Northgate pupils quiz Ipswich General Election candidates

Northgate High School and Sixth Form organised for their students to grill their parliamentary candidates on topics that matter to them, with the exception of the town's Conservative candidate.

Conservative candidate Tom Hunt was not able to make his representation at the hustings. (Image: House of Commons)

Conservative candidate Tom Hunt was replaced by an empty chair at Friday's hustings.

Mr Hunt said he had other conflicts at the time of the hustings but had proposed to send Cllr Sam Murray in his place. 

However, two candidates objected to a non-parliamentary candidate sitting in Mr Hunt's seat, resulting in no Conservative voice at the event. 

"It's a great shame how this has all gone down and that there will not be a Conservative candidate present at the Northgate debate," he said.

"I find this bizarre. There are dozens of examples locally of such debates going ahead with senior Councillors like Sam representing political parties at hustings events."

He added that he found the decision "disappointing and peculiar". 

Mr Hunt is defending the majority of 5,479 votes he won in the 2019 poll.

At the hustings itself, students brought up questions along the lines of youth issues, the conflict in Gaza, climate change and education.

Labour's Jack Abbott, James Sandbach of the Liberal Democrats, Green Adria Pittock, Reform's Tony Gloud, Freddie Sofar of the Communist Party and Terence Charles of the Heritage Party are all hoping to take the seat and were present at the hustings. 

Candidate for the Labour Party, Jack Abbott, argued for greater representation of young people in politics. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

Mr Abbott and Mrs Pittock were both keen to say that people aged 16 and 17 should have the right to vote and that there should be greater representation for them in politics. 

However, the pair had a heated argument over climate change as the Labour candidate said: "Labour's plan is fully costed, while the Green's is not." 

He added that the Green Party have stood against off-shore wind turbines in Suffolk and plans for the Sunnica Solar farms. 

Green's Adria Pittock argued for greater green energy and the need for an off-shore energy grid. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

However, Mrs Pittock said: "We need an off-shore energy grid and not just farms."

The pair agreed that more needs to be done in Suffolk to harvest green energy. 

Reform's Mr Gloud and Heritage's Mr Charles questioned whether there was a climate emergency in the first place. 

Tony Gould from Reform UK said more people should learn physics. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

Mr Gould said: "Only 6.8 per cent of students in Suffolk study physics. There needs to be more information and the Ipswich Borough Council does not just get to declare an emergency."

Many students wanted to know from the candidates if they think the UK should continue supplying arms to Gaza. 

Terry Charles of the Heritage Party stood against supplying arms to Israel. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

Mr Charles stood against giving Israel more weapons and pleaded for peace.

He said: "The Heritage Party believes we should not supply weapons to anybody."

Communist Party's Freddie Sofar said they were the first to call for a ceasefire. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

A statement agreed to by most, with Communist party candidate Freddie Sofar claiming that they were the first to ask for a cease-fire. 

"What is still happening in Gaza is horrible and there are at least 37,000 deaths in the area," he added. 

"We should not be supplying weapons to Israel at all."

Liberal Democrat candidate James Sandbach stood against Labour's policy on private schools. (Image: Shikhar Talwar)

Finally, the Liberal Democrat candidate James Sandbach when questioned about whether tax exemption should be removed from private schools said that it was a remnant of Corbyism.

"I do not think it should be removed. Private schools have benefitted from lower tax rates, and they have been providing important education over the years," he added.