Election Hustings: Rushen

Another week dawned and with it came a new week of election hustings. On Monday night Gef headed south of the airport for the first time in this election cycle to hear the candidates for Rushen face the electorate.

Standing in Rushen is: Mark Kemp, Andrew Langan-Newton, Dr Michelle Haywood and Juan Watterson. The meeting was chaired by the chairman of Arbory and Rushen Commissioners Mr David Radcliffe.

Intros

It’s time to meet the players:

Living Wage and Pensions

Why doesn’t the minimum wage match the living wage? And why are pensions so low?

Abortion 1

Would any of the candidates ever vote to limit access to abortions?

Future of the TT

Do the world’s make famous road races have a future as we go carbon neutral? Spoiler Alert, the answer is yes.

Quality of Life

What can be done to assure people of a good quality of life and why aren’t there more police on the streets?

Child Mental Health Services

A shame we didn’t get the audio from the back of the hall for this one as a parent asked the panel, using their own experiences, why the waiting list for CAMHS is now up to two years and what want to see done to help provision for all children with mental health issues and those living with conditions such as autism.

NI Rise

Dishy Rishi has got his NI rise, would, or should, the island follow suit to pay for elderly care?

Trust Me I’m a Politician

Should we trust those we elect? And are MHKs paid enough or too much?

New School

Simple question really, why the delay in building a new high school for the south? And what can be done about it.

Climate Change

How will the island meet its future energy needs as we go all electric?

Housing

The one constant, besides coughing, that has appeared at every election meeting so far.

Dignity in Dying

Surely an area that we need to have an island wide, grown up debate about, would the candidates support a legal framework to allow people to make a dignified decision about their end of life care.

Borders and Covid

How have the gov managed Covid? And did they open the borders too quickly?

Heritage

What one piece of Manx heritage would the candidates most want to see preserved?

How Do We Pay For This?

With people wanting more services and quickly improvements, it all needs paying for. The candidates are asked how they would fund these costs and if an alleged gas reserve off the island’s coast plays any role in that.

Closing

Thanks for the show, stack your own chairs on the way out.