Thanks for joining us for our coverage of the Mid Bedfordshire by-election debate live on BBC Three Counties Radio and on this page.

You can listen back to the full 90-minute discussion here on BBC Sounds.

Polling stations open on Thursday, 19 October at 07:00 BST and close at 22:00, with the count and result taking place immediately afterwards at Central Bedfordshire Council's headquarters in Chicksands.

Full details on the council website, external.

Andrew Sinclair
BBC Look East political correspondent

She may no longer be the MP for Mid Bedfordshire, but Nadine Dorries has left her footprint on this campaign.

A large part of today’s debate has been dominated by claims and counter claims about who was truly local, how visible they would be within the constituency and if they would have any second jobs if they were elected. All of them said "no" in answer to that question, although the Green candidate said he would be reluctant to stop being a carer. On one of the big issues in this campaign - housing, all the candidates wanted to see more affordable homes being built, but while the Conservatives' Festus Akinbusoye clearly stated his opposition to building on the greenbelt, and the independent Gareth Mackey and Green candidate Cade Sibley accepted that it may be necessary, it was notable that both the Liberal Democrats' Emma Holland-Lindsay and Labour’s Alistair Strathern dodged the question on several occasions and instead said that they wanted local communities to decide.

All agreed that any development needs to be backed up with local services and infrastructure, something that hasn’t always happened in the past. On law and order all the candidates wanted a better government funding formula for the police,while the non-Conservative candidates complained about fear of crime and a lack of police visibility. Festus Akinbusoye, who already serves as Bedfordshire's serving police and crime commissioner, gave a passionate defence of the work that the police do. There was no time to properly discuss GP shortages, another big talking point on the doorsteps, or the cost of living. At times this was quite a combative debate; at times the candidates seemed more keen to say what they wanted to say rather than directly answer the question.

But for 90 minutes we got to hear their voices and what matters to them, and that may have swayed some voters who now have less than a week to make up their minds.

Amy Holmes
Political reporter, BBC Three Counties Radio

With crime, as ever, expected to be a key issue for voters, the candidates are asked what aspect of it they would focus on if elected.

Alistair Strathern for Labour suggested a potential change of government next year could provide the opportunity for a reform of the police service as a whole. He wants the focus to be on tackling rural crime via a return to a neighbourhood policing model that would train 13,000 new neighbourhood officers across the country.

Liberal Democrat Emma Holland-Lindsay calls for the role of police and crime commissioner (PCC) to be abolished, claiming the £1m a year it costs could be "better spent". She also says she's heard "upsetting stories on the doorsteps" and that there are 400 unsolved crimes a week in the constituency. Bedfordshire's current PCC is, of course, the Conservative candidate in this by-election, and Festus Akinbusoye responds by suggesting he's brought an additional £5m in funding to the county.

Mr Strathern also points out that the Fair Funding model for Bedfordshire was anything but fair, with Mr Akinbusoye agreeing, but saying it had been Labour's model in the first place. Mr Strathern reminds the PCC that his government has had 13 years to fix the model, although Mr Akinbusoye says it is now "baked in and difficult to change".

Reform UK's Dave Holland wants more police on the streets and adds that "it's an honour to even get a crime number these days to be able to claim on your insurance". He claims the government has set higher taxes, but is providing fewer services.

Independent Gareth Mackey calls for a royal commission on policing and suggests "criminals have the edge on us sometimes" and that there is a need to "stop prison being an academy for crime".

Both Alan Victor from the True and Fair Party and the Green Party's Cade Sibley want to focus more on why people commit crime, with both pointing to a lack of things for young people to do in Mid Beds. Mr Victor adds that in the short term there is a need to put pressure on the government to increase funding for more officers, saying the number of police per capita is still lower than when the Conservative government came into power in 2010 and does not reflect the rise in the population of Mid Bedfordshire since then.Mr Sibley says baby formula is one of the most shoplifted items, largely because of the cost of living crisis and agrees that more officers are needed on the streets, citing the example of his local youth club being closed down.

"We need more housing, they need to be in the right place for the right price", says Green Party candidate Cade Sibley.

He says it is refreshing to hear the mainstream parties bringing up Green Party policies.

"It's taken you a while," he says.

He believes housing should be a local decision to work out how and where homes are built.

He does not want to see "massive development that doesn't have access to the things we need".

He thinks that there are not enough brownfield sites to build on and if "we carry on at this rate" homes could be built on greenbelt land.

Dave Holland, Reform UK, says the "problem isn't too few houses; the problem is too many people".

"We're never going to keep pace if we have an open doors immigration policy and we keep expanding our population at an unsustainable rate," he says.

He says the country is already "overcrowded" and the "problem is population growth".

Jonathan Vernon-Smith challenges him and asks "where are the people coming to this country that are buying the houses in Mid Bedfordshire?".

He could not answer but responds with "population needs to be net zero until our services catch up".

The issue then turns to a lack of GPs and Alan Victor, from True and Fair Party, ask "wouldn't it be reasonable to have incentives to have GPs come and work in the UK?"

Emma Holland-Lindsay, Liberal Democrats, said the Conservatives had allowed development to go in the "wrong direction".

She says in Wixams a railway station and GP surgery were promised but never delivered.

Festus Akinbusoye, responds by saying that the former Liberal Democrat directly-elected mayor in charge of Bedford Borough Council had overseen plans for a GP surgery but "having a GP surgery was not a priority for the 106 money [funds provided by developers for other infrastructure] for the mayor".

Ms Holland-Lindsay responds that it is central government that funds the NHS and it was dropped as there was not enough funding from central government.

Alistair Strathern says he would "bring everyone together" to sort the issue out.

Gareth Mackey, independent, says he will work across the board to try to solve the problems and "we do need more houses in the area".

He says he would work to see what is best for the community but thinks building on greenbelt is inevitable.

During the housing debate - Alan Victor from the True & Fair Party interjects.

Mr Akinbusoye says housing should be built on brownfield land and when challenged as to where that might be, Mr Victor says he thinks one area is around the old brickworks in Stewarby, which currently looks like arable countryside.

An interesting moment where the Labour candidate, Alistair Strathern, agreed with his Conservative opponent that the "current planning system is completely broken".

But he was quick to change tack and says it is Mr Akinbusoye's "party and his party's stewardship of a broken planning system that has allowed this to happen".

He says he's "so angry" that beautiful parts of Mid Beds have been built on as they're not in the greenbelt or have been taken out of the greenbelt.

He says the Conservative-run council [Central Bedfordshire] has taken the equivalent of "1,500 football pitches out of the greenbelt and put it into development".

Things got a little heated and Mr Akinbusoye then interjected and asked if he should build on greenbelt land.

The Labour man then responds with "I think people have had enough of people shouting at each other across tables in politics".

Mr Akinbusoye hit back with "people are fed up with people not answering questions".

Mr Strathern says new building should be properly consulted on and he agrees with his party leader Sir Keir Starmer that new towns are a good idea as it "saves our villages".

The issue of housing shortages and house prices is a hot ticket for the candidates.

Emma Holland-Lindsay, Liberal Democrats, says it is a "huge problem" and there needs to be more affordale housing.

She thinks the current system is stacked in "favour of developers" and she wants to put "the power back into the communities".

Pressed by Jonathan Vernon-Smith on if she wanted housing to be built on greenbelt land, she does not answer yes/no.

Festus Akinbusoye challenges her and says we "we need to have more housing, but they need to be in the right places".

Ms Holland-Lindsay then says building on greenbelt land is not the right place and building on brownfield sites is the right place.

Mr Akinbusoye says Labour wants to build more towns.

"Imagine more Wixams, more Milton Keynes in an area like ours - absolute nonsense."

Presenter Jonathan Vernon-Smith (JVS) challenges Festus Akinbusoye over claims that he is the only local candidate.

It sparks quite a debate about where people live and whether that matters.

JVS points out: “There has been a lot of criticism of Nadine Dorries for the fact she hasn’t been living in the constituency for some time – a lot of people in Mid Bedfordshire want someone they can truly consider to be local.”

Festus Akinbusoye, Conservative, qualifies his claims saying: “I’m on the only candidate from the main political parties who lives here and has done for 15 years, who’s working here and is raising a family here.

"My children go to local school, I drive the same roads, go through the same potholes as the constituents. I did not just get parachuted into here from elsewhere for an election."

Emma Holland-Lindsay, Liberal Democrat, says her "great-great-great-great-great-great grandmother would turn in her grave to hear it suggested that I’m not from this area".

"I live in Bedfordshire, I’m a stone's throw from outside the constituency," she says.

"I have a record of action for delivering for people as a local councillor". She serves on Central Bedfordshire Council, although the area it serves doesn’t quite match the boundaries on the Mid Bedfordshire parliamentary constituency. (The Ordnance Survey's Election Maps website, external is great for checking local boundaries.)

She says people on the doorstep "want someone deeply rooted in the community".

Alistair Strathern, Labour, says it is "probably quite silly [to split hairs over the exact town and village someone lives in with relation to boundaries".

He says he has moved back to Mid Bedfordshire recently after growing up here and having family and friends in the area.

"I am deeply connected to our area and authentically committed to serving this area – I know here, I love here, I understand here and I will be living here as long as I’m lucky enough to be our MP," he adds.

Alan Victor, True and Fair Party, agrees that the boundaries will change at the next election but points out that for this October by-election "right now, this is where the boundaries are".

Gareth Mackey, independent, says that he lives in the “heart of Mid Bedfordshire in Flitwick”, but "how embedded you are in the area" is just as important.

"I have 12 years of pedigree in local politics; I’m a chairman of a local charity; I sit on the panel for the Beds Police and Crime Commissioner; not only do I live I the area, but I am embedded in the area," he says.

"I’m also a working class guy; I work in a garden centre in a restaurant and I come into contact every day with people I want to represent."

Dave Holland, Reform UK, agrees that being a true local presence is important. "It mattered when we didn’t have a local MP, so my assumption is that it matters to people now," he says.

Questioning people’s commitment to the area, he asks: "On October 20th, how many of the candidates will still live in the constituency?"

He also points out that parliamentary boundaries are due to change, leaving Shefford in the Hitchin constituency. Shefford is home to Festus Akinbusoye.

Cade Sibley, Green Party, says he lives in Mid Bedfordshire in Toddington.

"I have no plan on moving house at the moment," he says, adding that if elected "I will be local, I’ll set up an office somewhere central".

Andrew Woodger
BBC News, Bedfordshire

Image source, Getty Images

The Mid Bedfordshire vote comes at a time of political uncertainty as far as by-elections are concerned.

The most recent one on 5 October in Rutherglen & Hamilton West in Scotland saw Labour take the seat with a 20.4% swing from the Scottish National Party, giving Sir Keir Starmer hope that his party could regain all the seats it has lost to the SNP in recent elections.

In England, there has been a mixed picture.

In July, the Conservatives held Boris Johnson's former seat of Uxbridge & South Ruislip amid claims it was London Mayor Sadiq Khan's ultra low emission zone expansion proposals that put people off voting Labour.

However on the same day, the Tories lost Somerton & Frome in Somerset to the Lib Dems, and Labour took the previously Conservative seat of Selby & Ainsty in Yorkshire.

Closer to Mid Bedfordshire, the Lib Dems had a shock by-election victory in the Buckinghamshire seat of Chesham & Amersham in June 2021 - winning with a 8,000-vote majority and upending what had been a 16,000 Conservative majority. Labour polled just 622 votes.

Surprises aren't uncommon in by-elections, with many results viewed as a protest vote against the governing party, which isn't then repeated in the same seat at the next general election.

For example, when Douglas Carswell defected from the Conservatives to UKIP in Clacton, he put himself up for re-election in 2014 and won, and held the seat at the 2015 general election. The UK then voted to leave the EU in the 2016 Brexit referendum, but the seat was reclaimed by the Tories' Giles Watling, external at the next general election in 2017 with a 15,828 majority.

By-elections often have low turnouts as well - 52% in Chesham & Amersham two years ago, compared to 77% at the 2019 general election.

Alan Victor from the True and Fair Party says he will commit himself completely to the consistency in contrast to Nadine Dorries, and he cited her other jobs as an author, TV presenter and columnist.

"I don't know how she had any time to represent her constituency at all," he said.

During the time between announcing her intention to step down as MP and formally resigning, Ms Dorries said her "office continues to function as normal and will of course continue to serve my constituents".

Mr Victor says he would like to see the way MPs behave change and that all new MPs should attend an "induction course to understand the role".

He wants to see all MPs obliged to attend Parliament for 36 weeks a year.

He says, if elected, he will have an "office in the middle of the constituency and attend on a regular basis".

Amy Holmes
Political reporter, BBC Three Counties

Housing shortages has got our candidates' juices flowing!

The main parties are playing the blame game over who is responsible for places like the Wixams development, in the north of the Mid Bedfordshire constituency.

Reform UK say the only quick fix is to stop anyone coming into the UK.

True and Fair argue incentives for skilled people like GPs arriving fom other countries should be allowed.

The Greens agree we need more houses, but where they should be built should be decided locally.

Independent candidate Gareth Mackey argues development is a need, not a want.

Cade Sibley, Green Party, says he has lived in Mid Bedfordshire for 25 years so would be different to Nadine Dorries.

He says he has felt there has been a lack of an MP in the area and "even my mum messaged Nadine back in the day and her answer was completely out of touch; it was a woman who was far too healthy and didn't understand the problems of working class people".

"I would be central to the area; I'd set up an office in the middle of Mid Beds and hold as many surgeries as were necessary to allow people to have access to me," she says.

He says the Greens are a "small party" so he has been unable to hire someone to help him so far and has been answering all emails himself, but he has been engaging with people directly.

Emma Holland-Lindsay says she will be different to Ms Dorries due to her "track record" while being a councillor at Central Bedfordshire Council.

She says she has already held surgeries in the area since the summer and is "pretty sure I've had more of those than Nadine Dorries did in the last few years".

She says people have told her they have "nowhere to turn, I don't know where to go for help" and she's been helping them with health queries.

"I will be a visible and active MP - building on the track record I already have of helping people."

On the subject of how he would be different to Nadine Dorries if elected, Labour's Alistair Strathern says "to behave in a way that earns back the trust of people who've been deeply let down".

"I think Nadine's absence in the constituency and in Parliament has been keenly felt by people regardless of their political background."

He says he wants to be "taken seriously" and has stepped back from his job to concentrate on the election process.

Gareth Mackey is standing as an independent and says he's nothing like Nadine Dorries.

"As an independent I don't think you can get much different," he says.

"For starters I'm not going to be in any government, I'd sit at the top of the House of Commons in the bleachers getting a nose bleed."

Asked by the host if that means he won't have any power, he says: "I might not be setting the government agenda - but my gosh - I can be persistent by actually turning up to House of Commons to put forward people's concerns."

He vows to be different from the "toxic tribal politics we've become used to" and is prepared to work with whoever gets in government.

"People will see me all the time around the constituency," he adds.

On why he is standing, Cade Sibley, Green Party, says he believes "the people of Mid Beds have been under-represented for too long".

"I can deliver a fresh take on politics from a party that wants to focus on the needs of British people.

"People are struggling with their day-to-day lives, and by voting Green they can show people at Westminster what they really care about."

Why stand?

Alan Victor, True and Fair Party, says that as someone who has worked as "trustee and director of several charities, I understand about care, commitment and determination".

"I want to bring care, compassion and common sense into Parliament.

He adds that he has lived in Bedfordshire for 32 years.

He says low turnouts in recent by-elections "confirms that voters trust in the traditional status quo parties is in crisis".

Emma Holland-Lindsay, Liberal Democrats, says she is standing because she is the candidate "who has walked to the walk not just talked the talk".

"I have a record of delivering for the people of Bedfordshire - I was fighting for better GP services before Nadine Dorries-gate was even a thing."

She says the election is personal, as Bedfordshire "has been my family’s home for generations".

Ms Holland-Lindsay believes that "in a rural seat like this, it’s a choice between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats".