Eight passionate candidates for the Brycheiniog Tawe Nedd constituency faced questions from the public last night at the Senedd Election Hustings in Talgarth.

The event, hosted by Talgarth & District Regeneration Group, Talgarth Community Library and The Friends of Ysgol y Mynydd Du took place at Ysgol y Mynydd Du.

The hustings was chaired by Regional Editor at Tindle Newspapers, Liz Davies. The panel of candidates included outgoing MSs James Evans of Reform UK and Sioned Williams of Plaid Cymru; Cllr Nathan Goldup-John of the Welsh Green Party; Cllr Alex Sims of Welsh Labour; Cllr Jackie Charlton of the Welsh Liberal Democrats; Dr. Liz Hill-O’Shea of the Welsh Conservatives; Jennifer Roberts of the Heritage Party, and independent candidate Cllr Beverley Baynham of Presteigne.

Each candidate was given two minutes to introduce themselves to the packed school hall and were given one minute each to answer questions submitted by the public. Following the questions, they were each given two minutes for a closing speech.

The candidates answered eight questions from the public on a range of topics. They were questioned on what party policies they are most proud of at a local and national level; additional learning needs in Wales; Transport in Powys, particularly from Gwernyfed to Brecon and vice versa where bus timetables don’t meet the needs of school pupils commuting to and from their respective school; the new voting system for the upcoming election, and ending violence against women and girls.

A fairly subdued audience sprung to life when Jennifer Roberts answered a question on how candidates will work to rout out misogyny. She said: “Everyone seems to be avoiding the elephant in the room here which is the illegal immigrants coming into this country.” Her comments were met with boos and heckles from the crowd.

“On Monday 600 illegal immigrants entered this country,” she continued. “And we’ve got a speaker from the USA who is banned. You can avoid it as much as you like, your children and grandchildren are not safe anymore. We’ve got a problem in the UK.”

From that point on, the hustings continued to be a lively affair as questions were asked on women’s reproductive rights and abortion; large scale wind farm proposals, and enhancing community engagement to improve health and social services in Powys.

Chair of the evening, Liz Davies rounded off the two-hour long event. She said: “Thank you all very much for your patience, and thank you for your questions. I’m sorry we couldn’t have heard more from the floor but obviously our time is constrained.

“Thank you very much to our candidates, whether you agree with them or not, I think you can’t disagree that there’s certainly a lot of passion and a lot of love for this constituency so I’m sure whoever gets in you will be in safe hands. Good luck to everyone at the polls and thank you very much for your attendance.”

Candidates then shook hands and went their separate ways.

Following the hustings, James Evans took to social media and said: “I attended a hustings tonight and, honestly, it summed up everything that’s wrong with politics in this country right now.

“A group of left wing activists spent the evening jeering, shouting, and laughing at anyone who dared to put forward a different point of view. It's says a lot when people who claim to stand for tolerance are the least tolerant in the room.

“Meanwhile, the decent, reasonable majority are expected to just sit there and put up with it. And I can tell you this, the silent majority is watching, and they’ve had enough.People want change. They want respect, common sense, and a politics that actually listens.

“This county needs a reset, a return to proper debate, basic respect and a government who put our country and people first.”

The full transcript of the hustings will be published on the Brecon & Radnor Express website soon.

You can still view the full two hour live hustings recording on the Brecon & Radnor Express Facebook page for the next 30 days.