MORE voters will get the chance to hear from their candidates directly at public meetings next week.

In Tenbury, candidates contesting the West Worcestershire seat have been invited to a hustings at St Mar y’s Church on Sunday at 3pm.

The event has been organised by churches in the area.

There will also be a hustings meeting on Friday, April 30, in the Assembly Room of the Three Tuns, Bishop’s Castle, at 7.30pm.

Four of the candidates for the Ludlow constituency have confirmed they will be there: Philip Dunne (Conservative), Tony Hunt (Labour), Heather Kidd (Liberal Democrat) and Christopher Gill (UKIP).

Christina Evans, the BNP candidate, cannot attend and will be represented by the candidate for Shrewsbur y and Atcham constituency, James Whittall. The Green Party candidate Jacqui Morrish will be represented by a spokesman for her party as she cannot attend.

The hustings have been organised by St John’s Church, Bishop’s Castle, continuing a recently revived tradition of election public meetings in the town. Entry is free.

Mr Dunne will also be presenting the Conser vative position at a public meeting at Craven Arms Community Centre at 6.30pm on Thursday, April 29.

Last week, five of the six candidates faced hundreds of people at a hustings at Ludlow School and set the tone for the campaign.

Mr Dunne, who aims to return to Westminster for the Tories, told the audience it was time for a change of government and a new start.

He said that the Government has not served rural areas well and that a new deal is needed for farmers who are being forced to depend upon subsidies. Mr Dunne, who is involved in a family farm, warned that farmers are finding survival increasingly hard.

But Heather Kidd, who hopes to capture the seat for the Liberal Democrats, said pushing up the price of food would leave some people on low incomes unable to feed themselves and their families.

Labour hopeful Tony Hunt was given a boost to his campaign this week by a flying visit to the constituency by John Spellar, a long serving MP and Government whip.

Tony Hunt told the hustings that more locally produced food should be sold in the area and said that he was trying his hand at growing vegetables.

He said that Labour proposes appointing a supermarket ombudsman to help ensure that farmers and customers are treated fairly.

The Green party candidate, Jacqui Moorish, called for a completely new way of doing business with a move away from “industrial” farming with a high dependency on damaging chemicals. She said that more emphasis should be placed on locally grown and sold produce.

But Christopher Gill, the former Conservative MP turned UKIP candidate, told the meeting the debate was largely academic as decisionmaking had largely been transferred from Westminster to Brussels. He said membership of the European Community is costing billions.