Five takeaways from the Milton Keynes North debate

Four of the five candidates took part in the Milton Keynes North debate - Jane Duckworth for Reform UK is also standing

The candidates in the Milton Keynes North constituency have been taking part in the latest BBC Three Counties Radio general election debate.

If last week's Mid Beds debate felt like a pre-Euros friendly, then this one definitely had more of the edge you'd expect from a tournament fixture.

Candidates appeared more confident when challenging each other, rather than waiting for presenter Jonathan Vernon-Smith to do it for them.

The absence of incumbent Conservative Ben Everitt at the debate, along with Reform UK's Jane Duckworth, was a talking point. Mr Everitt's agent Peter Geary, who appeared instead, put his absence down to "personal family commitments" after both the host and some listeners complained about him not being there.

You can watch the debate again, and here are my five "takeaways" from the discussion:

1. How do young people get on the housing ladder in MK?

This question saw Labour and the Conservatives clash over who was to blame.

The Tories' Peter Geary accused the Labour-led city council of building the "wrong type of houses" while Labour's Chris Curtis blamed a "broken" National Planning Policy Framework.

Liberal Democrat candidate Clare Tevlin wanted to bring planning back into the hands of local authorities while the Greens' Alan Francis suggested the housing ladder debate be forgotten until enough council houses were built so everybody had a home to live in.

2. How can people in MK get an NHS dentist?

Clare Tevlin (Lib Dem) hoped her party's pledge of a £9bn NHS rescue fund would help but also hoped some dentists would "give up being private for the greater good".

Alan Francis (Green) agreed this was a "major problem" but hoped his party could throw £8bn at it (as part of an overall package for the NHS) in the first parliamentary year.

Peter Geary (Con) insisted the Tories "do have a plan" to sort this but host Jonathan Vernon-Smith asked where that plan had been for the last 14 years?

In response Mr Geary said dental problems in the country had begun more than 30 years ago and were a "tough challenge to solve over the next five years".

Chris Curtis (Lab) wanted schools to play a part by teaching young children how to brush their teeth, with the focus on prevention, at an early age, rather than a costly fix later.

3. E-scooters - a welcome addition or a menace?

Alan Francis (Green) had mixed feelings. On one hand he acknowledged how they got people out of cars, but admitted that privately owned scooters were a "bigger problem" and needed to be registered.

Chris Curtis (Lab) wanted to engage with industry experts on tackling this.

This was a personal issue for Clare Tevlin (Lib Dem) who said two of her friends had lost their lives in biking accidents. She called for MOTs for private scooters.

Peter Geary (Con) was concerned that younger people using the scooters would mean less were using bus services, leading to the knock on-effect as people grew older but had fewer bus routes to use.

4. How would you solve the knife crime problem?

Chris Curtis (Lab) highlighted the work done by Jason Fathers, whose son Jay was stabbed to death at a New Years' Eve party in the city in 2021.

Peter Geary (Con) mentioned the Milton Keynes Safety Centre which educates children about the issue.

Clare Tevlin (Lib Dem) called for the post of police and crime commissioner (currently held by Conservative Matthew Barber after May's election) to be abolished, with the money saved being spent on better community outreach instead.

Alan Francis (Green) said the issue was "a mess" but called it a "health problem rather than a crime one" because of the links between knife crime and drugs.

5. Should the voting age be lowered to 16?

For three of our candidates the answer was "Yes" with only Peter Geary (Con) challenging that. His view was "If you can't smoke, you can't vote" and when challenged asked: "Why 16 and not 15 or 14 instead?"

For Clare Tevlin (Lib Dem) it was a "yes" because of worries young people were becoming disenfranchised, while Alan Francis (Green) felt that if 16 and 17 year olds could already vote, then the Brexit result might have been different.

Chris Curtis (Lab) also felt lowering the voting age was a good idea, arguing that many 18 and 19 year olds miss out on a first opportunity to have a say when they could could be at university by then.

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