Our live coverage has now ended, but you can rewatch the debate by clicking the Watch & Listen tab above.

You can see a full list of the candidates and their manifestos here.

Candidates debated immigration, antisocial behaviour, local identity, the cost of living and Wigan delicacies.

Read the full story here.

Image source, Reuters

The five main party candidates took part in the debate but we asked every candidate to create a short video about why they were standing in the by-election.

Find out the manifestos of the candidates contesting the Makerfield by-election.

Image source, EPA/Shutterstock

On their local credentials, and what they would do for the local area this is what the candidates said in the debate:

• Andy Burnham rejected the idea he was using Makerfield as a “stepping stone”, adding that Makerfield included a lot of his former Leigh constituency, and that “I've always been rooted here and determined to get the best I can for this area”
• Robert Kenyon said he was a truly local candidate, not “parachuted in like former MP Josh Simons". He said he would tackle “local issues on a ward-by-ward basis”
• Michael Winstanley said he was “born and bred” in the area, and wanted to “put a clear Conservative view forward… between now and polling day”
• Sarah Wakefield said politics needed to “give people a sense of hope… of how things can be better”, investing properly “in the things that make life really worth living in our communities”
• Jake Austin, who pointed out he had grown up in Hindley, highlighted Lib Dem plans to "reduce VAT on the hospitality sector so that pubs and restaurants can begin to thrive" on high streets like those in Makerfield.

On antisocial behaviour blighting Ashton, Michael Winstanley said there needed to be “more police on the streets”, and that their powers needed to be increased so they could effectively “clamp down”.

Sarah Wakefield said too many services for young people had been "cut, cut, cut over years of austerity”, and that there needed to be “more youth clubs, more opportunities for sports, more opportunities for creativity”.

Robert Kenyon said there should be a youth club in each ward, and there were areas where “there’s not really anywhere for kids to go”, adding the centralisation of youth services into the town centre was not ideal because “who wants to drop their kid off in a town centre?”

Andy Burnham said there was a need for “a combination of firm policing but with better youth provision”, adding young people needed “a kind of sense that the world is theirs”, with opportunities and training available to them.

Jake Austin said it was about a "two-pronged approach between making sure the police have the resources they need but also making sure we provide opportunities for young people so they do not feel like they have to turn to anti-social behaviour just to be able to go outside."

Something the candidates agreed on was immigration was a key concern for residents.

Jake Austin said the silent majority of people were "compassionate", they want controls but are "also worried about what moving to the extremes on this is going to do to our country".

Andy Burnham said that more people were being “returned to their country of origin” under the Labour government, but added: “It is something that just has to be gripped and gripped properly, because it is about trust in politics.”

Robert Kenyon claimed “the vast majority” of asylum seekers were “fighting-age males” and said anyone who came to Britain should “come here legally and go through the right process”.

Sarah Wakefield described the other parties’ positions on asylum seekers as not “a politics of compassion and kindness”, but a “politics of cruelty”, adding: “We are a country built on immigrants.”

Michael Winstanley said: “We want to make sure that the people who need to be are here as well, and are contributing society and paying those taxes, which helps to grow the economy."

He added: "But we need to do that in a responsible way.”

The candidates from the five main parties were asked to discuss the cost of living, immigration, anti-social behaviour, local issues and what their favourite Wigan delicacy was.

If you are registered to vote, you will be sent a polling card with your polling station details for the by-election on Thursday 18 June.

Image source, PA Media

You do not need to take the polling card with you but it might speed up the process.

Voters need to take valid photo ID to vote in person., external

Polling day is Thursday 18 June.

Registered voters will be able to visit polling stations across the constituency between 07:00 and 22:00 to cast their ballots.

Image source, Reuters

Here is the list of the candidates standing in full in alphabetical order:

• Jake Austin, Liberal Democrats
• Count Binface, Count Binface Party
• Andy Burnham, Labour and Co-operative Party
• Dan Clarke, Libertarian Party
• John Dyer, Independent
• Ed Gemmell, Climate Party
• Paul Gould, Independent
• Alan 'Howlin' Laud Hope, The Official Monster Raving Loony Party
• Robert Kenyon, Reform UK
• Robert Pownall, Independent
• Rebecca Shepherd, Restore Britain
• Sarah Wakefield, Green Party
• Peter Ward, Rejoin EU
• Michael Winstanley, Conservative Party

You can watch a short manifesto for all 14 of the candidates on this page.

That's your lot from the debate, and we're all now feeling hungry for Wigan delicacies.

Stay with us while we recap who is standing and how you can vote in the by-election.

Michael Winstanley said his favourite Wigan delicacy is an old-fashioned meat and potato pie... rounded off with an Uncle Joe's Mint Ball.

Robert Kenyon goes for a chunky steak on a buttered barm.

Andy Burnham picks a Babbies Yed (Baby's Head), which is a type of steak pudding.

Sarah Wakefield said hers would be Uncle Joe's Mint Balls - which have been produced by William Santus & Co in Wigan since 1898.

Jake Austin said: "I used to go to school in Deanery in Wigan, and one of my fondest memories would be spending my hard-earned pocket money walking to school, popping into Galloway's and getting a chunky pie to eat on the train home."

Annabel Tiffin says there has been a lot of debate about who is the most local. The final question then is on what each candidate's favourite Wigan delicacy is.

Robert Kenyon talked about the local issues that he will concentrate on.

He said his favourite thing to do was "knocking on doors and listening to what people have got to say".

"There's a lot of clever people in Wigan with a lot of great ideas. They just need listening to."

He said the local issues depended on each individual ward.

"Each ward has got its own issues rather than one. In Winstanley, it was all the developments, and in Ashton, anti-social behaviour.

"So personally, local issues are taken on a ward by ward basis."

Jake Austin said: "I grew up in Hindley, and walking down Market Street nowadays, compared to what it was 20 years ago, when I lived there, is a completely different area.

"And one of the Liberal Democrat plans is to reduce VAT on the hospitality sector so that pubs and restaurants can begin to thrive within those high streets.

"Again, there are so many local issues that have already been touched on here today: flooding, fly tipping, libraries, local services... fundamentally so many of those could be solved by local councils, provided that local councils actually had the funding that we would have expected them to see."

Sarah Wakefield said: "What we need to do is give people a sense of hope, of how things can be better and there's things we can do locally in terms of investing in the high streets, making sure that we give local authorities the ability to compulsory purchase empty shops, reduce business rates for for local businesses so they can regenerate our high streets, but also invest properly in the things that make life really worth living in our communities.

"There's a lot of things that we can do that will make life easier for people, but also bring them a sense of hope and pride in our local communities. That's what we really want... pride back in our community."