Workers Party candidate challenges Debbie Abrahams to ‘Question Time’ showdown
Reporter: Charlotte Hall, Local Democracy Reporter
Date published: 07 June 2024
Shanaz Siddique's challenge was issued during a speech at the Eastern Pavilion in Featherstall, which was attended by just under 200 people and the Workers Party leader George Galloway. Image courtesy of Charlotte Hall
The Oldham’s Workers Party candidate challenged incumbent local MP Debbie Abrahams to a ‘Question Time’ style showdown during a campaign launch, where a fight later broke out.
Shanaz Saddique, who is standing in Oldham East and Saddleworth, said she’d like to ‘have it out’ with the Labour candidate who has represented the constituency for almost 13 years.
Saddique said: “Debbie Abrahams I challenge you to a question time here in Oldham East and Saddleworth.
"You name the place, you name the time.
"Shanaz Saddique will sit with you and we’ll have it out for the people of Oldham East and Saddleworth.”
The challenge was issued during a speech at the Eastern Pavilion on Featherstall Road, which was attended by just under 200 people and the Workers Party leader George Galloway.
While there was much support for the two candidates in the room, the event did not go down entirely harmoniously, with a brawl nearly breaking out between a number of members of the audience while Galloway and Saddique were taking questions.
The fight was quickly brought under control, with a media officer telling the crowd ‘it’s not about you, please make peace’ and a volunteer wearing a Worker’s Party badge asking people to delete videos of the incident, saying ‘we must stay undivided’.
Workers Party leader Mr Galloway, standing as a candidate for re-election in neighbouring Rochdale, also took aim at the Labour candidate Ms Abrahams.
The politician from Glasgow, who recently came under fire for saying same-sex relationships ‘weren’t normal’, accused the Labour party of ‘pandering’ to tax fears and being ‘reticent’ on Gaza.
He suggesed Abrahams was ‘no different’ and that any MP with any “decency … would already have left the Labour party.”
In response, Ms Abrahams said: “This week, we have already seen Conservative candidates get their facts and figures wrong.
"It’s disappointing but unsurprising that the Workers Party are engaging in the same deceitful practice.
“Disinformation threatens democracy, and those who engage in such practices are unfit for public office.
“It is a matter of fact that I was one of the first Members of Parliament to call for a ceasefire on 18th October 2023.
"I’ve also called for the unfettered distribution of humanitarian aid, the immediate recognition of the state of Palestine, upholding the ICJ and ICC judgements and much more.
"I have consistently supported a free Palestine since I was first elected in 2011 and visited in 2012.
“As Chair of the APPG on Kashmir for seven years, I have been outspoken on human rights issues across Kashmir, so much so that I was banned from entering India in 2020.
"My longstanding record supporting human rights, peace and justice is unequivocal and a matter of public record.
“I believe politics is about public service.
"As such I’ve been in touch with tens of thousands of people across Oldham and Saddleworth on the doors, at surgeries and at community meetings not just over the last few weeks, but for 13 years.”
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