The Lancashire Post, Lancashire Lead, Blog Preston and the Local Democracy Reporting Service invited all five candidates standing for the South Ribble constituency at next week's general election to a debate in which they fielded questions from voters.
They also had their chance to make a 90-second pitch for votes, which can be seen in this video.
Four of those on the ballot took part in the event. In order of appearance from left to right on the stage (with the time they appear) they are:
KATHERINE FLETCHER - Conservative (2'07)
PAUL FOSTER - Labour (3'17)
ANDY HUNTER - Reform UK (4'58)
ANGE TURNER - Liberal Democrats (6'44)
The one other candidate for the South Ribble constituency, who was unable to attend and had a statement read out on her behalf, is:
STEPHANI MOK - Green Party
They also had their chance to make a 90-second pitch for votes, which can be seen in this video.
Four of those on the ballot took part in the event. In order of appearance from left to right on the stage (with the time they appear) they are:
KATHERINE FLETCHER - Conservative (2'07)
PAUL FOSTER - Labour (3'17)
ANDY HUNTER - Reform UK (4'58)
ANGE TURNER - Liberal Democrats (6'44)
The one other candidate for the South Ribble constituency, who was unable to attend and had a statement read out on her behalf, is:
STEPHANI MOK - Green Party
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NewsTranscript
00:00And that means that starting just to my left is Catherine Fletcher. So Catherine, your 90 seconds, whenever you're ready, come and join.
00:06Brilliant. Good evening ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much for organising Paul.
00:11I've been in South Ribble and I've got a track record of delivery for you. We've got a new £2 billion hospital.
00:17We've got one school rebuild done. We've got £50 million for Penrhythm Girls to be redone.
00:21We've got £50 million to Wellfield to be redone. In 2010, only 60 odd percent of the schools in South Ribble were good or outstanding.
00:29Today, it's 92%. We're investing in our children's futures. We're investing in our healthcare.
00:35What we need to carry on doing is investing in the Northern Powerhouse that brought me to politics about 10 or 11 years ago
00:42when I was sat on the sofa, shouted at the telly. And I thought, sod it, I'll stick my head above the parapet and see what I can do to deliver for us.
00:49So what do we need more of? We need better trains. We need better buses. We need more jobs. We need more business investment.
00:55We need lower taxes that fuel it. We need to drive investment forward.
01:00And so for South Ribble here, I've got lots and lots and lots of things for you and I've got lots and lots and lots of more ideas.
01:08I'm very much looking forward to hearing your questions this evening.
01:12Catherine, thank you. We're within 90 seconds. Paul, over to you.
01:20Good evening, everyone. I'm Paul Foster. I'm your Labour Party candidate for the parliamentary election.
01:27Ladies and gents, this country needs change. Since 2010, we've been through 10 years of austerity where all our public services were really, really, really squeezed financially.
01:41And none of them, none of them are in a better state now.
01:46We were then hit with a pandemic, not the government's fault, but the pandemic exposed the significant weaknesses of our NHS and our NHS couldn't cope.
01:58We then had war in Europe. Our armed forces might not be fighting that war, but our armed forces can't support NATO as they should because our armed forces now,
02:12due to the cuts, are now at the lowest levels since the Napoleonic Wars. We need change.
02:19I'm not embarrassed to say to every single person here, we need to take a step back as a country and drive forward a new agenda with stability that makes Britain great again, puts the United back in Kingdom.
02:37I served 15 years in the British Army for my country. I've served as your council leader for the last five. I'm part of the community. I'm proud to be part of the community.
02:49And I'm more than ready to serve as your MP. Thank you.
02:54Paul, thank you very much indeed. Next, it's for Reform UK and Leon Chapman.
02:59Good evening and thanks for coming. It's exciting. This isn't the first time I'm doing it. I agree with Paul, we need to change.
03:08I think of us, we're called the Reform Party, but I think of us as a common sense party.
03:14Who doesn't want to see the votes being stopped, which we can do right now?
03:19Who knows who's coming into this country illegally and what their ultimate intentions are?
03:25And that's not the real elephant in the room. The real elephant in the room is legal immigration.
03:32Net migration in 2023 of 685,000 people. That's a few. That's like Manchester.
03:42What was it David Cameron said in 2010? We'll have it in the tens of thousands.
03:47That doesn't add up, mate.
03:50What do we want for our children? We want good patriotic education and we want safe sex, single sex facilities.
03:59And the police? We want them investigating burglaries and grooming gangs, not doing a Macarena.
04:07We want people to want to work so they get more money in their pockets and not get it taken out to spend on virtue signalling projects like HS2.
04:19We want to cut foreign aid and spend it here.
04:23We want to encourage businesses by cutting corporation tax and encourage investment into the country and into the area.
04:32Andy, sorry, you've got to be scrupulous. Yeah, scrappy year rules, stop the war on drugs.
04:36Andy, I've got to cut you off. I'm sorry, you've got to be fair for everyone for the 90 seconds.
04:40We'll be a bit more fluid and free-flowing later on, I promise.
04:43And now this is where it could all go very wrong as I try to time myself by reading out Stephanie Locke's statement.
04:48A statement for the Green Party.
04:56Yes, so this is Stephanie Locke for the Green Party.
04:59Says thank you for inviting me to participate in the hustings this evening.
05:09Yes, so I'll start that one for Stephanie from the Green Party again.
05:13Thank you for inviting me to the hustings this evening.
05:15I volunteer to put myself in South Ribble because the Green Party wishes everyone in England and Wales to have the opportunity to vote Green.
05:22I'm a Green Party activist based in Stevenage in Hertfordshire.
05:26For me, the Green Party stands for social justice and climate justice.
05:30Elected Greens in Parliament would focus on quality housing, education and transport, transform our economy and overhaul the tax system to make it fairer.
05:39The Green Party would invest to protect the climate for future generations and bring nature back to life.
05:45In terms of the economy and financial support to the most vulnerable in society, Greens would introduce a wealth tax of 1% annually on people with assets over £10 million and of 2% on those with assets over a billion.
05:57We would align tax rates on investment income with employment income tax and remove the National Insurance Upper Earnings Limit so higher earners pay more.
06:05We would increase the national minimum waste to £15 an hour and offset the cost to small businesses by reducing their National Insurance payments.
06:13We would increase Universal Credit by £40 per week and abolish the two-child benefit cap, lifting 250,000 children out of poverty.
06:21We'd set up regional mutual banks to support small and medium-sized businesses and drive investment in local economic sustainability.
06:28Greens would invest £28 billion in the NHS to reduce waiting lists, increase staff pay and guarantee access to an NHS dentist, as well as an additional £20 billion on hospital buildings and repair.
06:41That certainly did have more to say, but that is 90 seconds very, very much up.
06:46So last, definitely not least and definitely not forgotten for the Liberal Democrat, Ange Turner. Your 90 seconds, whenever you're ready, start now.
06:53Thank you, good evening everybody. I'm Ange Turner, the Liberal Democratic candidate for South Grimble.
06:59I am the only local candidate who originates from the constituency, having grown up in Leyland where I attended local schools.
07:06I then moved to Hutton with my parents and gained a degree in business and finance from our local university, UCAL.
07:12I now live in Pemberton, where I'm a local South Grimble Borough Councillor.
07:17My working life was spent in the aerospace industry, supplying goods and services to the Royal Air Forces across Europe.
07:24And apart from a spell working abroad on a specific European collaborative project supporting NATO, I have lived in the constituency for most of my life.
07:34Having listened to residents on the doorstep in South Grimble, my campaign is formulated accordingly.
07:41At the heart of my campaign is tackling the crisis in social care and NHS, boosting the economy and helping people with the cost of living.
07:50Stopping the Aurora sewage dumping scandal and protecting our environment.
07:55And having lived here most of my life, I am acutely aware of the problems which affect the residents of South Grimble through lived experience.
08:03I look forward to your questions. Thank you.