A HUSTINGS will be held on Wednesday (June 19) for four of the candidates standing in the General Election in the new Tiverton and Minehead constituency.

It is being billed as the only event with all of the candidates for the July 4 poll taking part and will be held in Tiverton Community Arts Theatre at 7.30 pm - however, the Green Party said its candidate Laura Buchanan was not attending.

During 90 minutes, would-be MPs will answer questions from the audience on subjects such as food and farming, the cost-of-living crisis, immigration, the state of rivers, and national security.

The event will be chaired by former Tiverton High School pupil George Parker, who has been the political editor of the Financial Times since 2007 and was previously the newspaper’s bureau chief in Brussels.

It has been organised by community pressure group Fund Our Tivvy High, which since 2022 has been campaigning for a new high school to be built in Tiverton.

Questions can be submitted in advance by email to [email protected].

The four candidates taking part are Ian Liddell-Grainger (Conservative), Rachel Gilmour (Liberal Democrats), Jonathan Barter (Labour), and Frederick Keen (Reform UK).

A spokesperson for the organisers said: “This event is one of the few where you get to see and test those who will represent you.

“We hope that this event will bring insight and enlightenment, and even entertainment.

“It is for voters to decide who to cast their vote for.

“The election is one of the few times that we as citizens get to decide who should run the country.”