We've produced our own short briefing for Friends and others in advance of the General Election, with suggested questions for candidates read it here: . It covers: Afghanistan, Nuclear Weapons and Disarmament, Building Peace in Diverse Britain, Resources and Climate Change and Young People and Peace. We've also created a page of links to other related election resources.
At our Representative's meeting last weekend we had a helpful reminder of how challenging it can be for candidates to respond in detail to questions put to them in the period leading up to elections - due to pressures of time and to the need to be properly briefed on the range of issues. We don't expect anyone using our questions to put them all to candidates, but rather to seek opportunities to ask for short answers to at least some of them. This may be face-to-face - at a hustings, for instance - or in a letter or email.
We hope that the issues mapped out in our briefing might also be a useful way into discussions with new MPs once they are elected - those who are new to the job might welcome dialogue with constituents who can provide them with information as well as asking challenging questions. NFPB will continue its own work, and at the same meeting last Saturday appointed new project groups to develop activities relating to these concerns.
PS: A footnote about comments - we were getting so much unwelcome 'spam' added to the comments section of this blog, that I have disabled this feature for the timebeing. If you need to get in touch with me, follow the contact details on the NFPB website: http://nfpb.gn.apc.org . Thank you.
