Pensioners are being urged to make their voices heard at a debate being held to allow them to quiz Bradford candidates in next month's General Election.

All the main political parties have confirmed they will be sending candidates to the event which takes place at City Hall on Monday.

Now organiser Audrey Raistrick is appealing for the city's pensioner population to challenge politicians to prove they are worth a vote.

She said: "The neglect of pensioners has been appalling. We have got to stop this by standing up and not letting them trample all over us. Pensioners have to articulate their views and that is what we are going to do at this debate."

The event has been organised by the Neighbourly Care Bradford group, which has been set up by Mrs Raistrick after she quit as secretary for the Forum Focused on Pensioner Power.

Mrs Raistrick decided to stage the debate because she feared issues affecting pensioners might be ignored in the election campaign.

But she believes the 140,000 pensioners in Bradford could have a major say on who wins seats in the district next month. She wants the debate to address issues surrounding pensions, public transport, healthcare and the closure of post offices.

And now she is calling for pensioners to stand up and be counted by attending next Monday's meeting.

She said: "A lot of people have asked me who is the main speaker at the event and I say, 'pensioners'. This debate is for them; we are giving the power to the people."

The debate starts at 2pm and is expected to last around three hours.

Labour's prospective parliamentary candidates for Bradford North and South, Terry Rooney and Gerry Sutcliffe, who are both defending their seats, will be attending. Labour's candidate for Bradford West, Marsha Singh, has also told Mrs Raistrick he is planning to attend.

The Conservatives will be represented by Philip Davies, who is hoping to win back the Shipley seat for the Tories. They lost it in Labour's 1997 landslide victory.

Councillor David Ward, (Idle and Thackley) the Liberal Democrats' candidate for Bradford North, will be representing his party.

Mrs Raistrick has also had confirmation from the Green Party and the anti-war Respect Party that they plan to take part in the meeting.