POLITICIANS tried to persuade young people to vote during the first candidates’ debate of the general election campaign.

But apathy seemed to be the real winner as four Parliamentary hopefuls faced questions from students at the University of Huddersfield yesterday afternoon.

Pointing to the half-empty room, student Elliot Ledsam, 20, asked the politicians how they would get more young people to vote.

Colne Valley Conservative Parliamentary candidate Jason McCartney replied: “It’s about engaging people. We signed up 30 people for the Conservatives at the Freshers’ Fair this year.

“I’m very proud that I’ve got young people involved in local politics.”

Addressing the audience of around 30 students, Mr McCartney said: “You guys have to do it as well. Get out there and protest.”

Huddersfield Lib Dem Parliamentary candidate James Blanchard blamed the electoral system for voter apathy.

He said: “We need a proportional system. At the last general election two-thirds of voters did not support Labour, yet we got a Labour government. That’s simply not democratic.”

Huddersfield MP Barry Sheerman defended the House of Commons after it was labelled “the duck-house parliament”.

The Labour man said: “The furore over expenses has been out of all proportion. A few people have let the side down.”

Huddersfield Green Party Parliamentary candidate Clr Andrew Cooper said young people were apathetic because of the lack of difference between Labour, the Conservatives and the Lib Dems.

He said: “We’ve seen the blurring of the differences of the three larger parties.”

Wes Streeting, national president of the National Union of Students, called on young people to vote in as high numbers as older people. He said: “There’s a reason why politicians are reticent to upset pensioners. No matter how bad their backs are, or if their legs are gone, they still turn out to vote.”

The panel also debated the deficit, with Mr McCartney warning that the UK could “end up going down the Greece route” if nothing was done to cut spending.

University quality was also discussed, with Mr Sheerman saying some of the 264 teacher training courses across the country were “bloody awful”.

The debate was organised by the university’s students’ union and chaired by politics lecturer Dr Andrew Mycock.

After the debate, he said: “It’s not that young people aren’t engaged in politics, it’s that they are engaged in a different way.

“They are using the Internet and new media rather than knocking on doors. Young people do care about things that affect them, they will sign an online petition or go on a demonstration”.