A THREE-line whip for all sixth formers to attend, even those not yet 18, unsurprisingly resulted in an excellent turn-out for the General Election hustings at Malton School.

With more than 100 students in the audience, all seven prospective parliamentary candidates on the stage and a list of students ready to fire questions, Year 13 student Emily Metcalfe, who was in the chair, had her work cut out to make sure the audience had a say and no candidate talked for too long.

Questions from the floor covered a broad range of issues from fracking in Kirby Misperton to jobs in Ryedale; matters of importance to young people such as tuition fees, student loans and apprenticeships and the bigger political questions, including tactical voting, the EU referendum and what it means to be British.

Year 13 student Ellie Thompson said: “I enjoyed the event, more than I thought I would.”

Will Grice, who is also in Year 13, said: “I liked what one of the parties said about what his party would do for young people.”

Gary Howard, government and politics teacher, said: “I’m delighted with how the event ran.

“There was a good humoured and intelligent presentation of ideas.

“Emily chaired it very well and the students relaxed and got involved. They asked some topical and thoughtful questions, really dispelling the notion that young people have little to say about politics. I’m grateful to all the candidates for coming along.”

A show of hands at the beginning and the end showed that all those who can vote, will be voting on May 7.

And from what they heard during the afternoon, at least two students had their minds changed about their voting intentions.