CLIMATE activists in York will be quizzing prospective parliamentary candidates this Friday over their policies to battle climate change.

Students from the UK School Climate Network (UKSCN) will host a hustings to quiz York Central candidates about their environmental policies.

Members of Extinction Rebellion York and the University of York will be supporting the hustings, whilst several York councillors are also be in attendance.

From 4pm onwards at The Malthouse, in The Crescent, York, the event will invite each candidate to speak for three minutes, followed by a series of questions from the audience members, where they can set out their climate policies to help York become a carbon neutral city.

A spokesman for the Climate Network said that given the growing public awareness of climate breakdown, politicians are under more scrutiny than ever to come up with environmental policies.

Earlier this year The Press reported that City of York Council declared a climate emergency, in which over 400 people proposed a mandate for change, setting out a vision in which the city can become carbon neutral by 2030.

So far, Labour’s Rachael Maskell, Liberal Democrat James Blanchard, Brexit Party candidate Nicholas Szkiler, and Tom Franklin of the Green Party have confirmed their attendance.

“The aim is to make sure that this election is a climate election, and that we don’t allow politicians to be distracted by other issues - mainly Brexit - which will let them continue to ignore the climate crisis,” says Chloe Wilcox, a local school striker.

She said that, while the school strikers themselves are unable to vote due to age, their connections with other community groups makes them a formidable force in the upcoming election.

To find out more, or to pose a question to the candidates contact Merry Dickinson on media.xryork@gmail.com.