Candidates clash at Chelmsley Wood election debate

QUESTION TIME: Alison Gavin (Green), Les Kaye (UKIP), Tom McNeil
(Labour), Antony Rogers (Lib Dem) and Caroline Spelman (Conservative).

LOCAL residents whose area "has been badly left behind" have lost faith in politics, party candidates have been told.
In the final question of last night's General Election hustings, David Cole, from Kingshurst Parish Council, listed a series of grievances, including the building on Babbs Mill, an ailing doctor's surgery and cuts to policing.
"What are you going to say to residents to make them get out of bed to vote next Thursday," he asked the panel.
So ended an event which gave the public the chance to put their questions to the five men and women standing for election in Meriden.
Taking place at Chelmsley Wood's Three Trees Centre, the wide-ranging debate covered everything from schools funding to arms sales to Saudi Arabia. Mr Cole's question at the close of the evening brought the focus back to local issues.
Conservative Caroline Spelman, who earlier had been challenged by another member of the audience about what she had done for "ordinary working class people" during her 20 years as MP, said she had fought to secure vital investment as part of the North Solihull Regeneration.
"We have been creating more social housing on these estates. Just outside there is a new school building and if you walk out the door of this facility you will see see a new dementia care home going up. It's unfair to say nothing has been done to help this community."
Mrs Spelman, who opened by saying it had been a privilege to represent the constituency, faced tough questions from some members of the audience, but promised "to fight local people's corner."
Labour's Tom McNeil was scathing about the Tories' record in government and in one heated exchange branded the party "a pack of liars".
"The Conservatives say they wouldn't attack workers' rights. I don't trust them at all. They have cut our school budgets. They haven't funded our NHS. Why would we trust them to protect our workers' rights? They didn't even want the minimum wage when we brought that in!"
Both candidates faced questions about their respective leaders. When Mrs Spelman suggested that Theresa May was the most qualified person to negotiate with Europe, one audience member shouted out "you'd have to find her first."
Mr McNeil meanwhile was forced to deny that Labour's Jeremy Corbyn had supported the IRA.
The Lib Dems' candidate Antony Rogers - a local businessman - was critical of cuts to public services, arguing that the UK needed to decide what sort of society it wanted.
"I don't want to hear we're all in it together," he said, in an attack on Inheritance Tax giveaways. "Don't let them tell you that there is not enough money."
Alison Gavin, from the Greens, said her own politics had been shaped by having herself faced issues such as homelessness and ill health. She spoke about some of her party's key priorities including tackling climate change and opposing HS2.
"We are against high speed rail and always have been," she said. "Will ticket prices be affordable for local people? And there's no guarantee it will create more jobs."
UKIP's Les Kaye - who maintained his party could mount the best challenge against Mrs Spelman - suggested local people had been let down by the main parties, citing frustrations over the North Solihull Regeneration.
"They have built executive homes on Babbs Mill, but 8,000 people are still stuck on the housing waiting list," he said.