EDUCATION took the centre stage at a seven-way debate held in York for candidates fighting for election in the York Central constituency.

Archbishop Holgate’s CE Academy in Hull Road hosted an election hustings for students as well as for people from the surrounding communities.

Questions opened with a challenge to the candidates on whether their parties would commit to ring-fencing education funding, whether repeated testing was overburdening schoolchildren, and what they would do to engage young voters.

The audience also challenged candidates on support for the elderly and the most vulnerable, with Labour’s Rachael Maskell - who is defending Sir Hugh Bayley’s 6,000 vote majority to keep the seat - speaking of her desire to “rebuild the welfare state”, and the need to replace York’s industrial base to lift the city’s economy away from low wage, low skilled jobs and an economy dominated by tourism and retail.

Meanwhile, Conservative candidate Robert McIlveen said reinvigorating the economy and attracting new employers was key to improving York. He defended his party’s record on Universal Credit and sanctions, saying the complex benefits system had to be reformed and while the changes were difficult, they would improve matters for people coming off benefits and into work.

But Green opponent Jonathan Tyler promised an alternative to austerity, accusing the Conservative government of using the financial crisis as an “opportunity” to penalise the poor for their own ideological reasons. He said his priority as an MP for York would be to fight for a move away from the globalised economy to a local, sustainable model.

Trade Unionist and Socialist Coalition candidate Megan Ollerhead, herself a student, spoke of her struggles with living costs and argued for the axed Educational Maintenance Allowance - without which she said she would not have been able to get to college each day.

She said that in paying only £3,000 university tuition fees a year, she was on “on the last chopper out of Saigon” with younger students facing higher rates.

“York needs more places for people to live,” she added, saying that soaring housing costs contributed to a “brain drain” of the brightest young minds leaving the city.

Both the Lib Dem’s Nick Love and Ukip’s Ken Guest said their priorities lay closer to home, with Mr Love pledging to hold the City of York Council to account, make sure every penny of public money in the city was well spent, and put a stop to “vanity projects”.

Mr Guest said he would push for York to complete its Local Plan, while branding the main party leaders as “all the same” in persisting in “making things up” and making promises they “can’t keep”.