A series of Lewisham West and Penge husting events were cancelled due to a member of a far right-wing party being invited.

Several parliamentary candidates pulled out of attending the events in Sydenham and Forest Hill due to the presence of Liberty GB. The initial hustings event for Sydenham and Forest Hill was scheduled to have candidates from five parties but this was extended to all candidates.

A statement from hustings organisers, the Sydenham Society, said: "Initially we had only the five candidates representing the parties with more than 1 per cent at the last general election to take part.

"We were pressured by a number of the candidates to extend this invitation to all candidates.

"Having done this, it then proved impossible to get all eight candidates to agree to attend the hustings due to the presence of a candidate from Liberty GB.

"In addition we did not wish to place the local church and vicar in the situation of hosting and chairing an event with a speaker from a party that does not accept religious freedom."

Martin Powell-Davies, TUSC candidate who originally complained about being excluded from the hustings, said: "My original complaint was that TUSC had been excluded from the hustings whereas UKIP were involved.

He added: "I can understand the decision of other candidates, I wouldn't want a right-wing candidate like that to be given a platform, I just wanted TUSC to be involved."

Following the cancellation, another event at the Penge Forum was also axed for similar reasons, while a third and final public hustings on Thursday at 7pm has now been relocated to the Honor Oak pub after the original church venue backed out. All candidates have been invited but it is not known if they will attend.

Meanwhile, the Greens' Tom Chance has resorted to arranging a "street hustings" at 11am on Saturday in Penge High Street, opposite Carpetright.

George Whale, Liberty GB's parliamentary candidate, has been widely criticised for his views on immigration.

Mr Whale has promised to cut immigration to zero, to evict all foreign nationals from council housing in Lewisham and to ban mosque building and outlaw the Islamic call to prayer if elected.

He said: "My opponents accuse me of racism and denying religious freedoms, yet there is nothing in any of my statements or the party's publications that would support these accusations."