On Mon, 21 Apr 1997 15:20:39 +0100, Nick Wagg <nickw@lsl.co.uk> wrote:
>One of the ways in which the answers to the questions are interesting
>is that they reflect how free each candidate feels to stray from the
>party line or to speak openly on many issues.
Indeed. Although, generally speaking, the responses are along party
lines, there are some interesting results.
Background info: the questionnaire asks 32 questions, covering a
variety of topics. There are five possible responses on the form:
Actively oppose (a bill or measure)
Vote against
Abstain
Vote in favour
Actively support
The constutuencies covered were Cambridge, SE Cambs and S Cambs. The
candidates questioned were from the three main parties, plus the
Referendum party, and (in Cambridge only) the Green party. Personally,
I was a bit disappointed that the Natural Law and Raving Loony parties
weren't included.
Not every candidate answered all the questions, some referred to party
literature for some or all, and some refused to answer certain
questions. Where the candidates replied with additional or qualifying
comments, these are included with the survey results.
Interestingly, the Labour candidates generally refused to answer far
more questions than the others, and referred to party literature much
more in their replies. Rex Collinson (Labour, SE Cambs) declined to
answer any of the questions at all, instead stating that he agreed
entirely with the reponses already given by Anne Cambell (Labour,
Cambridge). The nearest to that was Margaret Wright (Green,
Cambridge), who only answered one question, in which she replied that
she would actively support a bill to dismantle the National Lottery.
On the other hand, the Referendum Party candidates all answered every
question - whether you put that down to honesty or naivety is another
matter, as some of the questions were rather broadly worded, and it's
not suprising that the more experienced politicians refused to be
drawn into giving concrete replies. Among the replies, it's
interesting to note that James Howlett (Referendum, SE Cambs) would
actively support the decriminalisation of cannabis. Geoffrey Heathcock
(Lib Dem, Cambridge) and James Quinlan (Lib Dem, S Cambs) also
answered all the questions without any qualifying comments.
The most verbose response came from Andrew Lansley (Conservative, S
Cambs), who not only anwsered all of the questions, but added
aditional comments to all but 7 of them. Sal Brinton (Lib Dem, SE
Cambs) also responded in detail to some questions.
If you want to find out more, then get hold of a copy of the
questionnaire:
>Dr. Robertshaw can be contacted on coastline@compuserve.com or by
>telephone or fax on 01223 355931.
If I've got time (and I can get hold of an electronic copy), I might
put the full results up on a web page - assuming Dr. Robertshaw has no
objections, of course.
Mark
--
Mark Goodge * msg@message.org * Message Internet * http://www.message.org
'Shake off your golden shackles, children of time no more. Consider
now the crimson crown the Man of Sorrows wore' The Choir, 'Circle Slide'
-------------------------------------------------------------
Posted to cam-election, a service of Nexus. http://www.netnexus.org/
cam-election is sponsored by the Cambridge Evening News
and Cambridge Freenet.