Green Party’s Mark Ereira-Guyer frustrated at lack of election interest

A SUFFOLK General Election candidate has hit out at a “dull as ditch water” campaign being waged in the county which “threatens local democracy.”.

Mark Ereira-Guyer, who is fighting Bury St Edmunds for the Green Party, compared the pace of the election to watching paint dry.

“With 21 days to go, elector in Bury have limited ways that they can participate as nearly all of it is through the prism of national media and the choreographing of the main political parties,” says Mr Ereira-Guyer.

“The local candidates might as well be neat cardboard cuts of Mssrs. Brown, Cameron and Clegg. This undermines our democracy.”

He has emailed organisations in the constituency asking if they are prepared to organise a hustings for candidates.

“To inject a bit of grassroots localism, interest and dare I say it, excitement and passion, I am emailing asking them to assist or to initiate setting up some neutral election hustings or debate so that local people can put genuine questions to the people.

“At the moment there is only one debate being organised, at the moment right at the end of the election campaign, by Churches Together.

“Surely there must be an organisation out which can coordinate and publicise an election hustings involving the declared candidates,; and help bring local democracy alive and get people interested in their national general election which only takes place once every five years.

“Otherwise, locally, it all promises to be as dull as ditch water.”

Other candidates standing in Bury St Edmunds - which also includes Stowmarket and Needham Market - are David Ruffley, who is defending a near-10,000 majority for the Conservatives, Liberal Democrat David Chappell, Labour’s Kevin Hind, and John Howlett for the UK Independence Party.