A GENERAL Election husting in Alloa fell flat last week when only two of the five candidates for the Ochil and South Perthshire seat showed up.

Conservative's Luke Graham and the SNP's John Nicolson attended Central Scotland Regional Equality Council's (CSREC's) event in the Town Hall on Tuesday, December 3.

But Labour's Lorna Robertson, Lib Dems' Iliyan Stefanov and UKIP's Stuart Martin did not.

Standing in for the Labour and Lib Dem hopefuls were councillor Dave Clark and Stirling GE candidate Fayzan Rehman respectively.

UKIP did not send anyone.

The event format consisted of opening speeches from each candidate, followed by a question and answer (Q and A) session and then closing speeches.

Up first was Luke Graham, who highlighted the issues of domestic abuse, drugs and poverty, and referenced his work to address the problems locally.

He also spoke of the flaws of Universal Credit, and touched upon his work to fix them.

Dave Clark followed, and opened by quoting Robert Burns then Dianne Abbot.

He urged people to look at the "body language" of parties, and claimed the Conservatives were taking money "out of the pockets of poor people in Clackmannanshire".

He then spoke of Labour's policies to tackle poverty and promote women's rights.

Up next was Fayzan Rehman, who said it was "unfortunate" his party's candidate contesting the Ochil and South Perthshire seat could not attend the event.

He then discussed the dangers of Brexit and Scottish independence, and said the Lib Dems "clearly stands for an open, fair and free society" and spoke of the issue of poverty in Clacks.

Last to give a speech was the SNP's John Nicolson, who made light of the fact he mixed up the constituency he's standing in with East Dunbartonshire at a previous husting.

Referring to his name placard, he said: "There's actually a misspelling of my name which just reinforces the notion that we're all human and some of us have slips of the tongue from time to time."

He then raised the issue of Brexit which he claimed could lead to further austerity, and spoke of his record championing rights for homosexuals.

During the Q and A, a number of issues were mentioned, including Brexit and Scottish Independence.

But it was Universal Credit and the problems caused by it which caused one of the biggest stirs.

One woman in the audience, who identified herself as a welfare advisor, said: "This is the worst it has ever been. There is no social security net."

She then went on to challenge Luke Graham for voting to strengthen the "bedroom tax", something he strongly denied.

Dave Clark also caused a stir by claiming cuts to the local council budget "done more damage than the Germans did during the Second World War to Clackmannanshire's economy".

John Nicolson labelled Clark's claim "distasteful" soon after, which drew applause from members of the audience.

And Luke Graham was given a tough time after being asked how he felt about the fact there was not "a single minority that Boris Johnson has not offended".

After being read a list of vile statements made by the prospective prime minister, Mr Graham said: "These comments were not made when he's leader of the party."

Members of the audience booed, before the Conservative candidate added: "Quite simply, some of his language he needs to apologise."

The panel went on to field questions about a variety of equalities issues, before reiterating their stances during their closing speeches.