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Lucy Ashton
91�ȱ� Sheffield political reporter

Sheffield Hallam could be a head-to-head contest between Labour and the Lib Dems and for two of the candidates, it was familiar stomping ground.

Labour’s Olivia Blake used to be deputy leader of Sheffield Council and is well used to debating against Lib Dem leader and candidate Shaffaq Mohammed.

Mr Mohammed made this debate personal. He said at the age of 50, he had taken out a mortgage to help his son buy a house as young people could not afford to get on the housing ladder.

He mentioned a son who is a paramedic, who reports back on how the crisis in social care is impacting on the NHS. And he spoke about how climate change is affecting Pakistan, where he has family.

Ms Blake mentioned the Labour Party buzzword “change” and said she wants to continue championing issues which matter.

She has a particular focus on the climate and environment, unsurprisingly as Hallam is a largely rural constituency which borders the green belt and Peak District.

Hallam was a strong Remain constituency and the candidates gave mixed opinions on Brexit.

There were sharp words from Conservative spokesman Steve Winstone who said leaving the EU had boosted the UK’s international trading.

The Greens would not rule out a vote on whether to rejoin and the Social Democratic Party and Rejoin the EU candidate both want the UK to work more closely with the EU.

Labour has a majority of just 712 in Hallam so every vote really will count.

Lib Dem candidate Shaffaq Mohammed says he found people were "frustrated" with politics when he spoke with them.

"They feel politicians are not listening to them," he says.

Conservative representative Steve Winstone says the way people discussed politics had changed.

"The days of many people going to a Labour club or working man's club has changed. They can talk about it online and they can digest information online.

"Whereas the conversation has turned away from the old style, a lot more political engagement and understanding is what I'm finding."

Sam Chapman, from Rejoin EU, said: "Politics is just completely corrupt.

"Every day you open the paper and somebody has been done for something.

"I don’t think people trust politicians."

People don't care because they've lost hope, Jason Leman says, from the Green Party.

How do you change it? You give people more power for their local neighbourhood, he says.

Andrew Cowell, from the SDP, says the system needs electoral reform.

"The smaller parties such as the SDP don't get a fair crack of the whip", he says, instead we should move to proportionate representation.

Mr Chapman says rejoining the EU would not necessarily need a referendum.

"The EU doesn’t have to be this daunting thing that’s dooming us to the end of the world," he says.

"Our nearest neighbours are right next to us, everybody is getting into their own little unions, saying let's trade, let's trade our workforce, skills.

"We are the only ones who have stepped into the opposite direction."

We're nearing the end of the debate now, and we're asking the candidates what people have been telling them during their campaigning.

Everything feels harder, Olivia Blake says, when asked about what people have been telling her on the doorstep.

She wants local people to have more power when it comes to deciding how things are run where they live.

Shaffaq Mohammed stresses the importance of rebuilding trust and the relationship with the EU if the Lib Dems won.

"Boris [Johnson] did huge damage," he says

"We need to rebuild that trust."

Mr Mohammed says he was also campaigning to reinstate schemes such as the Erasmus exchange programme for students.

"We need to hold our politicians accountable," Andrew Cowell from the SDP, says.

The people voted for sovereignty, he adds, and it is important the country decides "who comes into our country".

Jason Leman says the Gren Party is the party of co-operation.

While not in favour of everything the EU does, he wants to "establish links broken by Brexit".

When asked if he's on the European fence, he says "if it came to it, have another vote, why not?"

Mr Winstone said the future of trading was with countries like India.

"We are clear, we’ve left the EU there is no mention to rejoin," he said.

"We want to trade with the rest of the world. The Indian economy is growing and that is the future, to be trading with people like India."

He added: "We couldn’t do that whilst part of the EU, the EU is responsible for negotiating trade with India."

Brexit has pushed the UK down the international rankings, Olivia Blake, says.

"The UK has slipped down the international agenda and is not taken seriously," she claims.

A new government needs to "work hard to rebuild the connections to be back up there on the world stage", she adds.

Lucy Ashton
91�ȱ� Sheffield political reporter

Sheffield Hallam was a constituency which very much wanted to remain in the EU and the Brexit Party came fifth in the 2019 general election with just 2.75% share of the vote.

Image source, EPA-EFE/REX/Shutterstock

Labour candidate Olivia Blake, who was the sitting MP, was against leaving the EU and Liberal Democrat candidate Shaffaq Mohammed is a former Member of the European Parliament. Rejoin the EU Party and the Greens are also supporters of the EU.

As we know, the Conservatives promised to “get Brexit done” and the Workers Party also describe themselves as “pro-Brexit”.

Malcolm asks: "Why are all parties ignoring the elephant in the room – Brexit.

"We need to know where they all stand on this issue.

"Will they in government, rejoin wholly or even partly?"

Sam Chapman, Rejoin EY candidate, says there is a correlation between the increase in sewage dumping and Brexit.

He says this was due to previous EU regulations that had helped tackle the problem.

Mr Chapman said he wanted increased funding for green areas as well as organisations such as the National Trust.

Andrew Cowell, from the SDP, wants the country to stop "catastrophising" when talking about the environment.

He wants an open, public debate looking at things such as net zero pledges.

"We're frightening people", he says, when talking about the emotive language people use to talk about climate change.

Focus should be on helping developing world instead.

"They're struggling to survive, not looking at being net zero", he says.

Green Party candidate Jason Leman says the wind farms and cycling schemes are important as part of a much wider look at the environment. It's all linked, he says.

"If we don't do more now, our children and grandchildren" will be the ones who suffer, he says.

He says governments "need to act now".

The country should be upgrading our energy grid to be ready for the future, Olivia Blake, Labour's candidate says.

A new government needs to focus on what she calls a "climate and nature emergency", looking after areas such as the peaklands, which is in the constituency.

Mr Winstone said the commitment to be net zero by 2050 was "realistic" and said nuclear energy should be invested in.

"We’ve got more offshore wind farms and we are also looking at nuclear energy, it’s clean energy," he said.

"France and many European countries have been using it for a long time."

Lucy Ashton
91�ȱ� Sheffield political reporter

Sheffield Hallam was home to the street tree protests, one of the most well-known, longest-running and bitter disputes in the city's history.

Image source, PA Media

It culminated in the Lowcock report which said Sheffield Council and Amey should both apologise for their roles and the council should also drop outstanding financial claims against protesters.

There’s no doubt that this is still raw for many people and will be a consideration when they vote.