Issues affecting pensioners were top of the agenda on Wednesday as three candidates for the forthcoming Inverclyde by-election attended a tea party for senior citizens.

The Inverclyde constituency has around 17,000 pensioners in it, and with election surveys suggesting older people are amongst the keenest to vote, Labour’s Iain McKenzie, the SNP’s Anne McLaughlin and David Wilson for the Conservatives took the opportunity to speak to voters at an event in Port Glasgow.

It seems the increase in fuel prices and rising energy costs are the issues which pensioners are concerned about most in Inverclyde. Mr McKenzie has launched a petition to call for David Cameron and the coalition government to implement stronger controls on fuel price increases.

Ms McLaughlin said the SNP would fight for more resources to combat fuel poverty, while the Scottish Conservatives said they had restored the earnings link for pension increases.

Another worry for pensioners at the tea party was inflation. Nell McFadden, of the Inverclyde Elderly Forum, told STV News: "The price of food in the shops has gone up something terrible. Every week I go there something else has gone up. It might only be 10p or 20p but it is an awful lot of money when you are on a very limited budget."

The other two candidates who will stand in the by-election are Sophie Bridger for the Liberal Democrats and Mitch Sorbie, who will represent Ukip.

The by-election was called after the death of Mr Cairns from pancreatitis last month at the age of 44. A former Scotland Office minister, Mr Cairns won the Inverclyde seat for Labour with a majority of 14,416 in the 2010 General Election.

However, in the nearest equivalent Holyrood constituency - Greenock and Inverclyde - Labour's Duncan McNeil secured a majority of just 511 in this year's elections for the Scottish Parliament. Voters will go to the polls on June 30.