The lowdown on the local candidates
On 19th June 2024, King Edwards VI College hosted five of the six candidates running to be the MP of Stourbridge, with the Conservative, Labour, Green, Liberal Democrat and Reform UK candidates all attending to discuss their policies and positions on key issues, answering questions submitted by students. Unfortunately, the candidate for the Worker’s Party of Britain was unable to attend as he was caring for his ill father.
Throughout the debate, the candidates were presented with four questions, covering topics such as the environment, local public transport and the UK’s involvement in the EU. They were also granted the opportunity to provide a closing statement with their final advice for the youth and the upcoming election.
It was an incredibly interesting hour and one certainly worth attending, but for those of you who were unable to make it, here are the highlights:
The Environment
Candidates were questioned on their party’s positioning on climate change and what they intended to do to address the issue.
The Labour candidate spoke of her party’s plan to cut down on energy generated through fossil fuels and non-renewable means, iterating how they intend to double on-shore wind power, triple solar power and quadruple off-shore wind farms.
The Liberal Democrat candidate echoed a similar message, talking of the high importance of tackling climate change, stating the need to provide tax relief to certain industries and impose higher tax on others.
The Green candidate shared the Liberal Democrat’s fear surrounding climate change, positioning it as the key issue of our time. He declared the Green Party’s intentions to enforce a standard on newly built homes, which would install solar panels and heat pumps in all these homes, helping to decrease energy usage.
The Conservative candidate stressed the role of the individual in reducing carbon emissions, urging people to choose products more carefully and advising against those made in China or covered in plastic.
The Reform UK candidate, however, took a vastly different approach, enforcing his view that climate change was not the most important issue and instead stating that the party intends to scrap plans for reducing carbon emissions, conflating these with poverty.
Local Transport
Candidates were asked about their plans to improve public transport in the local area.
The Green candidate lamented split-save tickets and the poor quality of public transport in the country, utilising an anecdote about his own eight-hour train journey. He reinforced the importance of fixing these issues in order to encourage more people to use public transport.
A similar stance was taken by the Liberal Democrat candidate who stressed the importance of improving public transport as it is the best option to reduce carbon emissions. He further emphasised this with his position on HS2 which, he insisted should continue, as well as talking of a Liberal Democrat desire to create a new initiative called Great British Railways, which would act as a “guiding mind” to ensure the consumer is at the heart of the service.
The Labour candidate discussed similar ideas, talking of her party’s plans to nationalise train services, meaning that fares could be subsidised, and transport improved. She equally spoke of her frustrations around how Birmingham-centric local transport is and her desires to improve this to better connect areas outside of the city.
The Conservative candidate equally spoke of desires to improve public transport, talking about how she hoped to utilise the £10 million freed up by the cancellation of HS2 to improve public transport in our area.
The Reform UK candidate echoed a similar sentiment, reflecting on his view of HS2 being an unwise decision and his desire to re-invest the money reclaimed from the ending of this scheme into the local area. He also stated a desire to fix potholes over other aspects of transport.
The EU
During this section, candidates were asked to use only one word to answer whether they believed young people should be given the same opportunities for employment and education on mainland Europe that would have been available before Brexit.
The Labour, Liberal Democrat and Green Party Candidates all responded with a “yes” – the Lib Dem candidate asserting his party’s desire to re-enter the EU should they be given power.
However, the Reform UK candidate, responded only with “why?”, implying his negative attitude towards this idea.
The Conservative candidate posed the answer “yes and no”, making her position on this concept unclear.
Closing Remarks
At the end of the session, candidates were offered two minutes to pass on closing statements and give final reasons as to why they should be voted to represent Stourbridge in Parliament.
Beginning this discussion, the Reform UK candidate discussed how his largest concerns were immigration and defence as the world teeters dangerously close to war with the current conflicts raging around us. He also discussed his advice against taking harsh attitudes to politicians, lamenting his own experiences at being branded a ‘fascist’.
The Liberal Democrat candidate again reinforced his party’s position on the importance of climate change and how they intend to tackle this head on. He also reinforced their position on re-entering the EU and the importance of this to our economy.
The Labour candidate then spoke of her desire to undo “Conservative chaos” and Labour’s position on nationalising both energy and transport in order to reduce costs and help people during these times of economic strain. She further went on to mention how Labour intended to help the environment through these measures.
The Conservative candidate spoke of how she has served Stourbridge as MP and “always voted in the interest of young people.” She also mentioned how inflation had been revealed to have reduced to 2%, but that the media will not reveal these figures due to their biases.
The Green Party candidate mostly discussed the power of the individual, urging people not to use tactical voting but rather to follow what they truly believe. Mentioning how Labour are polling high above the Conservatives and how they will likely win. He reinforced his party’s belief that taxes should not be cut at a time like this and instead funding to public services should be increased.
By July 6th, one of these people will be officially representing Stourbridge’s hopes – our hopes – in Parliament, likely for the next five years and so the importance of every vote can never be underestimated. The power is now within our hands, and we must make our voices heard.