Spanner in the works for East Wight Primary campaign

Plans to select a ‘People’s Champion’ for the new East Wight parliamentary seat have had a spanner chucked into the works.

This morning Island Liberal Democrats announced that following national advice they will not be taking part in the meetings organised by the East Wight Primary (EWP) movement. Their chairman, Andrew Garratt, issued a statement saying: “Campaigning up to, and through elections is governed by acts of parliament that covers political parties and non-party campaigners such as the EWP. Breaches of electoral law can result in severe penalties.

“The expert advice from our national officers is that the significant problems relating to participation by political parties and electoral law mean that IW Liberal Democrats cannot take part in the primary process.”

EWP) had planned a series of meetings, starting this week, to choose a ‘progressive candidate’ to unite behind, seeking to minimise the chance that Tory hopeful, Joe Robertson, would win the seat. LibDem candidate, Michael Lilley, agreed to take part, but Island Labour had declined, also following national guidance. The only candidate still confirmed to be speaking at the meetings, is the Green Party’s Vix Lowthian. More than 500 registered voters had signed up to attend one of the six meetings planned.

A spokeswoman for the campaign said: “We are deeply disappointed by this last-minute decision.

“We are registered with the Electoral Commission and have sought advice at every stage. We take allegations of breaking electoral law very seriously, and urgently request that the LibDems share the specific details of their concerns, so that we can address them.

“We are calling an emergency Zoom meeting of all our supporters and the hundreds of people who have secured tickets for our events, this evening at 7pm. We will come together to figure out our way forwards.

“Whatever happens, we will continue to work to bring people together to get the better representation we so desperately need, locally and nationally.”

Conservative candidate, Joe Robertson said: “I would encourage the organisers to take down their placards of multi-coloured fish eating the Conservatives and re-arrange a hustings later in the year where all candidates and residents are invited to attend on an equal and fair basis.

“As someone who works for a national nursing charity, I look forward to continuing to talk to residents on the doorstep about our shared priorities for the future of health and social care, including access to GPs and NHS dentists.”