Why you should vote for me in the election

The event, held at Worcestershire County Cricket Club’s New Road ground and chaired by Worcester News editor Kevin Ward, enabled 100 people to hear what the three candidates had to say on those topics and hear each candidate’s case to become the city’s next MP.

Here, the other six candidates who are contesting the Worcester seat this general election outline their responses to the questions that Worcester News readers put to Robin Walker, Mike Foster and Jackie Alderson.

Nevill Swanson

How can the country’s debt best be eliminated, balancing pain, fairness and efficacy?

Jack Bennett:

Firstly by leaving the EU, thereby saving £60 billion a year, secondly by reducing corporation tax to no more than 10 per cent and giving serious encouragement, using the tax system, to manufacturing industries in the UK and to foreign companies to set up here. We cannot do this as long as we belong to the EU. These measures can be afforded only by leaving the EU and would over the next few years increase the tax take by billions while providing many thousands of really productive jobs.

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

Like America’s economy, we can’t go on printing money (quantitative easing) and we can’t go on burying our heads in the sand. At some point debt will either have to be written down by agreement with our creditors, but that risks our global AAA credit rating. If we lose it, we get a Greek-style tragedy. So I would cut the bureaucratic quangos by natural job wastage, but I wouldn’t penalise the public with a National Insurance rise.

Spencer Kirby:

Either taxes must rise or cuts be made. I do not want to see taxes rise and believe that we should withdraw from the Afghan war, stop foreign aid completely and remove ourselves from the European Union. These cuts would provide savings of at least £50 billion a year and enable us to cut debt without affecting public services.

Peter Nielsen:

Those responsible for the deficit must make an immediate contribution. Bankers and traders in shares, currencies, commodities and exotic financial instruments don’t pay VAT like the rest of business. VAT would be too complicated, but a fixed percentage tax on transactions would be viable. We should not tolerate bankers getting off withour paying their gambling debts.

Andrew Robinson:

Eliminating debt fairly is of course vital but let’s be honest, it’s not something that I or any other candidate in Worcester will actually have any influence on. The small parties have no say, and the big ones will use the party whip system to force their MPs to do what the chancellor or shadow chancellor tells them. All I can honestly promise is that I would look at all the proposals, attend all the debates on vital matters like this (something that is disappointingly rare for MPs), and do what I think is right, not what I’m told.

Louis Stephen:

The Green Party would look to pay down the debt within four years, but it would not cut jobs and public services to achieve this. The Green Party believes public services need to be protected, as they are the foundation of an equitable society. We want to rehabilitate progressive taxation which requires two things: raising taxes fairly and explaining them honestly. We would introduce a higher rate of income tax at 50 per cent for incomes above £100,000, raising £2.3 billion per year, and abolish the upper limit for national insurance contributions, raising £9.1 billion in 2010.

Dormston Cook

With the population due to expand to 70 million people in this country, what are you going to do about immigration? People are feeling this is no longer an issue that can be ignored.

Jack Bennett:

UKIP will stop all permanent immigration for five years and anyone wanting entry will have to pass a points test for a short-term work permit. We would triple border staff to 30,000 and send back all illegal entrants without appeal.

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

There does need to be a limit on immigration for both those coming to work here, but in respect of those coming to live here, I believe that a cap on numbers is now impossible. I think there is a wider issue relating to controlling the views of the nastier side of Little Englanders who threaten the harmony and stability of our nation state. I would ban the BNP and open up our first-past-the-post electoral system to non-extremist political parties and independents. I would encourage broadcasters to break down the cultural barriers that exist between the white population and the many nationalities and religous faiths that are living in Britain today.

Spencer Kirby:

Immigration should be stopped completely – Britain is full. The pressure on jobs, housing and public services is growing to an intolerable level and can only be addressed by stopping further immigration into Britain.

Peter Nielsen:

The forecast of 70 million is questionable. However, immigration must be subject to rules and accounting that works and to the availability of services and accommodation. In the past, the impression has been that controls didn’t work, that nobody cared that it was a complete shambles. That must never happen again.

Andrew Robinson:

This is definitely an issue where politicians have ignored us for far too long. I don’t have extreme beliefs on immigration, but I’m aware of the strength of feeling on it, so this is an issue where I am especially keen to listen to Worcester people and do what’s best for Worcester. I’m in favour of stronger border controls and the points-based system that all the big parties have suddenly agreed on.

The difference is that I want it because I believe it’s right, not because it’s suddenly become an election issue.

Louis Stephen:

Where we are limiting numbers our priority must be to meet our obligations to refugees and those seeking sanctuary, including the increasing numbers of people displaced by environmental change, above the needs of our economy. The world must wake up to its responsibilities: the oil wars in Afghanistan and Iraq, the hunger caused by so-called free trade which destroys local markets, tackling climate change. People ought to be treated as people and not numbers. We need to create a fairer and more equitable world where people don’t need to emigrate.

Esther Rodgers

A lot of people are talking about the general election leading to a hung parliament. Which of the other parties do you see your policies being closest to and how much would you be prepared to cooperate and compromise with them should this happen?

Jack Bennett:

I hope there will be a hung Parliament with UKIP well represented. We would only support a party that could bring about the UK leaving the EU.

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

The chances of there being a hung parliament are more or less the same odds as me winning the Euro lottery next Friday – a one in 76 million chance! I would work with any party that believed in improving the lives of Worcester people, by mutual consensus, but always putting the people first.

Spencer Kirby:

As a nationalist I would always vote in the way that would benefit the British people. I believe that the anti-British old gang parties are so similar that I would not consider my policies to be close to any of them.

Peter Nielsen:

Don’t rule out a grand coalition between Labour and Tories. They have more in common with each other than either of them do with other parties.

Andrew Robinson:

Pirate Party policies like better protection for free speech – copyright and patent reform, and setting sensible limits on government surveillance of innocent people are generally issues that the public agree with but the main parties ignore. I would work with any and all elected parties to move these issues up the agenda. There are MPs on all sides who agree with us on many points. People as far left as Austin Mitchell (Labour) and as far right as John Redwood (Conservative) both gave speeches against the Digital Economy Bill that I would have been proud to make.

Louis Stephen:

The Green Party would work with other parties on a case-by-case basis in order to achieve what is best for the country. It wouldn’t do a deal with another party to prop up a government. The Green Party agrees with Labour that Sure Start Children’s Centres need continued support and has pledged to spend £1 billion a year on enhancing and expanding them, creating 10,000 jobs. The Lib Dems have pledged to invest £3 billion in a green jobs package, but the Green Party would go much further by investing £44 billion as part of a one million jobs programme.

Brian Hunt

As a pensioner, I see that New Labour have taken away the on-site wardens from sheltered housing. The Tories have taken away the hot meals subsidies from pensioners in sheltered housing.

The Liberal Democrats are determined to drag us further into Europe. Who should I vote for?

Jack Bennett:

You have only one choice, Mr Hunt. By voting for UKIP and saving £60 billion a year by leaving the EU we could afford to introduce the finest care system for the elderly in the world!

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

You should vote for me! Of course I would say that. This election is very different. The public are still smarting from the MPs’ expenses scandal and because they failed to take decisive action immediately, the public realise that they just don’t get it. I’m here to rip up the party political rule book and offer you as an individual or you and your family, an open wish list contract. I don’t have to toe a party line on policy, but if elected, I’m here to listen to you and act on your instructions, but with the consensus of Worcester people. Unlike the sitting Labour candidate, I won’t be claiming £1,399 for a second home in London, but I will rent a room in a house to keep the costs down. I will take an immediate pay cut of around £19,000 and split it evenly among five front-line charities in Worcester, allowing them to reclaim the tax I will have paid at 22 per cent, giving each of them around £5,000 per annum for every year that the public trust me to be their MP. I have political experience, I was an elected district councillor at Wychavon for eight years. Using my past experiences, I am here to put public service before self.

Spencer Kirby:

There is an alternative, Brian. A party that would withdraw us from the nightmare that is membership of the EU and put our own people first. We believe that pensioners, those who built this country and have paid into the system, should be put at the top of the list. A vote for the British National Party is a vote for pensioners.

Peter Nielsen:

I can support Brian up to the hilt on the pensioner cuts. However, I can’t on Europe. I am a supporter of the EU. It happens that many EU pensioners are both better off than British OAPs and, very importantly, more respected.

Andrew Robinson:

If you don’t like the three main parties then you have the power to change their policies by voting for someone else. I would suggest looking at the Greens, UKIP, Pirates and the two independents and see which candidate you think would represent you the best. The big parties are scared of losing votes, so scare them, vote no to all three. I think the Pirate Party might be a good choice because our manifesto is small and concentrates on technology issues which allows us to do something no other party can do. We actually encourage our politicians to listen to local voters and make their own minds up on other issues like yours. If you can convince me that restoring on-site wardens matters (and I think you can) then I’m actually allowed to fight for that and give it as much priority as I think it needs. No other party can truthfully say that.

Louis Stephen:

The Green Party would introduce a citizen’s pension which would guarantee that pensions are a non-means tested £170 a week so that pensioners can enjoy a more comfortable retirement. The Green Party is for Europe but not for a European super-state. Decisions should be made at as low a level as possible down to local council. This election people need to vote for change, not just a slogan about change – real change that will safeguard the NHS, get one million people back to work, protect pensioners, overhaul the banking system and usher in a new era of forward-thinking and environmentally sound politics.

Jane Waller

Since the introduction of the national curriculum in 1986 and particularly since Labour came to power in 1997, teachers have been gradually de-professionalised and our education system undermined by constant Government interference. Will any of the leading parties trust teachers to actually teach and exercise their professional judgement in managing our schools and classrooms?

Jack Bennett:

It is a fact that teachers have for many years introduced a political slant into their teaching, mostly due to the dominant influence of the two main unions, hence the interference of successive governments. Any teacher doing this should be sacked immediately. If the profession wants to recover its status, it is entirely up to it to clean up its act by teaching facts and not dancing to political bias.

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

Education has been a political football for years. I’m not surprised that teachers are fed up. I have family who were teachers and are glad to be retired. I would push for a fast-track Royal Commission to thrash out what needs to happen from the perspective of all involved – teachers, parents, local authorities, right down to the school caretaker. I would hope to arrive at a long-term consensus and then live with that as the plan that finally stopped education being used as a political football.

Spencer Kirby:

Teachers should be left to do what they do best and that is to teach. We believe that they must be helped to do this by returning traditional discipline to the classroom. A return to traditional teaching methods and grammar schools would help less advantaged pupils fulfill their potential.

Peter Nielsen:

I believe that the teaching profession should run education as it does in France. New Labour’s motive for the mountain of paperwork dumped on schools was to collect data for political propaganda. None of the three main parties would discuss smaller class sizes or the reforms needed to tackle underperforming schools. Politicians still think that teachers can be badgered and cajoled to handle situations that require specialist support and resources. The profession knows its stuff. Let them run it.

Andrew Robinson:

Will any of the leading parties trust teachers to actually teach? I honestly don’t think so. I would encourage you to write to all the candidates about education issues. Make your choice when you know who bothered replying, and if they wanted to listen or to preach. In my political life I have found people in all parties who listen and care, and people who do not. I really think it’s worth finding out what your prospective MP will be like now because after May 6 it will be too late. At the risk of sounding like a broken record, the big parties really are scared of losing votes so be brave, take the only chance you’ll have for five years and scare them! Voting no to all three really is the single most powerful message you can send.

Louis Stephen:

The Green Party believes teachers should be left to teach. It would abolish SATS tests and give schools and teachers more freedom over the curriculum they teach. The Green Party would move gradually to smaller class sizes by spending a further £500 million on 15,000 more teachers to get classes down to an average of 20 pupils. It would phase in the abolition of student tuition fees in higher education and would phase out city academies and trust schools.

David Tibbutt

On the assumption that all politicians go to Heaven, what will each of you say to St Peter at the Pearly Gates?

Jack Bennett:

The answer, Mr Tibbutt, is that none of us would qualify to get as far as those gates!

Andrew Christian-Brookes:

When can I go back again? Because I would like to ask the principals of the Worcester Sixth Form College to attend their student hustings debates.

Spencer Kirby:

I have never given it any thought and am in no hurry to meet him.

Peter Nielsen:

“What an unexpected surprise!”

Andrew Robinson:

I may not have won, but at least I stood up for what I thought was right.

Louis Stephen:

To know more about how Britain can begin to resemble something like Heaven, watch the fantastically clever (and brief) video at onlygreen.org.uk

• Replay our live coverage of the whole event here.

• Watch video from the original debate here.

• Read profiles for all ward candidates here.