BBC Merseyside election debate: Five things we learned

Candidates from across Merseyside and Cheshire took part in the debate

From climate change to getting on the property ladder, candidates from five main political parties answered a range of questions in a general election debate on BBC Radio Merseyside.

As part of the build-up to the general election, you've been sending in your questions about the issues which matter most to you via the Your Voice Your Vote section of the BBC website.

We put some of those questions to candidates from across Merseyside and Cheshire representing Labour, the Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, the Green Party and Reform UK.

So, what did we learn?

It's all about the money

Every policy pledge costs money – and whichever party wins power on 4 July, implementing their manifestos is going to come at a cost.

Liberal Democrat candidate Erin Harvey, who is standing in Southport, said the party's plan for the NHS was "fully costed" but said "we have to understand that it is going to cost money to fix the problems in the NHS and social care".

Her party has pledged an £8bn package for health and care services in England.

The Lib Dems have said they would fund their plans by closing a Capital Gains Tax loophole and making the richest 0.1% pay more, and another £4.25bn by increasing levies on banks.

Green Party candidate, Tom Crone, who is standing in Liverpool Wavertree, said his party was the only one "bold enough" to say it would raise tax.

He said "we will raise taxes on people who can afford it – for example a wealth tax on people with assets of £10m or more".

When accused of "living in cloud cuckoo land" by Reform UK's Nick Goulding, who said such taxes would put wealthy people off living in the UK, Mr Crone retorted "wealthy people like living in the UK, it's a great place to live" and they would not "just fly off to Dubai because their tax went up a little bit. They are going to stay".

Passions and voices rose when the debate turned to immigration

Steven in Chester contacted Your Voice, Your Vote to ask what the parties would do to tackle illegal immigration.

Conservative candidate Jade Marsden, who is standing in Runcorn and Helsby, said she was confident that her party's Rwanda scheme would work.

"It's on it's way to working," she said, "it's being challenged in the courts, but there are other countries doing similar.

"We need to make sure that everything is in place to make sure it happens properly. You have to do things following a process."

Mr Goulding, who is standing in Chester North and Neston, said he felt this election was a "referendum" on immigration.

He was criticised by his opponents when he said while illegal immigration was an issue for the UK, legal immigration was also too high.

'Work together'

Ms Harvey said his views did "a real disservice to the migrants that come to the UK, that prop up our social care and our NHS".

Labour's Alison McGovern, the candidate for Birkenhead, said on illegal immigration Labour's priority was treating criminal gangs like terrorists and beefing up border security.

She said when it came to legal migration and people who wanted to settle in the UK - "we are on Merseyside, this is a city that is made up of people that have come from everywhere.

"Let's try and work together to be proud of our collective and shared history."

Two-child benefit cap is not a popular policy

Most candidates agreed the two child benefit cap should be scrapped.

The cap, which was introduced in 2017, restricts child tax credit and universal credit to the first two children in most households.

Ms Harvey said the Lib Dems would lift it.

She said: "When we look at people in poverty, it's young children and children in big families are affected most."

She added scrapping the cap would be costly, but paled into insignificance when compared with "the amount wasted on useless PPE during the pandemic" for example.

Ms McGovern agreed the cap was "dreadful" and her party had not voted for it.

But when pressed by other candidates about why her party would not commit to scrapping it, she said: "I know the damage that policy has done but we need to stabilise our economy and we will review universal credit as part of our cross government plan to tackle child poverty."

The Green Party and Reform UK said they would also scrap the cap.

Is the NHS being talked up or talked down?

Ms Marsden said she felt the other candidates were "talking the NHS down".

She said: "They save lives every day and all we hear is complaints and constant negative comments."

She said her party's investment in the NHS had seen "technological advances every day".

Mr Goulding said Labour and Conservatives "were like Nero fiddling when Rome burned" when it came to the NHS and said the real problem was the increase in immigration putting pressure on health services.

He admitted the NHS also benefitted from foreign healthcare workers, but said that his party's manifesto allowed for a number of visas for people with exceptional skills to be allowed to work in it.

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He described the NHS as "a dysfunctional bureaucracy that is a money sink" which was "failing the country".

Mr Crone said that was "insulting to the NHS".

Mr Goulding replied the NHS "needed to suck it up".

He said individual NHS workers provided an "excellent service" but repeated his claim it was "failing the country".

He said his party would look at bringing in some kind of insurance based healthcare system in future.

The debate was broadcast on BBC Radio Merseyside and on iPlayer

This approach was completely rejected by Mr Crone, who said: "We aren't blaming immigrants for the problems in the NHS – that's preposterous."

He added: "We believe in a properly funded, fully public NHS free at the point of delivery."

His comment that Labour "want to use the private sector to address waiting lists" was dismissed as "nonsense" by Ms McGovern.

She said the state of hospitals was "abysmal" and that "morale is on the floor" after the pandemic.

She said Labour would improve access to healthcare by getting "existing resources being used better" such as opening operating theatres over the weekend in more hospitals.

Merseyside's Metro Mayor has Alison McGovern on speed dial

The Labour candidate joked when her mobile phone rang during the debate.

Conversation had turned to the proposed plans for a barrage to generate energy harnessing the tidal power of the river Mersey, when Ms McGovern's phone started to ring.

"It's probably Steve Rotheram telling me I MUST remember to mention the tidal barrage," joked the Labour candidate.

The plans, which have been discussed for years, will require millions of pounds of government investment.

So far, no party has committed to paying up.

A full list of candidates nominated in seats across Merseyside and Cheshire is available on the BBC website.

Polls open at 06:00 BST on Thursday 4 July, with coverage online, radio and TV from when polls close at 22:00.