Candidates went head-to-head in election hustings at Wanstead Library

Five of the constituency’s candidates were present at the public hustings event at Wanstead Library, in Spratt Hall Road, Wanstead, on Saturday (April 25) from 11am to 1pm.

Each of the candidates, excluding independent Matab Aziz, faced questions from members of the public.

Conservative candidate Matthew Scott (left).

One of the main topics arising from the meeting was policing in Wanstead and Leyton.

All candidates agreed that the loss of local police stations in Wanstead in 2013 and Leytonstone last year were not acceptable.

Conservative candidate Matthew Scott criticised his Tory colleague and London Mayor Boris Johnson on the issue.

He said: “Boris is wonderful but wrong on police stations.

"We should not close them because local policing is so important.  

“My family is filled with police officers so I have a personal interest in this and fully appreciate the difficulties they are experiencing due to the cuts.”

Labour’s John Cryer said he was “outraged” that there was now no police station in the Leyton and Wanstead constituency.

He said: “The hierarchy of the Met police don’t care about Wanstead and they were underhand in closing the police station here.

“I was told there would be a police van in the high street for people to go to with their concerns but I have seen no evidence of this.

“We have to have a police presence here because it is a green light to certain unsavoury activity.”

Lib Dem Carl Quilliam said all parties need to work together on campaigning for a new police station for Leyton and Wanstead.

UKIP’s Rosie Beattie said her party would immediately recruit 2,500 more police officers in the country saying “people need to feel safe”.

UKIP's Rosie Beattie.

UKIP and the Green Party clashed on the issue of an EU referendum with Green’s Ashley Gunstock reacting to Ms Beattie’s claim UKIP is the only party which can guarantee one.

Mr Gunstock said: “We will give a referendum and this is one of our policies and we will push for one in Parliament.

“It is everyone’s democratic right to vote for whether they want to stay in the EU or not and we want to give that to people.”

Labour’s John Cryer said he was pushing his party to hold a referendum.

He said: “I am not a fan of the EU and I want a referendum though unfortunately not everyone in my party agrees.”

Labour's John Cryer.

UKIP’s Rosie Beattie also came under fire from Liberal Democrat’s Carl Quilliam on foreign aid and party policy on intervention.

He said: “UKIP’s policy to cut foreign aid is dangerous and will mean more people suffer in the world who needs it.

But Ms Beattie responded: “We want the foreign aid contribution to go towards aid relief and emergency relief so we are not scrapping relief.

“We need to concentrate on issues in our country but I would accept asylum seekers from Syria.”  

The Green Party's Ashley Gunstock.   

The General Election is on May 7.

A second hustings is due to take place on Wednesday evening at St John’s Church, in High Road, Leytonstone.

Lib Dem's Carl Quilliam (right).