What will happen in Wimbledon tomorrow?

The organisers of the "hustings" tomorrow night in Wimbledon have refused to invite us and two other candidates in Merton & Wandsworth to speak from the platform.

Here is the email we sent them:

I see from the announcement below that you are organising a hustings this coming Tuesday. We are also contesting the Merton & Wandsworth GLA constituency and, as it is a principle of democracy that all candidates standing in an election should have an equal chance to put their views to electors, we are assuming that you have no objection to our candidate also being on the platform at the hustings. Looking forward to your confirmation.

And here is the reply we got:

We have only invited candidates from the four largest parties (Conservative, Labour LibDem and Green) to speak at this event.
The organisers thought long and hard about who to invite, and felt in the end that it would be impractical to invite all the constituency candidates, let alone candidates from all the parties standing for the Assembly. We are keen to have some real discussion of the issues that the London Assembly, and decided that it would be impractical to invite more than 4 candidates. As a result, of course, the parties attending will have to count a share of the cost of the hustings towards their election expenses.
So I'm afraid that James Martin is not invited to speak from the platform on this occasion. Of course he will be welcome to attend the hustings and to bring literature. There will also be opportunities for informal discussion before and after the formal proceedings, from 7.30 on.
Yours sincerely,
Linda Murgatroyd
for Transition Towns Wimbledon and Tooting, Wimbledon Civic Forum and St Mark's Church, Wimbledon,

This is not going to stop us going to the meeting and insisting on being allowed to speak from the platform as hustings are supposed to be occasions when all the nominated candidates have a chance to present their views to the electorate.

Full report on Wednesday morning on what we did and what happened.

More campaigning

Yesterday, Saturday, we had stalls in both Lambert & Southwark (Clapham High St) and Merton & Wandsworth (Tooting Broadway). In Tooting we met a member of the British Organisation of People of Indian Sub-Continental Origin who told us of a hustings in Tooting next Saturday at 4pm. This co-incides with our own election meeting at the same time on the same day but this shouldn't present a problem. We're not that thin on the ground.

Meanwhile we are trying to get an official invitation to a hustings in Wimbledon on Tuesday to which we our candidate has not been invited. It's at St Marks Church, St Marks Place, SW19 7ND starting at 7,30m, organised by the Wimbledon Civic Forum and Transition Town Wimbledon (and Tooting) Even if we don't get an invitation we will still be there to demand to be heard. We're not going to let them (or anyone else) get away with just inviting the candidates from "the main parties".