The Bishop of Winchester takes his traditional seat to chair the main constituency church hustings, Wednesday evening.
Prospective Conservative MP Steve Brine and his Labour, Lib Dem and English Democrat opponents took the stage last night for the main hustings of the local General Election campaign.
Watch a short film from this event - see link below!
The United Reform Church on Jewry Street provided the venue for the packed event which even had to accommodate extra residents in an overflow room. They listened to proceedings via an audio link. The candidates took a selection of pre-submitted questions and questions from the floor.
Questions ranged from the deficit and the economy, trident, climate change, family breakdown and reform of Parliament to prisons and immigration.
One resident asked the candidates to set out their local credentials and to confirm whether they have stood elsewhere for Parliament. Another asked for the candidates to respond to Gordon Brown’s ‘bigot’ gaffe on the campaign trail in Rochdale.
Steve Brine speaking after the event said; “As a Christian myself I was really pleased to see this event in the diary and on the night to see it so packed. It proved to me once again what an engaged and informed electorate we have in this constituency.
"The questions were varied and well thought through and I thought we had a good debate. I am the truly local candidate at this election and was grateful to get the chance on more than one occasion to put on the record my intention to serve Winchester as a good local MP and establish that I have not journeyed around the country looking for my route to Westminster.
“I was a little surprised that no-one asked about more of the ‘conscience’ issues including abortion, end of life challenges etc but we had more than enough to keep us busy for 90 minutes of debate! I would like to pay tribute to the Joint Churches for bringing us together and to Bishop Michael for chairing so well as always.”
More information ...
Watch a short-film made at the event here via Steve Brine TV.