The people hoping to represent Sutton and Cheam in parliament met for the final Sutton Debates last night to discuss, in front of potential voters young and old, their thoughts on education.
Incumbent Liberal Democrat MP Paul Burstow was joined by Green Party member Maeve Tomlinson, UKIP candidate Angus Dalgleish, Labour’s Emily Brothers, National Health Action party candidate Dave Ash, and Paul Scully from the Conservatives for the final Sutton Guardian organised debate at Nonsuch High School for Girls.
Trade Union and Socialist Coalition’s (TUSC) Pauline Gorman also got in on the action for the first time, after being announced as a candidate last month.
Questions from the 100-strong crowd included attitudes to sex education, the importance of apprenticeships, whether the voting age should be cut to 16 and the national curriculum.
An opening question on tuition fees immediately had Mr Burstow defending his party's failure to live up to its 2010 promises. He also explained his voting record as part of a Coalition Government.
Mr Burstow argued the introduction of tuition fees had actually given more opportunities to those from poorer backgrounds, a sentiment echoed by Mr Scully.
The question provided the more left wing inclined parties ammunition to go on the offensive. Ms Gorman and Miss Tomlinson said their parties would look to remove tuition fees altogether while Mr Ash stated education was a fiscal multiplier and any government investing in education should be a no-brainer.
The candidates were later tested on their local knowledge with a question on secondary school provision. Ms Brothers and Mr Burstow both agreed on the suitability of the former hospital site in Belmont, while Mr Scully argued in favour of using parkland at Rosehill.
The other candidates were less specific in their answers. Professor Dalgleish said UKIP would look to devolve such issues to local councils, but said his party was looking for a grammar school in each borough - a provision comfortably supplied already in Sutton.
Mr Ash, rather than talk in detail about his solution to the problem locally, instead attacked academies and free schools and questioned why council land was handed to academy providers as part of the establishment of such institutes.
Consensus was reached on the importance of apprenticeships and the teaching of sex education, with all seven agreeing more should be done and at a younger age. Mr Scully spoke strongly about the level of sexualised content that exists all around us, while transgender and gay candidate Ms Brothers used the question as a chance to talk about her own difficulties while at school.
Concluding the debate each candidate used their final minute to appeal to voters to think hard about the decision that faced them on May 7.
The Sutton Guardian will be launching its official election coverage in the March 26 edition.
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