CANDIDATES for the marginal Warrington South seat were quizzed at a hustings session at Bold Street Methodist Mission last night, Wednesday - just 15 days before the General Election.

Conservative's David Mowat, Labour's Nick Bent, Liberal Democrats' Bob Barr and the Green Party's Steph Davies made up the panel at the church, on Palmyra Square North.

UKIP candidate, Malcolm Lingley, was unable to attend due to work commitments and Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition's Kevin Bennett addressed the audience for three minutes ahead of the session after being omitted from the panel.

He vowed to tackle austerity issues and claimed 'wealth is in the wrong hands'.

Organised by Churches Together and chaired by the Rev Stephen Kingsnorth, of Warrington Borough Ministry, the event only allowed candidates with current political representation at Westminster to be involved.

Cllr Barr (LD - Lymm) said he was 'appalled' by the decision not to allow Cllr Bennett (TUSC - Fairfield and Howley) on the panel and Mr Mowat admitted the panel was 'weaker' as a result.

The early topic of discussion concerned climate change - a matter which Ms Davies was keen to address.

"It is a fundamental policy in the Green Party manifesto," she said.

"But we are not a single issue property. We support an immediate ban of fracking."

However, Mr Mowat hit out at the party for its lack of urgency in tackling the matter.

"The Green Party don't care enough about climate change to countenance the technology that would make the biggest difference," he said.

Soon after, rivals debated what can be done to tackle the imbalance in accessing the internet across the town.

Mr Mowat said: "Too many parts of the town don't have fast enough broadband."

Mr Bent agreed with his opponent and spoke of introducing a 'universal obligation' on housing developers to have fast broadband built into houses, while Cllr Barr feared the country is allowing 'BT to get away with murder'.

Audience members also questioned the candidates on the town's bus service, NHS, education and foodbanks.

The Green Party pledged to cut bus fares by 10 per cent, while Cllr Barr and Mr Mowat admitted deciding whether to make buses privately owned or public is not imperative as long as constituents get the best deal.

Mr Bent confirmed he would be 'pushing councillors hard' to improve the service but wants it to remain publicly owned.

On the issues of waiting times in the NHS, Mr Bent accused Government actions of leading to Warrington Hospital being 'in a bad way'.

Mr Mowat disagreed with Mr Bent but admitted the A&E units are under 'huge pressure'.

Ms Davies said the Greens will train more staff and put £12 billion into the NHS, while Mr Mowat confirmed the Conservatives will invest the 'required' £8 billion into the service to boost it.

Cllr Barr became animated on the issue and praised the 'superb' service in Warrington, 'not the chaos Nick (Bent) wants you to believe'.

As Mr Bent shook his head, Cllr Barr accused Labour of 'consistent' lies, including on the privatisation of the service.

He added: "I am sick and tired of Labour's lies."

When the candidates were asked if they supported the work of foodbanks, Mr Bent disagreed with Mr Mowat and did not support the notion 'things are moving in the right direction'.

He added: "The proportion of people working but on a low income, who have to use a foodbank, has gone up."

Cllr Barr admitted the existence of food banks was 'unfortunate' but not indicative of a 'crisis'.

Discussions soon turned to why the town is 'one of the least funded local authorities in the country' for education.

Mr Bent said: "Warrington schools are not well funded.

"If I am elected I want to be a massive champion of education in Warrington."

He backed the coalition Government's Pupil Premium funding and 'wished' the previous Labour Government had introduced it.

Mr Mowat said: "We need to keep the pressure on this - both parties in the coalition have made it clear the formula will be changed, it should have been done already."

But he partly blamed Labour MPs for a shortage of education funding in urban areas.

Cllr Barr said the town suffers from a lack of funding because it is not 'deprived' enough and told his rivals that education must not be used as 'political football'.

The last question of the evening concerned Mr Mowat voting for same sex marriage - he insisted marriage should be available to all.

Cllr Barr shared the Conservative candidate's view, while Mr Bent said he 'would have voted for equal marriage'.

The session was recorded by BBC Radio.

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