OVER 400 people crammed into the Subscription Rooms on Tuesday for the first major hustings of the General Election campaign in Stroud constituency.

The parliamentary candidates discussed their policies on how to tackle the climate emergency at the climate hustings, organised by Stroud Greenpeace and Extinction Rebellion and chaired by Rev Simon Howell of St Laurence Church, Stroud.

There were queues outside the door at the packed event with Stroud's candidates from the Labour Party, the Conservative Party, the Brexit Party and the Green Party all giving their thoughts on the climate crisis.

Labour candidate David Drew spoke about his party's plans to decarbonise the UK’s economy by 2030 as well as improving public transport, with free bus travel for under 25s, and renationalising the rail links, investing in young people and youth services, and developing local food production.

He said he had already championed legislation to make Ecocide a crime and would continue to push this forward.

Speaking afterwards, David said: “The climate crisis is also a social justice crisis. How we address them must be at the heart of this election. So, it was good to see so many Stroud people there and share more detail about Labour’s plan to decarbonise by 2030 with a transition to a green economy which will create thousands of jobs.

“Our Green New Deal includes plans to eradicate fuel poverty, by upgrading 27 million homes, thereby saving lives, as well as ban fracking, and expand public transport.

“We have just 10 years to act to keep temperature rises within two degrees, which is, of course, just two five-year Parliaments. Your vote counts, the time for urgent action is now."

Candidates were questioned about incineration and David told the audience about his work investigating air pollution from incineration and he said although he has succeeded in pressurising the Government into tightening up regulation, research has shown that there is no way of knowing the health impact of the smallest particles.

He said: “The long-term health effects of Javelin Park are not known. We must apply the precautionary principal to incineration.

Reflecting on the event, Green Party candidate Molly Scott Cato said: “As a Green, the most exciting thing was to see our largest hall packed to the rafters with voters convinced that this must be the climate election.

"Congratulations to Greenpeace, the climate strikers, and Extinction Rebellion for energising the debate about the climate emergency in Stroud."

"Our Green New Deal would transform our society, reducing emissions while improving quality of life and creating thousands of good-quality jobs.

“Stroud is home to brave and pioneering environmentalists who we are confident will vote Green on December 12."

Stroud's Brexit Party candidate, Desi Latimer, also attend the hustings. Reflecting on the event, she said: "I was honoured to attend the hustings and met many of the groups who are involved in addressing the climate emergency from here in Stroud. I was able to speak from personal experience and from my work overseas in renewable energy.

"The Brexit Party has clear achievable policies on climate change. We want to invest in recycling our waste in this country.

"It is not acceptable that we export our plastic waste to other countries such as Vietnam and pay them to put our waste in their landfill or be thrown in the ocean far away from the UK. We also announced plans to plant tens of millions of trees in the UK to capture CO2 and reduce emissions.

"But one of the causes of Brexit is a feeling of disenfranchisement, and as I said in my speech there is work to be done to get the buy in of those who are not convinced of the urgency of climate change and who have other very real priorities.

"There’s great potential to build green jobs in Stroud post-Brexit. To build on the energy and expertise and create an entrepreneurial environment that will bring investment and more jobs to Stroud."

Libertarian Party candidate Glenville Gogerly was unable to attend the event due to a prior agreement. But he has given his thoughts on the climate crisis.

He said: "We all know that the world is facing a huge issue with climate change. What I would like to see is a coming together of all the scientific research and evidence.

"Although I have spoken to many young people, and they are being frightened by the claims of some.

"We must remember that we should all do as much as we physically can to help protect our environment and help reduce climate change. Myself and my family do as much as we can at home and in our lives to reduce our carbon footprint. We have switched over to green energy so that our electricity is from renewable energy sources.

"I believe that the emerging markets and nations are going through an industrial revolution and are therefore creating a lot of green house gases and pollution. We as a G7 nation should be helping those nations to reduce their carbon emissions. We need to make sure that rain forest deforestation is tackled and is only done in a sustainable way.

"Being Libertarian I believe that people have a right to protest within the law. I do not agree that ordinary people should be stopped from getting to work as we saw with the EX Rebellion protests. I also think it completely wrong when lead figures from that group deliberately damage property."

Conservative candidate Siobhan Baillie also attended the hustings but as of yet hasn't responded to our request for comment.