General Election: North West Hampshire hustings in Andover

The hustings took place on Thursday, June 20 at St Mary's Church, in Andover, with a total of 15 questions asked to candidates.

The candidates were asked several questions relating to local issues, including what they would do to improve the local water quality and "not just line the pockets" of water companies.

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Candidates were grilled at the hustings (Image: Newsquest)

Labour candidate Andy Fitchet said: "We would put water companies under special measures to clean up our water. If they put mess there, they need to clean it up.

"We would also bother the regulators because they are not being regulated properly and that will be able to block bonuses to executives if they are repeat offenders in making our waterways as disgusting as they are and even bring criminal charges individually to the water company bosses."

Luigi Gregori, Liberal Democrats, said: "We need to set legally binding targets to prevent sewage companies dumping in the waters and harming sensitive natural sites by 2030.

"We are going to introduce a sewage tax on the profits of the water companies, and we've got to ban bonuses and we need to hold these guys to account, even in criminal court. And we need to hold to account MPs who continually vote against taking any sanctions on horticulturalism."

Andy Meacham, Reform UK, said: "Most of these people are paid on bonuses anyway to avoid paying tax, so they should suffer from their bonuses."

Phil Heath, Hampshire Independents, said: "I do think the time has come to re-look at the utilities, and re-nationalise them and take control and sort it out."

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The panel of candidates answered questions from the audience (Image: Newsquest)

Hina West, Green Party, said: "The Green Party is the only party that is putting a point to bring all water companies back into public ownership and then putting people and planning over profit."

Kit Malthouse, Conservatives, said: "We are dealing with decades of under-investment in our sewage system and a change of ownership from private to public is not going to solve the problem.

"I will set up a chalk stream defence organisation in the Houses of Parliament to bring together those MPs that represent this incredibly important ecology to make sure it is protected for years to come."

Mental health was also a topic of conversation during the event, with candidates asked what support will be given to help with the mental health of young adults and suicide prevention for people under the age of 30.

Mr Gregori said: "The mental health services in Andover are a disgrace.

"As a party we have always been dedicated to treating mental health in the same way as physical injuries.”

Speaking about proposals in the Liberal Democrat manifesto, he said: "One of them, which I quite like, is putting mental health professionals within schools. The key thing for mental health issues is to catch them early, before they reach crisis point."

Mr Meacham told the event: "These are some of the most vulnerable people in our society and they have been cast out to fend for themselves because there is no funding.

"One of the first things I will be doing is holding local services and local authorities to account to make sure there is funding available to these people. It's unforgivable."

Mr Heath said: "My last nine years I worked as a caregiver in hospitals, in homes, in people's own homes and working with people who has severe problems.

"The advice given when something was kicking off was 'get out, shut the door'.

"You can't do that. You can't leave people.

"So, I would support anything that says young people, especially, will get the support and the mental health professionals will get a decent wage for the job they do."

Ms Hina West told the audience: "The Green Party has an uplift of £8m costed specifically for education and in that would include a mental health professional in every state school to support every child that might need it.

"I've also been involved in working with the Campaign Against Living Miserably which specifically targets men under 40 because mental health is the biggest problem in terms of suicide in that space.”

Mr Malthouse said: "I was so alarmed some years ago by the number of suicides that took place in the town that I actually, with Mind, held a suicide prevention summit in the Guildhall and brought lots of organisations together to see what could be done.

"The conclusion was the production of a talking therapy service but also that there needed to be more education for young people looking for the signs of problems in their friends - the suicides in the town came as a surprise even though there were signals being given - particularly on social media."

Mr Fitchet said: “As a party we take mental health incredibly seriously. We have got a fully funded plan that I can give you, we are going to put a mental health worker in every single school, which frees up teachers to teach and allows young people a safe person that they can go and talk to.

"Alongside that, we are going to recruit eight and a half thousand other mental health staff to work in new youth hubs across the country which will bring together youth workers, youth agencies, mental health workers GPs and clinical practitioners to stop young people thinking there is nowhere to go and no one to talk to."

After a range of questions from audience members, the Advertiser spoke to members of the audience to get their verdict on what the candidates had to say.

After the hustings, Ellie said: "It was an important question to ask, and I think it was great to have all six candidates here this evening to give their opinions on it.

"It was also great to hear a bit more about local issues, I think it was very worthwhile and I'm glad the event has come here."