Strong words and fears for the future dominated this week's public gathering of Windsor's six parliamentary candidates - as they faced the public at the Old Court Art Centre on Tuesday.

The auditorium was packed as members of the public mixed with leading political figures and councillors - plus students from the borough's schools and colleges.

People were invited to grill candidates about the major issues of the day - education, welfare, the economy, the environment and of course Brexit.

Inevitably Adam Afriyie faced the most aggressive challenges - as the man hoping to be reelected after 14 years as Windsor's Conservative MP.

He was asked by one pupil how he could represent a constituency that voted by 54 per cent to stay in Europe, when he was a committed leaver.

Challenged by a member of the public who said he was known as 'Absent Adam' to some constituents, Mr Afriyie said he had stopped having open surgeries because political opponents would take them over turning them into a waste of time.

He said he now had 'one to one' meetings, insisting: "I will continue to do what I do now, seeing every constituent who needs to see me because that's my job."

Liberal Democrat candidate Julian Tisi insisted 'that's not good enough. There are good constituency MPs but we aren't blessed with one'.

He attacked the Conservative and Labour parties saying: "Both parties are peddling two sets of fantasies and both represent a threat to this country."

Labour candidate Peter Shearman insisted that the Conservatives' manifesto promise to 'get Brexit done' was a meaningless soundbite - at a time when the most vulnerable in the country had suffered most from austerity.

But he acknowledged the accusations of anti-semitism were damaging, saying the issue was 'not one we have dealt with well. There is a lot more we have to do."

Green candidate Fintan McKeown transfixed the audience with his warnings of the climate crisis saying: "Planet earth is in rapid decline - sick, toxic, dying. There is only one thing we can do. Change everything. We have to act immediately, radically."

Independent candidates David Buckley and Wisdom Da Costa both spoke of the disillusion felt with the major parties.