THE majority of the candidates in next month’s general election have received a grilling from first time voters at Truro and Penwith College.

Leading up to what is set to be a closely fought election, the college welcomed the candidates hoping to represent the Truro and Falmouth constituency for a lively debate to answer students’ questions.

Truro College’s Mylor lecture theatre was packed as election hopefuls Karen Westbrook (Green), Simon Rix (Liberal Democrats), Stuart Roden (Labour), Stephen Richardson (Mebyon Kernow), Dr John Hyslop (UKIP), Rik Evans (National Health Action Party), Loic Rich (Independent) and Stanley Guffogg (Principles of Politics) summarised their policies before entering discussions on a wide range of topics based on questions from students.

A Level student Alice Warren started the debate by asking the candidates which parties they would work with in the event of a hung parliament. This question sparked an interesting response, with the majority of the candidates stating that they would work with any party who supports their key policies and proposals, with the representatives from Mebyon Kernow, Green and Principles of Politics emphasising that an anti-austerity coalition is essential.

Carys Hill then raised an issue considered extremely relevant to people across Cornwall when she questioned whether the ‘Right to Buy’ policy affects social housing for people in need.

The candidates present were all against the current Conservative government’s sales of social housing under the ‘Right to Buy’ scheme, with Karen Westbrook stating that “selling council houses was the wrong thing to do” and that in the Green manifesto they have promised to cut the funding to ‘Right to Buy’ to fund social renting and abolish the bedroom tax.

Other topics raised for debate by the students included: the candidates’ policies on Cornish culture and devolution, which initiated much debate about the need for a Cornish Assembly; whether 2% of the national income should be spent on defence, based on NATO targets; how the potential MPs will protect the human rights of their constituents, in light of Conservative plans to abolish the Human Rights Act and links to the European Court of Human Rights; and whether inheritance tax is unfair to hardworking families.

Following the discussion of such varied and insightful questions during the afternoon’s debate, the candidates concluded the event by explaining to the audience of students why they should vote.