Despite being the final public hustings before voting on the 30th of July and the only truly fully accessible, free-to-all venue of the campaign, only two of the seven mayoral candidates attended the Greater Manchester Mayoral Election Cost of Living Hustings tonight at Ascension Church in Hulme. Organised by ACORN Manchester, the Greater Manchester Coalition of Disabled People (GMCDP), and the Greater Manchester Living Income Campaign, the debate only featured Green Party candidate Cllr Geraldine Coggins and Liberal Democrat candidate Cllr Richard Kilpatrick. The high level of candidate absenteeism, including Labour candidate Cllr Bev Craig, Reform UK candidate Sian Astley, and Conservative candidate Phil Eckersley, occurred despite the cost-of-living crisis serving as a central campaigning theme for the front-running political parties throughout the by-election.