Education, defence and immigration were among the hot topics when The News in Portsmouth stepped into the political ring to host a pre-election debate.

Political editor David Maddox chaired the event as more than 100 readers got the chance to put candidates from all the main parties on spot.

The two-hour Big Debate featured Portsmouth North cadidates Penny Mordaunt (Conservative), Sarah McCarthy-Fry (Labour), Gary Lawson (Liberal Democrats) and Mike Keith-Smith from the UK Independence Party, who are all fighting for what is seen as an important swing seat.

David said: “It went well. We covered all the classic topics, such as education, defence and housing.

“It got a bit hairy when the discussion turned to police – the Conservatives claimed they would double the number of police to 800, which was met with incredulity.”

But despite a heated debate, David managed to keep any hecklers under control.

He said: “It’s the first time I’ve done anything like that, but I was lucky that the audience were well-behaved and stopped when I told them to shut up!

“The biggest challenge was making sure the candidates stayed on their toes and didn’t avoid the issue.

“But I was able to step in with some supplementary questions to make sure they got to the point and as time went on it got easier and the audience stepped in.”