ONE third of voters in the Hexham constituency had still not made their minds up about which party they would put a cross next to just days before the polls opened.

This was the claim from Labour’s Penny Grennan as all four parliamentary candidates for Hexham met in Ovingham on Monday evening for the Civil Conversation event, a meeting described as an alternative to the recent three hustings in the area.

Speaking at the event, Ms Grennan said: “We have canvassed across the whole constituency, which is 800 square miles which is huge, and something common has turned up, and that is, I would imagine, one third of voters haven’t decided yet, and that is huge.

“There’s one third of swing voters we still need to persuade one way or the other.”

The event was different in format to the hustings. Instead of fielding questions from the public, the candidates answered questions agreed prior to the meeting from host, the Rev. Tom Birch.

It was viewed as more of a reflection on the campaign for all four candidates, Ms Grennan, Guy Opperman (Conservatives), Stephen Howse (Liberal Democrats) and Nick Morphet (Green Party).