Mark Jenkinson Conservative Candidate for Penrith and Solway has issued a statement about the Hustings taking place in Penrith this evening at QEGS.
Mr Jenkinson said “I understand that there is to be a husting this evening in Penrith at QEGS, to which I haven't been invited.”
"It is with deep regret that I wasn’t invited to this husting this evening, and I’m disappointed to see the school involve itself in partisan political activity in this way.”
“Public hustings are an important forum in which candidates are given the opportunity to air the policies and views, which would be a novelty for some.
Unfortunately, my attendance at other in-person hustings has not been possible because of the organisers inability to guarantee my safety. On this occasion I haven’t even been given the chance to have the discussion.
I am currently not eligible for House of Commons security protection because of dissolution.”
“Regrettably, the threat assessment for my recent skills fair held in my own hometown resulted in me requiring two close protection officers with me at all times, two door staff and full bag checks. It is unnerving, to say the least, to be shown which exit you might be bundled out of in a hurry.
There was also a specific Penrith hustings threat from a now convicted criminal.”
“I pride myself on being one of the most accessible, visible and proactive Members of Parliament. While I will never let these anti-democratic thugs stop me meeting and representing constituents, it has meant changes to the way I advertise my location in advance. Particularly in the current febrile climate that some candidates and journalists seem only too willing to inflame.”
“I didn’t come into politics to have my safety, or that of my activists and my family, threatened. I’ve had death threats, acid attack threats, and threats of other violence. This week I’ve had my face slashed on banners around the constituency.”
“The most disappointing part of it all is that, despite me having publicly discussed convictions previously, not a single other candidate in this constituency has called out the attacks, the damage or the violent threats.
Constituents choose their representatives, not violent thugs. But it only makes me more determined that I won’t be silenced.”
“Enjoy the next couple of hours, press your candidates on what they’ll do, not just what they won’t, and do send any questions for me to askmark@mark-jenkinson.co.uk"
In response to the statement QEGS have issued a statement saying:
“We are aware of Mark Jenkinson’s statement that he was not invited to our ‘QEGS-tion time event’ taking place at school this evening.”
“This is not the case, as we invited him on 23rd May to attend our event and when we received no response, we followed up on the 26th May and received a response stating: “I’m afraid it’s simply too close to the election for me to be able to commit - the campaign is short enough as it is”.
“As a school we aim to ensure our children are critical thinkers, able to make their own decisions and choices, and we have a long-held stance of political neutrality. When Mark declined our invitation, we reached out to the candidate in a neighbouring constituency to ensure all views were represented and we are grateful that John Stevenson has agreed to attend the student session for the Conservative Party, to ensure we have the full spectrum of political views. Unfortunately, none of the Conservative representatives we have contacted are able to attend the public event after school. However, the invitation still stands.”
“Having emailed Mark this morning, his view is that the event was misadvertised to him despite being described as: “to both students during school hours and parents at an after-school hustings”. While initially the event had been planned for our parents, we subsequently received a request from Churches Together in Penrith to share the event more widely and, as we had not received many requests for tickets, this felt entirely sensible as we are all part of the same Penrith Community.”
“We are well aware of our statutory responsibilities to be politically neutral and take this very seriously. I am extremely grateful to my colleagues who have organised the events today as well as working with student leaders to organise a ‘mock election’ over the coming week. Political education is vital in schools and it is something we take very seriously at QEGS, both in ensuring our students are informed and in ensuring they are exposed to a range of views in order to arrive at their own informed decisions.”
The QEGS hustings event will take place this evening with only three candidates attending along with a stand in for the green party with Penrith Mayor Cllr Lawson standing in for the Green Party candidate.
The Eight Candidates standing in Penrith and Solway are:
Julia Aglionby, Liberal Democrats
Markus Campbell - Savours, Labour Party
Susan Denham - Smith, The Green Party
Roy Ivinson, Independent
Mark Jenkinson, Conservative Party
Chris Johnston, Independent
Shaun Long, Social Democratic Party
Mathew Moody, Reform UK
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