General Election 2024: Newbury candidates face questions from constituents at St Nicolas Church hustings

Hundreds of people took the opportunity to quiz Newbury’s parliamentary candidates at a hustings event in the town, writes Joshua Barnes.

Just a week before the general election, the seven candidates standing in the Newbury constituency attended the event to discuss policies and to answer pre-received questions and those posed by the audience on the night.

The event took place last Wednesday (June 26) at St Nicolas Church and was the only hustings to take place in the town.

Nearly 400 people packed into the church for the hustings, which was hosted by Rev Gary Collins from St John’s Church.

Will Hunter Smart, rector at St Nic’s and organiser of the event, said it had been a “respectful and robust” evening.

“It was a great example of freedom of speech and democracy in action,” he added.

The candidates who took part were Liz Bell (Labour), Lee Dillon (Liberal Democrats), Laura Farris (Conservative), Earl Jesse (Freedom Alliance), Gary Johnson (UK independence party), Steve Masters (Green Party) and Douglas Terry (Reform UK).

There were four main topics discussed by the candidates - the economy and the cost of living, climate change, international relations, especially looking at the Gaza/Israel conflict, and the homelessness and poverty crisis in Newbury, which was asked by representatives of CAP UK (Christians against Poverty).

The audience were then able to pose their own questions and ones on topics like Brexit and electoral reform came up, allowing the candidates to voice their opinions on previous campaigns.

Mr Hunter Smart said it had been “the only event in Newbury to hear the seven candidates interact with each other” and had been “well received” by both the audience and the candidates.

“We so grateful to all the candidates,” he added.

A hustings is a way for the public to interact with the political parties and have their own questions answered to gain a greater insight into which party they are going to vote for.