on a range of topics including Brexit, housing, the NHS, free school meals and more.

Debating Slough’s growing housing pressures, Mr Vivis said the town is restricted by transport corridors, the green belt and local authority boundaries and said building around the town’s outskirts was the answer and warned against too many high-rise flats.

Mr Dhesi attacked the government’s record, saying house building has been at its lowest since the 1920s before praising Labour run Slough Borough Council for its recent development plans.

Mr McCann said ‘slum landlords’ in the town needed dealing with, adding: “Somebody has to take responsibility for the quality or low quality of homes in this area.”

Ms Perez said immigration was causing housing pressures, adding that Slough’s population had almost doubled over the past 30 years.

On the NHS, Mr Dhesi said: “If you’re talking about the NHS, Labour is the only party you can trust,” and said Labour plans to pump £50bn into the service in the next five years.

Mr McCann said: “If you think the Tories care about the NHS, you're wrong.

“They would rather have a penny in your pocket than give you healthcare.”

Mr Vivis dismissed Mr Dhesi and Mr McCann as scaremongering and said:  “You can’t have a strong NHS without a strong economy”, challenging Labour on its economic credibility.

Both Mr Dhesi and Mr Vivis spent much of the night challenging each other on their party’s economic records.

Mr Vivis said the country was left ‘in a hell of a mess’ by Labour in 2010, calling them ‘the party that goes out spending other people’s money’.

Mr Dhesi said the government has missed its own deficit elimination targets and has racked up more debt than any Labour government and said ‘austerity has not worked’.

A discussion on free school meals quickly became heated, with Ms Perez and Mr Vivis broadly agreeing that taxpayers should not pay for rich parent’s school meals.

“Why should someone have seven, eight, nine children and expect people to pay for them?” asked Ms Perez, while Mr Vivis said education on healthy eating was needed, adding: “Parents have responsibility to all their children.”

He said taxpayers on average incomes should not have to pay for millionaire parents’ meals.

Mr Dhesi and Mr McCann said school meals should be universal, with Mr McCann adding: “Anybody who considers it inappropriate or wrong to feed a child while in their care shouldn't really be looking after children.”

When quizzed on Islamophobic backlashes from terrorism, Mr Vivis said: “I would encourage people to continue what they're doing. Do not let people terrorise you.”

He said ‘Islam means peace’ and the problem was ‘vulnerable people’ being targeted by ‘people who wish to spread evil’.

Mr Dhesi said 'certain elements of our tabloid press’ spur public backlashes and said: “We need to ensure we build bridges with everybody.”

Mr McCan said: “We seem to think we’re good at winning wars but we’re appalling at winning peace.

“You have to talk to people. Not bomb them.”

Ms Perez said you cannot blame terrorism on foreign policy and called for people who leave Britain to fight in countries like Syria to not be allowed back, and for the ones who have to be electronically tagged.

When asked about Brexit, the primary school teacher from Stoke Poges said she thought a second referendum on the EU was an ‘outrageous idea’.

Mr McCann said voters ‘should be the final arbitrator of whatever that agreement is’.

Ms Perez hit back, pointing out the Lib Dems’ previous opposition to an EU referendum, adding: “You didn't trust the people to make a decision, you said Parliament had.”

Mr Dhesi said the Tories would use ‘isolationist tactics’ while negotiating Brexit and said Labour would do all it can to secure access to the single market, which Ms Perez said amounted to EU membership.

Mr Vivis said this year’s general election was caused by ‘scaremongering’ over Brexit by Labour and the Lib Dems and said Theresa May would be the best Brexit negotiator.

“We’re not turning our backs on our friends in Europe,” he added.