Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

So far we've covered housing and transport, next up is the subject of skills. 

This is because the mayor's job will be to also look at investment in Cambridgeshire and Peterborough, and supporting job growth. 

So how do we get there? 

James Palmer, for the Conservatives, says the answer lies in apprenticeships and he wants to work with local schools to reward young people to go down that career path. 

He's not the only one who thinks this, Kevin Price representing Labour believes the role of apprenticeships will be "vital" as that's how he got into the workplace. 

He said training young people so they can build houses, railways and key work skills would help support the county's growth.

Orla Moore
BBC Local Live

If where you live is overseen by any of these seven councils - you get to vote on 4 May for the new mayor.

• Cambridge City Council 
• Cambridgeshire County Council
• East Cambridge District Council 
• Fenland District Council 
• Huntingdonshire District Council 
• Peterborough City Council
• South Cambridgeshire District Council  

The new Cambridgeshire and Peterborough combined authority is one of six regions in England to choose a mayor: 

Mousumi Bakshi
BBC East political reporter

For a county with its own north-south divide between Peterborough and Cambridge, it was inevitable that inequalities over transport would lead to division among the candidates.

They all agreed that if elected they would spread the wealth of Cambridge to address the very different needs of Peterborough and Fenland. But how?

UKIP's Paul Bullen seemed committed to upgrading the A47, insisting that a rural county "needs cars", while the Greens backed investment for public transport. It was left to the Conservative's James Palmer to insist on both.

And it was the Conservative candidate who also won murmurings of support from the audience when he pledged to reward schools for putting children through apprenticeships.

Skills as well as education, he argued, would help create a workforce for the 21st Century.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

According to Kevin Price, the Labour candidate, Cambridgeshire and Peterborough's transport issues could be partially solved with buses. 

He says the answer is bringing in a "bus franchise". 

If needs be, he says go to the government and demand more money. But first and foremost he wants to "speak for bus users and provide a decent bus system for them",

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

On transport, Julie Howell, from the Green Party, said: "I want to break up this love affair with the car."

She says dualling roads is not the answer and we need to start "having an affair with public transport, buses and trains".

She added that she is "all about trains", so is for reopening the March to Wisbech railway line. 

Earlier in the debate Stephen Goldspink from the English Democrats said councils needed to "make the most of what they have got", and he believes this is the same with transport. 

He said "residents know the problems" so they need to be listened to.

He believes all sorts of things can be sorted out without spending vast amounts of money, and rerouting buses slightly would work, also making sure trains stop where they need to, not just where they do at the moment.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Carrying on the subject of transport, the panel were asked how they would improve rail and road links across the whole of the county. 

Rod Cantrill, for the Liberal Democrats, said he would bring in an "integrated strategic transport plan". 

He says the money currently on offer in the mayoral budget to deal with transport is "not enough" and he would ask for more.

He said they needed to plan for the next 40 years and not the next four. 

UKIP candidate Paul Bullen said as mayor he would look at the transport budget and "look at what we have and put it right".

He said the most important thing was to "get views of local people" and listen to them.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

On the subject of improving rail or road links in the Fens, the Conservative candidate, James Palmer doesn't see it as an "either or" approach.

He believes it's "imperative" to expand the county's rails and connect other parts of the county which would hopefully bring much needed growth to areas like Whittlesey, March and Peterborough. 

He says he'll be "pushing for it" and money should be spent on rail and roads. 

Host Janine Machin then asked the audience for a quick show of hands to see if they were for the reopening of the March to Wisbech railway, and more than half showed that they were. 

One audience member went as far as saying it was a "pie in the sky" idea, and the A47 and bus services in Wisbech needed to be improved.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

So far we've covered the issue of housing, next it's time to turn the spotlight on to transport. 

Audience member Nick Dubbin, from campaign group Rail Future, wanted to know if reopening the now closed March to Wisbech rail line was the key to unlocking development in Fenland? 

Peter Dawe, the independent candidate, responded straight away with "no".

He believes that improving the A47 is the answer as "Wisbech needs business", and this will deliver it.

Mousumi Bakshi
BBC East political reporter

While the panel agreed that "affordable housing" was a misnomer in one of the most expensive places to live, their solutions to the issue varied widely.

Whether it was Peter Dawe's Fenland factory "churning out modular homes by the dozen" or Stephen Goldspink's pledge to "bring back empty homes", there were clearly different approaches to tackling the housing shortage.

"Just build more council houses!" shouts an exasperated audience member.

"I will," says Labour's Kevin Price. As Cambridge City Council's lead on housing, he'd be well placed to honour that pledge... 

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

So how do we solve the county's housing problems? 

Stephen Goldspink, from the English Democrats, said there were still many properties in the county that were not occupied and local authorities had the power to take them over and bring them into the housing stock.

He said councils had already failed to make the "most of what they have got" and he would change this. 

James Palmer, the Conservative candidate, said as the only leader on the panel he already had the housing solution, and that lies in homes built on community land trust, which is homes built in conjunction with the community.

He said it's "not a one size fits all problem" but they needed to look at all options.

An audience member then responded that this would only work if there were "affordable rents", and Mr Palmer said that community land trusts do offer affordable rents. 

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

One of the main roles for the mayor will be to manage the budget to meet the county's housing needs.

With this in mind, audience member John Gibson asked if this could mean more new large developments built without due consideration.

Paul Bullen, the UKIP candidate, responded that he would make sure "local people" had their say and he would carry out a "consultation on that".

Image source, PA

Kevin Price, the Labour candidate, stated it's paramount that there is money in the mayoral pot to "build affordable housing" and when negotiations were being made to create the new post he "dug his heels in" to make sure £170m would be spent on affordable housing.

On the issue of homes being built without due consideration, Mr Price said that planning would still remain with the district authorities and it would be for them to determine where homes go. 

Nic Rigby
BBC News

A Norfolk MP was encouraged to buy flowers for his wife after showing MPs her wrinkle cream.

Sir Henry Bellingham's revelation was jokingly deemed "outrageous" and "disgraceful" after he noted he found the product while "rummaging" through his wife's shampoo collection.

Image source, PA

Environment minister and Suffolk Coastal MP Therese Coffey described Sir Henry's wife as a "flawless picture" and suggested he should give her some flowers as a way of making up for his comments.

Sir Henry made the remark as he encouraged ministers to urge manufacturer Procter & Gamble to remove the "completely outrageous" Olay product from shops due to the environmental damage caused by microbeads within it.

Ms Coffey replied: "It's fair to say that we are working with manufacturers now and a lot of them are starting to remove these products pro-actively. 

"That's good news, but we want to make sure this avoidable pollution is taken out of our environment permanently."

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Peter Dawe, the independent candidate, said the housing shortage would be "stabilised" if more homes were built. 

He said this could only happen if you have "somewhere to put them", and he said the building of new homes in places like Northstowe, St Neots, The Hamptons and Waterbeach would help. 

He stated that bold solutions were needed and one idea he has is for modular homes to be built in a special "homes factory" in The Fens, that are then shipped to the areas where they are needed. 

He says this needs to happen as the skills aren't there to build them traditionally. 

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

The debate turned to the issue of housing.

Audience member John Knowles wanted to know how the elected mayor would supply affordable rented homes for people already living in the county.

Julie Howell, from the Green party, responded that this was a "huge problem that was not being acknowledged".

She said there needed to be "a proper audit to know what people need and not just what they want".

Image source, PA

Rob Cantrill, the Liberal Democrat candidate, said the housing issue must be "addressed".

He said this could be achieved by bringing in a 50% ratio of affordable housing in key sites in the county. 

He also went one step further and suggested creating a "local living rent", which means charging households a third of their income and not the main market price.

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

In any debate the audience is paramount. Elizabeth Cook raised the issue on what difference the mayor would make. 

After hearing the responses, host Janine Machin asked her if she was going to vote.

She said: "I usually vote in all elections but on this occasion I'm not too sure what it does for Peterborough."

This resulted in Julie Howell, the Green Party candidate, shouting out "please vote".

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Although Paul Bullen is standing as the mayoral candidate for UKIP, on responding to the question raised by audience member Elizabeth Cook on what difference an elected mayor would make, he said that personally he wasn't for the role.

Host Janine Machin then challenged him on this by asking, "are you here to sabotage the system?" 

He responded with: "No I'm here to change the system."

He explained he would do this by removing either one or two tiers of government, as he feels three are too many.

He feels two are enough and getting rid of extra tiers would remove "extra expense". 

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

The next question was based on the £800m budget that the mayor will have to manage over five years.  

Rod Cantrill, the Liberal Democract candidate, said he wanted to be the "mayor for everyone" and that meant looking at politics "differently". 

He said that having a background in business meant be would be able to run things efficiently.

Stephen Goldspink, representing the English Democrats, said the new role would bring in "additional funding previously handed out by central government".

"It puts it in the hand of local politicians," he said.

He said Liberal Democrat, Labour and Conservative councillors who've run all of the district and major authorities in the county over the years have "failed to integrate them", so "change is the answer" to "bring people together".

Alex Pope
BBC Local Live

Last night's debate was filmed at Kingsgate Conference Centre in Peterborough.  

It was recorded in front of a live audience of about 90 members and chaired by BBC Look East's Janine Machin.

We will be bringing you highlights of the debate throughout the day and you will be able to see it all for yourself tonight, on BBC One at 22:45.

Mousumi Bakshi
BBC East political reporter

It's not a typical debate when at least two of the candidates in the running to become mayor describe the post as a "chronic waste of money", but that was the bold and gutsy opener thrown down by the Green Party's Julie Howell.

And the audience loved it.

It's a point of contention, however, because whoever IS elected mayor will control a multi-million pound budget, directly delivering new homes and transport schemes across the county.

And it was housing that led to some of the more lively exchanges in an otherwise even-tempered and cordial debate.

Food standards officials found more than 100 tonnes of halal lamb was actually turkey mince.