People in Elgin are being offered the chance to question several of the candidates seeking to represent Moray at the UK Parliament next month.
Elgin Town Hall is to host an election hustings involving four of the six candidates standing in the May 7 election – the Green candidate James MacKessack-Leitch, Tory candidate Douglas Ross, Labour hopeful Sean Morton and the SNP candidate Angus Robertson.
The Hustings is one of a series of four being held throughout the Highlands and Moray and chaired by independent MSP John Finnie.
They have been organised to highlight the Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership (TTIP) amid claims regarding a series of trade negotiations being carried out, mostly in secret, between the Unites States and the European Union.
Organiser Marie Macpherson said: “The idea is to make the public aware of TTIP and what candidates would do about it when the vote comes on it at Westminster.”
Campaigners trying to draw attention to TTIP say that the trade negotiations will have an adverse effect in many areas taken for granted by people in the UK. These include an aim to open up public health services, education and water to US companies – and that would essentially mean the privatisation of the NHS.
They claim that the main motive behind TTIP is to remove regulatory barriers that restrict the potential profits to be made by transnational corporations on both sides of the Atlantic.
The Elgin Hustings will be held at the Town Hall from 7pm until 9pm on Friday, May 1 – anyone seeking further information is asked to call 07474 443534.
There are six candidates for the Moray seat – Douglas Ross (Scottish Conservative), Angus Robertson (SNP), James MacKessack-Leitch (Greens), Sean Morton (Labour), Jamie Paterson (Lib Dem) and Rob Scorer (UKIP).