During the afternoon of April 15, the Norton College Sixth Form welcomed some very special guests – the six candidates for the local general election.

These six hopeful candidates will be battling it out on the day of the 2015 general election on May 7, where one of them will be elected to represent the local constituency of Thirsk and Malton, which has a history of repeated Conservative victory, in the House of Commons on May 7 succeeding Anne McIntosh.

The five major parties that you may have seen in the TV debate already – Labour, Conservatives, Liberal Democrats, UKIP and Greens – will be joined by a sixth party, the Liberal Party, and these parties will be represented by Alan Avery, Kevin Hollinrake, Dinah Keal, Toby Horton, Chris Newsam and John Clark respectively.

If any of their names sound familiar to you, it is most likely because you’ve either seen banners displayed outside peoples’ houses showing support for them, or received leaflets persuading you to vote for them through your letterbox.

Each candidate came to speak to the 6th form students about what their party stands for and why they think that young people should get involved in politics, especially as some are near or at the voting age (which is 18) already.

I managed to speak with two of the candidates, Kevin Hollinrake of the Conservatives and Dinah Keal of the Liberal Democrats, and asked them why they were here, why they thought it was important to speak to school students, what they thought was important to young people today, and what would persuade people to vote for them.

For the most part, they both had similar answers – they were both visiting Norton College to speak to young people about politics, and also about why it is important for young people to be politically aware, as it affects everybody’s lives, and that speaking to a candidate face-to-face is the better thing to do instead of watching debates on TV or reading the news.

Both also believe that politics is disengaging to some, and that education is the most important thing for young people today - but this is where the similarities end: Keal is hoping that her “strong, proven track record” and prior experience will win peoples’ votes, adding that she “wants the best for the community” and “wants to do it on a national stage”, whereas Hollinrake believes in a “fairer society”, “helping people along the way”, and that “the people should do more, and the government should do less”.

In addition to that, I also managed to listen to the speech of John Clark of the relatively unknown Liberal Party (not to be confused with the Liberal Democrats). Clark, who is responsible for creating a Liberal presence in Ryedale, is “sick of politicians’ promises”, and believes that “democracy is not working” with only a small percentage of people voting.

Are we heading for yet another Conservative victory, or not? If you are eligible to vote, it could be you who makes a difference by voting for who you think should represent Thirsk and Malton in Parliament, so make sure you’re signed up.

by Jemma Fogerty, Year 11