PROTESTERS have greeted Tory party members as they arrived for the latest leadership hustings in Manchester.
Chants of “Tory scum off our streets” and “Tories out, refugees in” were shouted at members of the public as they queued to get in.
It comes in the wake of criticism of Scottish independence supporters who protested outside the Tory hustings in Perth earlier this week.
Scottish Conservatives were greeted with similar chants and banners as they entered Perth Concert Hall on Tuesday evening.
Victory to the @RMTunion rings out as 100s protest outside the Tory hustings in Manchester pic.twitter.com/TWCyWxVfo1
— Manchester SWP (@mcrSWP) August 19, 2022
A video showing an exchange between BBC journalist James Cook and protesters was widely denounced by both independence supporters and Unionists.
Some within the independence movement are now calling for a code of conduct to be enacted to avoid any future incidents.
The protests in Manchester are centred around the backlog within the NHS.
A decommissioned ambulance has been also parked outside by online campaign 38 Degrees, which has launched a petition to the Government to “fix as a priority” the NHS backlog, which it says has left 6.7 million people on waiting lists for elective care.
Jonathan Harty, campaigns manager at 38 Degrees, said: “The dire state of this backlog is not an accident, but it certainly is an emergency – that’s why we had to send an ambulance.
“Millions of patients are already paying the price for years of underfunding the NHS and it’s time the people who want to be our next prime minister step up and do something about it.
“So far, all we’ve heard from candidates is that Liz Truss wants to scrap the very funding that’s meant to help the service recover after Covid while all Rishi Sunak can come up with is fining people who miss GP appointments. It’s not good enough.
“If there’s going to be any real chance of tackling this chronic problem, the NHS needs to be fully funded with clear plans to solve workforce shortages and clear up the appointment backlog.”
