Ukip's Roger Clark did not attend second pre-election hustings between North West Hampshire candidates, held at Tadley

The anti-EU candidate was not present at the event, held at St Paul’s Church of England, Tadley last Thursday.

Mr Clark, who also missed the first hustings in Andover, had confirmed he would attend the event - according to host Reverend Richard Harlow.

However he did not turn up on the night.

Norman Woods, Ukip’s North West Hampshire chairman, claimed the party had not received any information on either hustings and had “not intentionally” missed the debates.

Mr Woods also confirmed Mr Clark would attend the final hustings event in Whitchurch on Tuesday.

Rev Harlow started the night with a minute silence and led a prayer for those killed in the Manchester terror attack.

Conservative Kit Malthouse, Labour’s Andy Fitchet, Alex Payton for the Liberal Democrats and Green’s Dan Hill, then had the opportunity to start the debate with a speech from each candidate to a only half-full church.

Mr Fitchet was the first to stand and talked of wanting to paint a picture of a different sort of country, highlighting that 30 per cent of children are now living in poverty.

Returning candidate for The Green Party, Mr Hill, followed saying that sustainability should be held at the forefront.

Mr Malthouse’s speech concentrated on four local issues, which he felt were important, including education, small businesses, housing and planning and rural broadband.

Finally Liberal Democrat, Mr Payton, who like Mr Hill is a returning candidate from the 2015 election, stood up to speak about an alternative vision for Brexit and the need for an efficient opposition.

The first round of questioning focused on the NHS and social care.

Mr Fitchet pointed out the NHS was Labour’s greatest achievement, a “national treasure”, and the need for investment and calling for scraping car parking charges.

Mr Hill talked of mental health and Kit Malthouse of investing in technology.

Next up was on government spending and what it had been put towards.

Mr Malthouse’s answer including listing off some of the areas it had gone into, such as education, the NHS, and the army Murmurs and rumbles accompanied his response and he was even heckled by a member of the public.

Perhaps the most contentious point of the night came when candidates put forward their thoughts on abortion and euthanasia and whether they would vote on their own viewpoint or truly represent their constituency in a free vote.

All four candidates acknowledged it was not an easy question to answer.

Mr Payton was up first declaring himself to be pro-life, saying safeguards were needed for abortion.

However he admitted he was not an expert. He added he was not in favour of euthanasia for a legal standpoint, saying there was scope for abuse.

Mr Fitchet, responding as a minister, admitted he was prolife saying he believed life was holy.

However he added he was also a great believer in free will.

Finishing up his speech, which brought on a loud applause, Mr Fitchet added his vote would reflect both his personal viewpoint and that of the constituency.

Mr Hill admitted there was no right or wrong answer, but said he would be open to residents bringing their views to him.

On euthanasia, he added there already was some access to the option via Switzerland, which Mr Malthouse agreed on.

Mr Malthouse said he was happy with current government legislation on abortion and talked about his previous pro-euthanasia campaigns.

One question, primarily aimed at Ukip, was on their stance on slashing foreign aid.

All four candidates agreed on the need and merits of foreign aid with Mr Malthouse talking of having a more flexible target and Mr Payton saying there was risk of it being lowered if no target was set.

The debate ended on a question on the importance of spending time in the constituency and compassion within politics.

All said spending time in the community, such as holding surgeries, was important.

Mr Hill said that compassion was still present in politics, and the other candidates agreed.