With nine candidates representing six different political parties meeting at Recorder HQ last night, things had the potential to get a bit hairy.
But the prospective MPs taking part in our social media hustings – which also saw two candidates participate from their homes – managed to keep things diplomatic in the office while living up to expectation online, debating with each other over the questions our readers wanted to ask.
Questions were submitted in advance via letter, email and social media, while we also took questions on the night via twitter and our website.
The opportunity allowed five candidates for the West Ham constituency and six for East Ham to share their opinions on a wide range of issues, campaigning for your vote on May 7.
Topics ranged from healthcare, the housing shortage and the EU to more local issues, including the actions of social campaign group Focus E15.
There were too many questions submitted to discuss everything during the hour-long hustings, which are available to read on our website in full if you missed it.
The hustings had a good response on social media, with @StarLane_CT tweeting to say: “Well done to all the West Ham PPCs last night @NewhamRecorder online hustings!”
Reader @Ian_radioguy added: “Congrats to @NewhamRecorder on running two consecutive live text hustings tonight for E & W Ham #NewhamAsks The candidates can type fast!”
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