IT IS less than one week until polling day and the General Election campaign for the candidates fighting to be Basingstoke’s MP is nearing an end as they took part in the final hustings event last night.

Conservative candidate Maria Miller, Labour candidate Paul Harvey, UKIP hopeful Alan Stone and Independent candidate Omar Selim took part in the final hustings event organised by the Alliance of Basingstoke Churches at St Mary’s Church, in Goat Lane, Eastrop last night.

The leader of the borough’s Liberal Democrats group, Gavin James, stood in for the party’s Basingstoke candidate Janice Spalding following the death of her mother on Tuesday.

Around 450 people flocked to the church to quiz the candidates on a range of issues including housing, the role of faith in communities across the town and the renewal of the controversial Trident project.

The first question asked the candidates what the most pressing issue in the town was, with them all in agreement that the level of housing and accessibility to housing needed to be addressed.

Dr Selim told the audience that “housing is something that is very important” and Dr Harvey talked about the rental sector in Basingstoke which he said had doubled over the last five years.

Mr Stone said that he was “probably the only one who thinks that Manydown should be 100 per cent social housing”, adding: “My children are moving out of the town because they can’t afford anywhere in Basingstoke.”

Lib Dem stand-in Mr James told the audience that his parents moved to the town in the 1970s, adding: “I left home and managed to buy a house at a reasonable price but I have no idea how my children will go on that journey”, while Mrs Miller said that all the candidates “wanted to make sure the next generation gets the best start in life”, and said that 13,000 families in Basingstoke had been able to buy their homes through the Right to Buy scheme.

A controversial topic which faced the five candidates was homosexuality and how the candidates would safeguard the right for Christians to raise their concerns.

Mr Stone said that UKIP believed that the rights and beliefs of people were fundamental to the country, adding: “I have no problem with anyone as long as they don't infringe on anyone else", and Dr Selim agreed by saying that people could do what they like "as long as they don't disturb anyone else".

Former equalities Minister Mrs Miller said that she had recently been stopped by a man near Westminster who thanked her for putting in equal marriage legislation, and Mr James said that "freedom of expression and freedom of religion is something everyone is entitled to" as long as no threats were made against people.

Dr Harvey said that people, including the candidates on the stage would agree or disagree on issues but "equality and tolerance" were incredibly important.

Another controversial issue for the panel to discuss was the issue of whether the country should protect itself with nuclear weapons and whether the world is becoming a much more dangerous place.

Mr James said that it was becoming much harder to fight extremist groups like ISIS because they "hide in communities" and said he would prefer to spend more money on properly equipping troops so they could carry out their jobs, while Mrs Miller said that the threats the country is facing is changing constantly and the Government needed to be wary of countries such as Russia and China.

Dr Selim agreed with Mr James and said that no army could deal with extremists and Dr Harvey told the audience that he had spoken with many troops who had told him that they were under pressure with expectations that the Government had without the tools they needed.

Mr Stone argued that tighter border controls would help deal with the threat of extremist groups against the UK, adding: "A decent British border control can protect ourselves a lot better than the army services can."