The Hereford and South Herefordshire constituency is a key West Midlands marginal seat which is number 20 on the Tory target list. This means the candidates are really under pressure to explain their policies and present themselves so that they appeal to the voters.

The candidates from the three main parties, Conservative - Jesse Norman, Liberal Democrat - Sarah Carr and Labour - Philippa Roberts all had a very busy weekend. They were filmed by BBC Hereford and Worcester at the Courtyard for the Politics Show on Sunday.

They were questioned on cider duty increases, public sector jobs and the Edgar Street Grid.

But they started with a well attended Hustings meeting in Ross on Friday. This was organised by Churches Together in Ross and took place at the John Kyrle High School, where they were joined by the UKIP candidate, Valentine Smith. Nearly 200 people attended which indicates how much this election has stirred people to engage in the political debate.

The meeting was chaired by the Reverend Sarah Jones with just the right level of authority and a touch of humour. Questions had been presented by various people of the town then amalgamated into half a dozen questions which covered the broad areas, people in the town had expressed an interest in.

It was a well natured debate in which all candidates stuck to the issues and answered the questions that were put to them.

Afterwards a few points were raised such as the Lib Dem policy of offering an amnesty for illegal immigrants policy which had not been brought up during the debate.

A clear message came from the debate that now is the time for a change, not as the national media would have us believe a change from Labour to Conservative or even the possibility of a Lib Dem government but a change from the old style opposition politics to a new way of working across parties to deal with big issues such as funding pensions and care for the elderly.

The family, the EU and Freedom of expression were some of the other issues explored by the candidates. See below for a fuller report of the questions and answers Exercise your democratic right on May 6th and turn up and vote.