Macclesfield's election candidates offered voters strong views and plenty of food for thought during the town’s final husting of the campaign.

UKIP’s last-minute entrant Jacqueline Smith joined four other candidates and stand-in campaigner for the Green Party, Lindy Brett, at the United Reformed Church on Park Green on Saturday.

Green candidate John Knight was on a long-planned ‘Beat the Bounds’ walk so was unable to attend but fellow hopefuls Roger Barlow (Liberal Democrat), Dr Adrian Heald (Labour), Brendan Murphy (Independent) and David Rutley (Conservative) all turned out to be quizzed by voters on a hot afternoon.

And all six were put through their paces for more than two hours in front of nearly 200 voters at the event, co-organised by the Express.

Mrs Smith, who registered hours before last Tuesday’s deadline, even admitted that she had only entered the race to be Macclesfield’s next MP after asking if she could deliver leaflets for UKIP.

"I called them up and they told me that no one was standing, so here I am," she said.

Britain’s role in Europe was duly discussed, along with issues ranging from candidates’ Macclesfield connections and small businesses, to education and global issues.

Marion Tugwood, minister at the United Reformed Church and host of the event, said: "It was interesting and a good experience. I think all the candidates spoke well and gave people a flavour of what they are about.  I was pleased with the turnout but would have liked more first-time voters."

THEIR WORDS - YOUR CHOICE

Burning issues ranged from candidates’ stand on the Euro to global responsibilities; from the recession to education. All the rivals held their own under a public grilling – and here’s what they had to say.

How would you improve education for all children? The main concern is providing money to parents to open up new schools (in the Conservative manifesto) – what happens to other children who won’t benefit from that?

Smith: "I am a great believer in democracy. If people choose to spend their money on children’s education then I don’t have a problem with that at all. We have to make sure the teachers are up-to-date for everything so there won’t be a need to send children to a different school."

Brett: "We would support Sure Start where children in deprived areas are supported in the early years and we would ensure that primary schools are really well funded so children get an excellent start in education. The distribution of students between high schools in a town like Macclesfield causes problems. A more even distribution between advantaged and disadvantaged children has delivered better results."

Heald: "Good quality education for our children is the cornerstone of success of our society in future. We need to involve parents in that but I don’t agree with Mr Cameron’s big society idea that parents should be setting up their own schools. I have talked to many teachers going around the constituency and what they want is more say in how things are taught in their schools."

Murphy: "Nobody has got a magic wand. Society isn’t fair and never ever will be. I feel extremely guilty when I look around kids in deprived areas now and think, ‘How can they get out of that?’ In Macclesfield our schools are excellent. I don’t entirely trust the SATS system but I am very impressed at the level of intelligence (of our students). Ofsted has been a disaster."

Barlow: "We want to put an extra £2.5bn into education that will be targeted at schools that need it most and that will be calculated by how many children are on free school meals. The local authority has a role to play, not as in the old days where it did everything but it should be as supervisor to make sure schools are running and running well. There is a magic wand. It is called more money."

Rutley: "The magic wand isn’t money, not at all. We have seen education spending spiral up and up. We have to find urgent solutions on how we could improve education. Let’s look at academies and find roles for faith schools. Let’s find solutions because at the moment throwing money at it hasn’t worked."

Should we go into the Euro?

Barlow: "At the moment, no. I hope that at some point in the economic cycle, maybe five or 50 years, the time will be right but we shouldn’t do so without a referendum and only if the people say yes, should we move in."

Rutley: "My view is absolutely no, non, nein. We must not go into the Euro at all. There are challenges currently going on with Greece. We are going to see similar issues in Ireland if we are not careful. We must avoid moving in at all costs."

Smith: "Definitely no, definitely no, definitely no. I like to see the Queen’s head on my notes. I am mistrustful of the Liberal Democrats’ attitude towards this. I trust the Conservatives more – but not 100 per cent. Why not just give a referendum? Let the people decide."

Brett: "It is not sensible or important now. We should make things here. We should be protecting food here and should be self-reliant."

Heald: "It is reasonable to say no. It is dangerous to say never. This isn’t the right time. It may be appropriate that in the future five or 10 years time we revise the matter and, of course, there should be a referendum to decide that."

Murphy: "A single currency is an integral part of the European Union. If we want to be in that, we have got to be honest and say we will take the whole cut. We cannot be a second class citizen. A European political union will only work if you have a single language. We have to come out of the European Union as it is doomed to fail."

What do the candidates think their global responsibilities are? What should they be and how should they be implemented?

Rutley: "We have ring-fenced two areas of public spending where we wouldn’t seek to deplete it. One is the NHS and two is international development. The whole recession has had a terrible impact on this country but there are other parts of the world affected far worse. Some of the development budget (currently) is spent on China and I just don’t think they need that."

Smith: "I think there needs to be some kind of global monetary system. There should be a world bank where we all submit money to deal with all the tragedies or disasters or earthquakes - so there is money in the pot to help them."

Brett: "This is a hard question. We are calling for a reassessment of debt."

Heald: "All of us have a responsibility when buying goods that we make sure the price we pay bears relation to the price to the grower in the developing country. Second, it is important to have a fair wage for these people. It is a terribly important issue."

Murphy: "We have got to be very careful with this topic that we don’t all try to be politically correct and to all come across as such caring people. We don’t give poor people fish, we give them a fishing rod so they become masters of their own destiny. A lot of money we put into these countries are going through corrupt public officials."

Barlow: "We would increase our contribution to 0.7 per cent of GDP which doesn’t sound much but is more than we have done so far, and concentrate more on health and education and clean water and not on military and prestige projects. We would look at more cancellation of debts and more debt relief."

The manufacturing sector creates wealth and has the capacity to help lead the country out of recession. What will you do to help?

Smith: "Come out of Europe. I do know there has been a massive increase in finances (but) it is all imported. I do know that my friend is complaining about the fact that it is coming from overseas."

Brett: "We need small businesses and their quality and enterprise. We need them to take on apprentices so they have got a future."

Heald: "We need to ensure that small businesses are successful. What happened throughout the 80s was many businesses closed – we cannot return ever to a large manufacturing base in this country. We need to have more pressure on banks and unblock the loan system. Labour has been committed to training – 250,000 apprenticeships have been created in the last year."

Murphy: "During the 70s and 80s there were a lot closing down but not necessarily through government policies. I looked at my own resources (when setting up a business) and went to a bank and got a business development loan and was paying interest of 12pc. The price of money is too low and that is why we have had this terrible credit crunch. Small entrepreneurs are the backbone of the country."

Barlow: "It is good to see that the manufacturing industry has been rediscovered by the major parties. We would boost the apprenticeship system. We would reform business rates so that councils could encourage what they wanted to encourage. We want to manufacture wind turbines and solar panels so we can export it to the rest of the world."

Rutley: "The key thing to help small businesses is to stabilise the economy. The economy has gone from 0.4pc growth to 0.2pc! We have to find a way to move forward small businesses in the Macclesfield area. We need to do it by stopping Labour’s tax on jobs. There is a whole raft of bureaucracy that ties up our small businesses in red tape."

We covered the event live here on the website - click here to look back at the coverage