THE election race was well under way yesterday as the Darlington Churches Together group presented the candidates with a report addressing the issues it thinks are important.

The group is asking the candidates to discuss the issues at a public meeting to be held later this month.

Handing over the report in the Market Place, the Reverend John Elliston said: "This represents the thoughts of the churches in Darlington. There is a lot of homework and you can pick up your pens and get started straight away."

It was the first public event in Darlington of the General Election campaign and Liberal Democrat candidate Robert Adamson, Conservative Anthony Frieze and the UK Independence Party's John Hoodless attended. Darlington's Labour candidate Alan Milburn was represented by his parliamentary assistant Kathryn MacColl.

Mr Milburn said he was only informed about the meeting on Friday evening and had been unable to re-schedule commitments in London.

He said: "The important thing now is that I read this document and take it seriously.

"I look forward to the public debate where we will show the clear dividing lines between the political parties."

Mr Frieze said: "I think politicians should be challenged and I look forward to responding to this.

"My experience on the doorstep is that there are a lot of very angry people who feel let down by Labour and are going to change the way they vote."

Mr Adamson, said: "This goes to the heart of the key issues - things like the Iraq War and how we deal with and how we deal with immigration."

Mr Hoodless said he looked forward to reading the report and said he would be campaigning on an anti-EU line.

The debate will be at Carmel Technology College on Wednesday, April 27 at 7.30pm. The report can be found on the website www.grounding.org.uk