PROSPECTIVE parliamentary candidates went under the harsh spotlight of local scrutiny at a hustings event this evening.

Four of the five candidates vying for the Barrow and Furness seat came to Abbey House Hotel, in Abbey Road to lay out their views on a range of subjects.

Loraine Birchall, Simon Fell, Rob O'Hara and Alan Piper, of the Lib Dems, Conservatives, Green Party and UKIP respectively were all in attendance.

A sudden family illness meant that Labour candidate John Woodcock was not able to attend, and he sent his apologies.

After all four candidates spoke to to the busy conference hall the floor was opened up to the public, who grilled the wannabe MPs on a range of topics.

The first that came up was on the subject of tuition fees, and whether or not the candidates would scrap them.

Candidates were split on the issue, with Ms Birchall and Mr O'Hara for the ending of fees, and Mr Fell and Mr Piper in favour keeping the payment model.

The controversial topic of transport in the area, a source of so much frustration in the community drew an agitated reaction from the audience.

There was consternation when Mr Piper implied that there was a price to be paid by communities that are isolated from population centres.

He said: "If you need stuff enough, you need to go to where it is."

The other candidates proposed their solution to the issue of transportation in the area. Mr O'Hara pledged to fight for better and cheaper public transport.

Ms Birchall said that securing investment from central government would be a priority, and Mr Fell pointed to his recent tour of Cumbria with transport secretary Chris Grayling. He said investment under a conservative government would be coming to Cumbria as a priority.

For a full roundup of the night's issues, an in depth story will appear in Thursday's edition of the Evening Mail.

To watch the full stream of the hustings, click here.

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