INVERCLYDE’S Westminster candidates clashed on key issues at the area’s first hustings of the general election campaign.

The event, which was organised by the Inverclyde Christian Initiative, gave voters a chance to find out more about the positions of Inverclyde and Renfrewshire West's candidates on issues such as bringing jobs into the local economy, dealing with drug deaths and abortion.

SNP candidate Ronnie Cowan, Scottish Labour candidate Martin McCluskey, Scottish Conservative and Unionist candidate Ted Runciman, Scottish Liberal Democrats candidate Ross Stalker and independent John Burleigh were in attendance.

Inverclyde’s three remaining candidates – the Alba Party’s Chris McEleny, the Scottish Green Party’s Iain Adams Hamilton and Reform UK’s Simon Moorehead – did not take part in the event.

The issue of euthanasia provoked a number of strong responses from candidates, many of whom spoke movingly about their own personal experiences with terminal illness and mental health conditions.

Ronnie Cowan, who has been Inverclyde’s MP for the last nine years, told the audience that the issue of end of life had been debated three times during his period in parliament.

He said: “In a situation where a person is in control of their own life, understands what they’re doing and is prepared to take their own life, I think they must be entitled to do that.

“The problem is people are scared of this legislation because they fear it opens up the door to other people, you know, people bumping off their granny because they think they might get her will and so on and so forth. 

“Obviously any legislation we have to be very careful what we do with it, but the principle of it, absolutely.”

Martin McCluskey said that, like Mr Cowan, he had also watched a number of people in his life pass away in front of him, but he highlighted three reasons which gave him ‘pause for thought’ on the issue of assisted dying and end of life care.

He cited concerns from the disabled community and pointed out the impact that new assisted dying services could have on general practice within the NHS.

He also added: “I worry that palliative care is already underfunded you only need to go in and talk to the chief executive of the [Ardgowan] hospice and others to hear about the challenges facing palliative care and I do wonder if we went down the route of diverting resources into assisted dying, where does that leave us in terms of palliative care?

“At this point I wouldn’t support the legislation, that’s not to say that I would never support it, but at this point I wouldn’t support it.”

Liberal democrat candidate Ross Stalker said the issue was one which was ‘impossible’ to deal with in a way that worked for everyone.

He added: “You either have safeguards that are so stringent some people will be barred from accessing end of life services or a lack of safeguards and you end up with the kind of situations the questioner talks about.

“I think dignity in death for the terminally ill is too important an issue for us not to try and create a legal framework but the risk of abuse is also too great for it to be available for anyone but those who are terminally ill.

“That is where the line would have to be drawn.”

Conservative candidate Ted Runciman told those in attendance of his own battle with cancer and losing his partner to the disease.

He said: “It was a horrendous experience as anyone who is diagnosed with cancer will know.

“But as we went through it I had to deal with requests from my partner - ‘Ted I’ve had enough, can’t we finish it?’ – and I had to say ‘no, I’ll be here with you.’”

He continued: “I would certainly not agree with euthanasia just for someone that feels ‘I’ve had enough’.

“I think euthanasia has to be under strict medical conditions, strict control.

“When people are in that position, yes they get to the point where they say ‘I’ve had enough, I want it to stop’.

“I would agree with euthanasia [which was] medically controlled, I would not agree with it for mental health and with young people.

“But certainly, where it is terminal and we know that it is short term terminal I would agree.”

Independent candidate John Burleigh, who spoke last, said he did not support people having the ‘right to press the button’.

He said: “I’m finding sitting here and listening to this, the conversation is a bit perverse.

“The reason I’m saying that is, there’s a saying in Psalm 23: ‘Yea thought I walk through the valley of the shadow of death’. It comes to us all and I suppose up until now, since we’re in God’s house, it’s his timing.

“He’s the one that’s going to finish us, it’s his time and we shouldn’t take that away from him and make it our time.

“Because that’s what we do with abortion, it’s not God’s choice, we’ve made it a woman’s choice.

“That’s the perverse thing about it.”

Further coverage of this hustings and of the ongoing general election will be available in the Tele and on our website next week. 

Those wishing to see the full recording of the hustings should visit https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wZoqTj1G6Rk.