It was a battle for hearts and minds as six of Twickenham's parliamentary candidates went head-to-head at the Friends of Twickenham Green hustings last week.

All candidates, apart from the Magna Carta Party's David Wedgwood, took part on Wednesday, April 22, with debate focusing on Heathrow, the environment and free schools.

Chaired by University of Sussex professor of politics Dan Hough, the evening got off to a bumpy start with Labour's Nick Grant causing a stir when he refused to commit to fighting the expansion of Heathrow.

He said: "As far as I can see it is a huge speculative to say no to Heathrow doing what it's management wants to do.

"I cannot commit to saying no because there are people and workers who depend on Heathrow for work."

All other parties committed to opposing the expansion of the airport, while Liberal Democrat Vince Cable said Mr Grant was "scaremongering" to suggest jobs could be lost.

The issue of free schools reared its head, with Dr Cable critical of proposals for a primary school on Twickenham Green as well as Turing House potentially being sited in Whitton.

On the subject of defence, Conservative Tania Mathias said: "I want to see a continuous overseas defence and am in favour of Trident."

UKIP's Barry Edwards highlighted overpopulation as a problem facing Twickenham, while Tanya Williams of the Green Party said people in the UK should receive "a decent minimum wage".

Dominic Stockford, of the Christian Party, said it "would take a miracle of God" for him to win the election seat.