North Shropshire Green candidate hits out at farmers' hustings 'snub'
A Green party parliamentary candidate has criticised a decision not to invite him to a hustings event organised by the National Farmers Union.
Duncan Kerr, who is standing for the North Shropshire seat, said he was told that one of the reasons he was not invited was because the Green party has just one MP nationally.
But Robert Newbery, regional director for the NFU, said the intention had not been to exclude the Greens, but to include those parties which members had specifically asked to hear from.
Mr Kerr said: "That doesn't hold water as In the last General Election we were invited even though we had no MPs at all. With five candidates running in North Shropshire there is no practical reason for excluding the Green voice. No party has been excluded from any of the other hustings."
"Since this hustings many farmers and farm workers have telephoned me to hear about Green Party agricultural policies.
Mr Newbery said: "This was not a public hustings event. It was a private meeting for our farmer and grower members. A variety of factors determine who is invited to speak and one consideration is who members tell us they want to hear from."
"If any prospective candidate wishes to discuss agricultural matters with a local NFU representative they are more than welcome to contact us.
"We have also arranged on-farm meetings across the region, ahead of the election, with prospective candidates to discuss party policy and the union's election manifesto.
"Many different parties have been invited and attended on-farm meetings, including the Green Party, and Duncan Kerr has been invited to such a meeting."
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