The debate took place on Friday morning
The candidates who took part were: Chris Farmer (Reform), Mark Harper (Conservative), Simon Opher (Labour), Chris Turner (Green) and Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat)
It was hosted by David Smith and you can listen to it again on BBC Sounds
Our live coverage of the BBC Radio Gloucestershire debate has now finished, thanks for watching.
You can watch it all again by clicking the 'watch and listen' tab above this post. You can also listen to the debate again on BBC Sounds.
Chris Farmer, Reform: “We need to build more houses faster. The demand for housing has increased because we’ve had a rapidly increasing population, and it doesn’t matter how many houses you build, we’re not going to keep up with that demand unless we get immigration under control."
Simon Opher, Labour: “We haven’t got enough low cost social housing, and it’s an absolute priority for young people. We have a commitment to reintroduce housing targets which have been dropped by the current Tory government. We’ve got a mortgage guarantee scheme and we’re also going to give local young people first dibs on new houses.”
Chloe Turner, Green: "We would build 150,000 social homes a year, we would get rid of the Right to Buy policy. We want a fairer deal for renters as well, and the ability for local councils to step in for rent controls."
Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat: "We’re investigating £180m in social housing, so when private developers are building new developments we’re able to buy homes that would have otherwise been sold for a lot of money, and rent them out to people who are in acute housing need.”
Mark Harper, Conservative: “This government has built more homes per year than the last Labour government. We’ve got a commitment in the manifesto to build 1.6 million more homes.”
Gareth in Gloucester has the latest question for the panel. He says he can't see himself moving out of the family home for "five, ten years".
Chris Farmer, Reform: “Immigration is a good thing, but only if it’s legal and limited, an asset to the country. Illegal and unlimited is totally unsustainable."
Simon Opher, Labour: “We have to import our workforce. We do need to lower immigration, I think that’s really important, but I will contest the fact that immigration hurts the NHS."
Chloe Turner, Green: “We need to have safe and legal routes for these people to come to the UK and claim asylum as they are entitled to do. This divisive rhetoric around immigration and migration is so damaging. The people who come to this country bring so much to our culture and economy.”
Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat: “If we want to make sure that we’re processing refugee and asylum seeker claims properly we need to fund the home office properly. If you want to crack the gangs, you’ve got to have safe and legal routes.”
Mark Harper, Conservative: “Break the organised crime groups, stop people coming illegally, and I think the Rwanda Plan is exactly in place to do that, as a deterrent. Britain cannot be the place where everyone comes. We have to control the numbers sensibly."
Alan said: “The true failure of immigration is not the number of immigrants per year, but the failure to expand UK public services and infrastructure at the same rate.
“If you increase the population by the size of the city of Manchester every year - you need to increase the housing, hospitals, schools, colleges and public transport supply.”
Karen – from Gloucester - who is nearing retirement - said she wants to hear more on mortgages for older people.
She adds: “We want to leave the private rental sector to own our own home but this is very difficult with lots of terms and conditions that we can’t meet.
We need to see changes to allow the 60 plus generationto obtain sensible mortgages.
Diana from Cheltenham has the next question. She says that reducing immigration "would save money", and wants to know what the candidates will do about it.
Mark Harper, Conservative: "It's right that voters are sceptical of politicians, but it is damaging to politics if they then become cynical, and I think that’s the balance we’ve got to get right."
Chris Farmer, Reform: “I want to represent from the grass roots up, rather than top down.”
Simon Opher, Labour: “It’s really important that we don’t over-promise, and anything we promise we can deliver and we are confident we can do that in the Labour party."
Chloe Turner, Green: “Integrity and honesty is fundamental to us in the Green party. Transparency has been absolutely key.”
Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat: “If I thought the political system was any good, I wouldn’t have joined the Liberal Democrats. The Lib Dems do stand for changing politics."
Our next question comes from John in Coleford. He raises the question of trust in politics, saying he doesn't trust any politicians.
Mark Harper, Conservative: "I think the last thing that the hardworking staff actually want is a reorganisation of the NHS. We need to invest in productivity and tools to enable those staff to deliver for their patients."
Chris Farmer, Reform: "We need to reorganise the NHS by stripping out the multi layers of people who have nothing to do with patient care. We need to take the people who are not helping patients directly, take that money, and put it onto front line care."
Simon Opher, Labour: "We have to invest in the workforce and then the situation will get better. We are going to invest until we clear the waiting list in buying private provision for our patients. There is no other privatisation planned."
Chloe Turner, Green: "The Green party has always been against the privatisation of the NHS and we always will. We need to be able to relieve pressure on the emergency aspects by improving primary care."
Max Wilkinson, Liberal Democrat: "The Lib Dems have placed the NHS and care at the heart of out offer this general election. If we can get social care right we can remove some of the pressures that nurses suffer every day."
David has been talking to the panel about their views on the NHS. More of that in a moment.
Here's what you've had to say about the topic.
Natalie said: “We all know the NHS is broken - who is going to be the first to admit we need an insurance based system like the rest of the world and stop these - sticking - plaster - policies?”
Anthony Brady - a former hospital nurse from Gloucestershire - said: “Why is discrimination tolerated by the Government and Local Authorities in Care Home provision? I pay for my wife's care - while in the same home others pay nothing."
Sabrina in Tewkesbury said: “My 15 year old son was in so much pain that he ripped out his own tooth with pliers. We have not been able to register anywhere with a dentist, and there is no help available.
“Our dentistry system is abysmal. Causing stress, pain and ill health throughout our nation.”
Here at the BBC, we've been looking at lots of election topics over the past few weeks in Gloucestershire.
Here's a taste of a few of them:
The BBC's Esme Ashcroft (left) and David Smith (right) are ready to interview the candidates
☝️ The debate is now live - click the watch live button above ☝️
The BBC's political reporter for Gloucestershire, Ed Rowe, looks what might be on people's minds before they head to the ballot box.
Ed Rowe examines what are likely to be the big issues amongst voters.
Good morning - and welcome to our Gloucestershire general election debate.
We'll be live at 10:00 BST, and you can watch on this page. The debate will be hosted by BBC Radio Gloucestershire's David Smith.
You'll also be able to listen on the radio or on BBC Sounds.
The candidates taking part today are: Chris Farmer (Reform), Mark Harper (Conservative), Simon Opher (Labour), Chris Turner (Green) and Max Wilkinson (Liberal Democrat)
