A PARLIAMENTARY candidate has hit out a school hustings event claiming he was 'not invited' to the public debate - but the organisers say 'this is not the case' and their 'invitation still stands' ahead of the event this evening.

Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith are hosting a 'QEGS-tion time event’ taking place at school this evening, June 27, from 6pm.

Candidates for the Penrith and Solway parliamentary constituency including Julia Aglionby (Lib Dem), Markus Campbell-Savours (Labour), Roy Ivinson (Independent), Doug Lawson (Green), and Matthew Moody (Reform) will be asked their views on the issues facing the area and the country.

However, Conservative candidate Mark Jenkinson will not be at the hustings, releasing a lengthy statement on social media to claim that he was 'not invited'.

He said: "It is with deep regret that I wasn’t invited to this husting this evening, and I’m disappointed to see the school involve itself in partisan political activity in this way.

"Public hustings are an important forum in which candidates are given the opportunity to air the policies and views, which would be a novelty for some.

"Unfortunately, my attendance at other in-person hustings has not been possible because of the organisers inability to guarantee my safety. On this occasion I haven’t even been given the chance to have the discussion.

"I am currently not eligible for House of Commons security protection because of dissolution.

"Regrettably, the threat assessment for my recent skills fair held in my own hometown resulted in me requiring two close protection officers with me at all times, two door staff and full bag checks. It is unnerving, to say the least, to be shown which exit you might be bundled out of in a hurry."

But hosts Queen Elizabeth Grammar School in Penrith responded to Mr Jenkinson's claim in a statement which said that the claim Mr Jenkinson was not invited is 'not the case'.

In a statement QEGS Penrith said: "We are aware of Mark Jenkinson’s statement that he was not invited to our ‘QEGS-tion time event’ taking place at school this evening.

"This is not the case, as we invited him on May 23 to attend our event and when we received no response, we followed up on May 26 and received a response stating: 'I’m afraid it’s simply too close to the election for me to be able to commit - the campaign is short enough as it is'.

"As a school we aim to ensure our children are critical thinkers, able to make their own decisions and choices, and we have a long-held stance of political neutrality.

"When Mark declined our invitation, we reached out to the candidate in a neighbouring constituency to ensure all views were represented and we are grateful that John Stevenson has agreed to attend the student session for the Conservative Party, to ensure we have the full spectrum of political views.

"Unfortunately, none of the Conservative representatives we have contacted are able to attend the public event after school. However, the invitation still stands.

"Having emailed Mark this morning, his view is that the event was mis-advertised to him despite being described as: 'to both students during school hours and parents at an after-school hustings'.

"While initially the event had been planned for our parents, we subsequently received a request from Churches Together in Penrith to share the event more widely and, as we had not received many requests for tickets, this felt entirely sensible as we are all part of the same Penrith community.

"We are well aware of our statutory responsibilities to be politically neutral and take this very seriously.

"Political education is vital in schools and it is something we take very seriously at QEGS, both in ensuring our students are informed and in ensuring they are exposed to a range of views in order to arrive at their own informed decisions."