Labour and Reform candidates came head-to-head at a hustings in Greater Manchester for the Gorton and Denton byelection, with Labour’s candidate saying women in the constituency were scared to leave the house because of her rival’s rhetoric.
Angeliki Stogia hit out at Reform’s Matt Goodwin, who arrived at the offices of the Manchester Evening News, which was hosting the event, with security.
Goodwin responded by saying he had had “very real threats” on his life and suggested women were instead afraid because Labour was “running a policy of open borders, which is putting women and girls at risk”.
Stogia said: “Matthew, how can you be sat here with a couple of security guys following you around? When I, just this morning, was with a group of interfaith women representing our community, who told me that our women in this constituency, they’re scared to leave their house because of the rhetoric that you have been peddling.”
It was the fiercest clash at the event which was attended by people living and working in the constituency, including doctors, college students and representatives from community and campaign groups.
Goodwin said: “I’m not going to be lectured to by a Labour politician from a party that consistently failed to investigate the mass rape and sexual abuse of working-class kids in this country for 30 years.
“And the reason I have security is because I have very real threats to my life in an area where people assure me everything is fine, and clearly in some parts of this country integration is not working as it should be.”
When Goodwin was unveiled as Reform’s candidate at an event with the MP Lee Anderson there was a heavy security presence, and also when Nigel Farage opened the party’s campaign headquarters in Gorton and Denton last week.
The Green candidate, Hannah Spencer, who is vying with Labour and Reform to take the seat, has said she has had to be accompanied by security in the constituency after an incident where a “very, very angry” man shouted abuse.
At the hustings, Spencer described her Reform rival as “an academic, bussed in from the south, spreading that party’s message of division”.
“You spent so long Matt, I think, researching far-right extremism that you did get a little bit confused and thought what you were reading was an instruction manual,” she said.
In return, Goodwin repeatedly criticised Spencer, saying that the Greens wanted to legalise “all drugs, including crack cocaine and heroin”.
In what should have been an easy question to round off an otherwise cordial event, the candidates were asked to name their favourite Oasis song as the Gallagher brothers grew up in Burnage, which forms part of the constituency.
The Liberal Democrat candidate, Jackie Pearcey, and the Conservative candidate, Charlotte Cadden, both said theirs was Definitely Maybe – which is actually the name of the band’s debut album, while Spencer said: “I’m not going to pick an Oasis song. I’d go Stone Roses if I’m asked to pick between the two.”
Stogia said her favourite Oasis song was Supersonic, to which Goodwin replied: “Goodness me, Angeliki, we have something in common, Supersonic is also one of my favourites, so look at the hustings bringing everybody together.”