Next month’s General Election could be the most tightly fought in decades and last night an audience of voters were given the opportunity to find out what the prospective parliamentary candidates for the Huntingdon seat will be offering should they be selected.

The Hunts Post set up the Hustings event in partnership with host, Huntingdonshire Regional College, and invited along the five candidates who were put under the spotlight when they were asked to respond to seven questions posed by Hunts Post readers.

Labour’s Dr Nik Johnson, Rod Cantrill (Lib Dems), Jonathan Djanogly (Conservative), UKIP’s Paul Bullen and Tom MacLennan (Green Party) all took part in the Question Time-style debate, chaired by the Reverend Andrew Milton.

The 130-strong audience listened as the candidates, in turn, gave their views on family incomes, the EU, housing growth, the A14, social welfare and elderly people, Hinchingbrooke Hospital and the East Coast mainline.

The questions were posed by readers and chosen at random, and the candidates were unaware of the subject matter until the evening.

Audience members also had the opportunity to ask supplementary questions and respond to the candidates.

The Hunts Post teamed up with the regional college to organise the event, which gave four of the college’s photography students the opportunity to photograph the event. Huntingdon Community Radio also attended and recorded the proceedings.

Hunts Post editor, Stefan Bartlett said: “The hustings’ event was a great success and would not have been possible without help from a number of people.

“Huntingdonshire Regional College did a fantastic job in hosting the event. The organisation was first class. We would like to thank everyone at the college who was involved and in particular Francoise Jarvis and her team of volunteers.

“Thanks are also due to the Reverend Andrew Milton, vicar of All Saints and St Mary’s in Huntingdon, who did an excellent job as our panel chairman for the evening.

“We would also like to thank all the candidates for attending and, of course, the audience who provided fascinating and challenging questions for the panel.”

See next week’s Hunts Post for a full report.