I will not soft-soap voters in Yorkshire, vows Balls

He is the Prime Minister’s closest Cabinet ally and the main target in the Conservatives’ attempt to “decapitate” Labour (or “castrate”, as the Tory candidate puts it).

And on Friday lunchtime, in a rare moment of unscripted public theatre involving a Cabinet minister, the Schools Secretary Ed Balls will climb atop a soapbox in a new and extremely marginal Yorkshire constituency to face voters and rival candidates.

Mr Balls hopes to avoid the humiliation of a “Portillo moment” – high-profile defeat. He confirmed yesterday that he had accepted the soapbox invitation from The Independent, part of this newspaper’s campaign to promote genuine debate between British politicians and its people.

Mr Balls described The Independent’s public debates in marginal seats as “a good thing for our democracy”, adding: “It’s really important that all candidates and parties in this election have their policies scrutinised by the voters. Elections are all about choices and the choices in this election could not be starker, particularly on the economy and public services.”

He insisted: “I’m looking forward to getting on the soapbox for Friday’s hustings in Morley.” The oratory begins at 12.30pm in Windsor Court off Queen Street.

Mr Balls must hope that the nearby Morrisons grocery is not plundered for ripe fruit. At yesterday’s soapbox debate in the super-marginal Birmingham suburb of Solihull, where the Lib Dems have a majority of only 279, an angry pensioner walked to the front of the 200-strong crowd to confront the Conservative candidate.

Irene Grice, 81, demanded to know how she could trust a Conservative Party she claimed had tried to close down the local hospital in the early 90s, despite previously making promises to the contrary. She told of her candlelit vigil after her husband had died there. "He was left in a corridor for four days and died soon after," she said.

Tory candidate Maggie Throup assured the audience she had a "cast-iron guarantee" from David Cameron that frontline health services would not be cut under a Conservative government.

But Mrs Grice was not convinced, saying: "I can never trust the Conservatives again, how could I?"

The Labour candidate Sarah Merrill launched a spirited defence of MPs over the issue of expenses, telling the audience: "All MPs have been tarred with the same brush, which is not fair in many cases. I am not going to stand on my soapbox and try to come across 'holier than thou' when many MPs are hard-working and were not even implicated."

She also defended the Labour government's record in office as "excellent", to wry laughter from the floor.

But she appeared to draw sympathy from the audience as she insisted that education and healthcare had improved under a Labour government which had also introduced the minimum wage.

The Ukip candidate John Ison admitted afterwards that the local Conservative Party had asked him not to stand, in order to avoid splitting the vote on the right. "I would consider standing down if requested formally, but only if I got a guarantee from David Cameron to hold a referendum on British membership of the EU,” he said.

"The cost of membership is spreading resources more evenly and that means sending our money Eastwards. If we stay in the EU, there will be war.”

He was joined on the podium by Neil Watts, standing as an independent. Mr Watts claimed that he would represent local constituents "on a majority basis". He said he would take the majority view and present that in parliament, even if it did not match his own.

Today, The Independent’s democracy battlebus travels to Bury North (Labour majority 2,926) for a soapbox debate between candidates (including a representative from the Pirate Party) by the Robert Peel statue on Market Street at 12.30pm. All welcome.