There are now less than 50 days to go until perhaps the most important General Election for a generation, and we want you to get involved in the debate.

The Herts Advertiser is supporting several different initiatives to ensure our readers have the opportunity to grill Parliamentary candidates about the issues which matter to them.

First up are the hustings at St Albans Cathedral, in which candidates competing to be Member of Parliament for St Albans will come together for what promises to be a lively question and answer session on Wednesday April 15.

Churches Together has invited candidates Jack Easton (Green Party), Anne Main (Conservative), Kerry Pollard (Labour), Sandy Walkington (Liberal Democrat) and Chris Wright (UKIP) to meet the people of St Albans, answer their questions and tell them why they should win the seat.

The event starts at 7.30pm and questions can be submitted in advance. The event will be covered by the Herts Advertiser as media sponsor.

Canon Kevin Walton said: “The Cathedral is delighted to be hosting this important event and hope that a wide range of people will come and share in this debate. Such occasions are vital for the flourishing of our democracy and its concern for the common good.”

Start sending your questions to hertsad@archant.co.uk using the subject “Cathedral hustings”.

If you can’t make this particular event, the Herts Ad is also hosting individual Q&As with St Albans candidates from our offices next month. Hour-long slots have been allocated to Parliamentary hopefuls, who will field questions sent in my email, Twitter or Facebook, and also answer phone calls from members of the public.

We can also put readers’ questions to Harpenden candidates, although phone-ins will not be taking place.

Candidates’ answers will be published in print and online following these sessions.

If you would like to take part in these Q&A sessions, please email hertsad@archant.co.uk, Tweet to @hertsad, or leave a question on our Facebook page. Please use #VoteStAlbans or #VoteHarpenden on all correspondence, and say whether your question is addressed to a particular candidate or all of them.

Details on the phone-ins will be published in future editions of the Herts Advertiser.

Our election team of readers is now in place, and members are busy writing responses on what they think will be the key issues in this election, and what they think could sway voters to support different candidates. The first in a series of articles compiled from their commentary will appear in next week’s Herts Ad.