Voters in Southampton Itchen have had the opportunity to question election candidates ahead of the general election.

The six candidates standing in the constituency all attended a hustings event at Oasis Academy Mayfield on Wednesday evening.

The event started at 7.45pm with scores of residents turning out to grill their candidates on subjects including the environment, funding for local services and the cost of living.

Each candidate was given a time limit of around three minutes to answer questions, making an opening and closing speech at either side of the event.

READ MORE: General election 2024: Who is standing to be MP in Southampton?

Labour’s candidate, Darren Paffey told residents about his background working in education, as well as his role on Southampton City Council.

He said: “Southampton is a fantastic city and that’s why I am asking to represent it in parliament.

“But country, city, you, me, we have all been badly let down over the last 14 years.

“It is a simple matter of fact that living standards have sunk, it is a matter of fact that crime too often goes unpunished.

“We are all waiting longer for GP appointments. Our schools are crumbling.

“Sewage floods into the River Itchen and mortgages and food prices, people still find astronomical.

“There is a clear choice at this election. We can choose more chaos with the Conservatives, we can choose a stable future with Labour.”

Conservative, Sidney Yankson told voters how he first came to Southampton in 1991, having been born in London.

The barrister and former British Army reservist said: “When I walked into the Gardeners Arms and had a drink with some of the people from Woolston and I asked them why have they voted for the Conservatives in the last local election?

“They said they didn’t want the local candidate; they wanted the best candidate.

“The Prime Minister, who is from this place, has got a clear plan.

“One of the things that he’s tried to do is tackle the cost of living. If you cut inflation, the Bank of England necessarily can cut interest rates.

“My role if I get elected as your MP and replace the current Conservative MP, is to take Southampton from the Championship to the Premier League where it belongs.”

Oasis Academy MayfieldOasis Academy Mayfield (Image: Stock)

James Edward Batho, standing for the Liberal Democrats, explained his background as a councillor on Winchester City Council.

He said: “We’d like to put forward a fair deal for you as the country. That fair deal extends to public services where we’ll invest in improving public health, expanding early access to health services and fixing social care.

“We’ll repair the broken safety net that currently consigns so many to poverty. Our fair deal extends to being a strong United Kingdom and having a fair international order.

“We’ll remove the Conservative’s damaging cuts to the army. Our goal is to transform the nature of British politics itself to make it relevant, engaging and responsive to people’s needs and dreams.

“We’ll make Britain a world leader in the new infrastructure, businesses and technologies needed to tackle climate change.”

Declan Peter Clune is representing the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition.

He said: “I agree that change is needed. What I stand for with the Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition is for the communities to get the funding they need to to provide those services.

“We have to get back to nationalisation and I am not promoting the nationalisation that we had in the 60s and 70s.

“I think the workers within these nationalised industries should have a say as well.

“There is a choice at the election. The choice for change I’m saying has to be more than people’s faces.

“We have to have a change of approach. I was a supporter of Jeremy Corbyn when he came to power. Labour I think needs to go back to its traditional values.”

Alex Culley, Reform UK’s candidate explained his background working in business, speaking on matters such as net zero which he said is creating costs helping to drive the cost of living crisis.

He added: “In Europe in the last couple of weeks we have seen some pretty sweeping changes politically. People are looking for change.

“Our tax take now in this country is the biggest in 70 years. Our debt is out of control.

“We do have very large population increases. We need to address that.

“We also want to see constitutional reform, so we want to see reform of the electoral system. The two-party duopoly is failing all of us.

“We want to see changes to the way the civil service operates as well. The tide is turning.

“Lots of people do feel that their voice isn’t being heard. Send a message to Westminster and vote Reform UK.”

Neil McKinnon Lyon Kelly, standing for the Green Party, started his speech by declaring “We are facing the extinction of the way we live.”

He said: “We are creating an environment that is unliveable. How different is that to the people of Ukraine and Gaza?

“How we create the conditions for overheating the climate or devastating the oceans.

“We have an NHS on the verge of collapse. The cost of living has sent people’s living standards back.

“We’ve had growth for the last 14 years. The top one per cent richest among us piling mountains of wealth.

“Coming up with just over £7bn for the economy we could start fixing broken Britain, building back the NHS, breathing life back into education and breathing life back into our planet earth.”