Ahead of the General Election taking place this Thursday December 12, Strode College in Street yesterday (Monday December 9) held a General Election Debate in Strode Theatre, with candidates from the three major parties standing in the local Wells Constituency speaking live on stage to an audience of Strode College staff and students.

This hustings was the first and only time these three local candidates from the major parties have come together for a debate in this area.

The debate was arranged and chaired by politics lecturer Dan Brent who invited in the three local Wells candidates - James Heappey (Conservatives), Kama Mckenzie (Labour) and Tessa Munt (Liberal Democrats) - to publicly speak on stage and answer questions generated by students which were provided to them beforehand.

There was a great turnout for this event, with the theatre being absolutely rammed, and some people even having to stand, proving how young people feel so invested in the current political crisis.

Kama Mckenzie said: "I've always worked in children and young people's services, and therefore I feel it is really important for involving young people in this political discussion, and to ensure they have their voices heard.

"We have been answering questions today around a range of relevant topics including climate change, infrastructure particularly in bus and rail, and priority issues locally and nationally, that have been put forward by the students.

"It has also been a pleasure to stay behind afterwards to answer further personal questions the students have wanted to ask, that they may not have wanted to ask publicly in the discussion."

Tessa Munt said: "I am all about communication, and enhancing this in the local area to make a more connected community.

"I feel very strongly about standing up for rural Somerset, especially as someone who lives and understands the local difficulties, living in a rural area like Wedmore.

"I am here solely for the people of this community, and I am passionate about helping people deal with real solutions to their problems.

"I have found it really important to come to Strode today as I feel it is increasingly important for young people to come out and vote.

"I also come into college classes as well as events like this and have been doing so for 16 years now and I thoroughly enjoy it.

"I'd encourage people to look at our 87-page climate emergency policy. If we don't deal with climate emergency now, nothing else will even matter, as there won't be anything left of our planet to worry about."

James Heappey said: "Today has been a fantastic hustings, with the agenda rightly set by Strode College students spanning all areas of the manifesto and putting us under all the pressure we deserve, and the opportunity to prove what we will deliver to our local community."

Event organiser and chairman Dan Brent said: "Strode College was today delighted to welcome the three major party candidates ahead of the December 12 General Election.

"The candidates were invited to a Q&A session, where they fielded questions set by A-level politics students, on a variety of subjects, from Brexit and local transport, to the tone of the election campaign and their plans for the NHS.

"The lively hour-and-a-half debate saw all candidates offer their and their party's position on the major issues of the day, and this was a very constructive event to introduce our students, some of whom will be voting for the first time on the 12th, to the candidates and their different viewpoints.

"It was also very relevant towards Strode College's aims wider aims of promoting British values and participation in civil society, and saw a very good turnout at Strode Theatre, resulting in debates amongsstudents that went on after the event.

"We are very grateful to Kama McKenzie, James Heappey and Tessa Munt for the time they provided us with today."