VOTERS were left standing as people packed into Ben Rhydding Methodist Church Hall to hear the five Keighley constituency candidates answer questions on big issues, posed by members of the public.

Parliamentary candidates Ros Brown (Green), Gareth Epps (Liberal Democrat), John Grogan (Labour), Kris Hopkins (Conservative) and Paul Latham (Ukip) were quizzed on their policies and asked to speak out on big local and national issues in the event held by Churches Together in Ilkley on Wednesday of last week.

Members of the public were asked to submit questions before the event, and organisers posed a selection of them, giving each candidate just two minutes to give their answer. Candidates were asked about the future of the NHS and how it should be funded. Ros Brown spoke on the cross-party bill put forward by Green party leader Caroline Lucas addressing issues such as privatisation and competition.

Gareth Epps spoke out against “structual tinkering” in the NHS and called for the integration of the NHS and social care.

John Grogan talked about abolishing the Health and Social Care Act to bring the health services back together, with the patient at the centre.

Kris Hopkins supported seven-days-a-week opening of GP surgeries and told how the coalition government had put billions of pounds extra into the NHS.

Paul Latham called for a crackdown on “health tourism”, and told of the strain placed on the NHS by migrants.

The candidates were further asked how to help the most vulnerable members of society. The audience were allowed to ask several additional questions from the floor, including one boy who asked candidates if they believed the minimum voting age should be lowered to 16.