In a week's time, Richmond will head to the polls once again and the eyes of the nation will be on south west London.

Richmond Park and Twickenham constituencies face two of the most hard-fought and tight races after the Lib Dems and Tories traded seats in previous elections.

Both are effectively two horse races between the two parties, with the Richmond Park duel between Zac Goldsmith and Sarah Olney likely to be very close.

Richmond Chamber of Commerce hosts a hustings event tonight (June 1), giving the candidates an opportunity to debate head-to-head at Richmond Adult Community College.

Prior to the event, Chamber of Commerce CEO Anne Newton said: “Richmond and Twickenham are immensely pivotal in this election which is why holding this question and answer time is so important – it is such an important borough.

"We are very lucky to have such talent in one place - all the candidates are very passionate about what they do and where they stand on matters which is why this question time is so interesting.

"This borough has such a high level of well-educated and qualified people – more so than any other borough which is why we feel we have to put on an event worthy of the area.

"It will be a great chance for the candidates to discuss issues that people are incredibly passionate and concerned about and possible implications."

Conservative candidate Zac Goldsmith is not due to join his fellow Richmond Park candidates at the hustings and the Conservative position is due to be represented by Richmond Council leader Lord True.

A statement on the Chamber of Commerce website said: “Due to a public meeting Zac Goldsmith had organised before being aware of the date we had previously confirmed with the Richmond Park Conservative office via a local Cllr for the election calendar; this was before Zac had been confirmed as a candidate. Since Zac Goldsmith politely declining and to ensure balance, we requested he elect a Conservative representative and can now confirm this will be Lord True.”

Richmond Park was won by the Liberal Democrat Sarah Olney in a by-election last December, after the Conservative MP Goldsmith resigned and stood as an independent candidate to protest the government’s stance on Heathrow.

Mr Goldsmith, who also lost last May to Labour’s Sadiq Khan in his bid to become Mayor of London, is running as a Conservative candidate again, despite the Tories’ continued support for Heathrow expansion.

At the time of going to press, pollsters YouGov say the Richmond Park seat is a ‘toss up’ between the Conservatives and Lib Dems.

It has the Tories sneaking out ahead with an estimated vote share of 43 per cent and the Lib Dems on 42 per cent, but the higher and lower range for each shows it could go either way – between 36 per cent and 50 per cent Tory, and 33 per cent to 52 per cent Lib Dem.

According to YouGov, the race in Twickenham should not be as close.

The pollsters are predicting a safe Liberal Democrat win, with an estimated 54 per cent of the vote to the Conservatives’ 36 per cent.

Former Business Secretary Sir Vince Cable is bidding to return to the seat he held for the Liberal Democrats from 1997 until the last general election in 2015 where his vote share plummeted by 16 per cent on a dire night for his party.

Conservative Tania Mathias will be looking to reaffirm her position in Parliament.

Sir Vince told Richmond and Twickenham Times he was pleased with his campaign heading into the final week. He said: “I think it is going very well. We are doing enormous amount of work and have knocked on more door than the last election.

“We are pretty pleased with how the campaign it going as it is going well and a lot could happen in the next week.

“We are still in a good position to win but it is going to be very tight. “

• For all of the coverage and reaction from tonight’s hustings, go to rttimes.co.uk