Virtual Lancaster sent all the parliamentary candidates for the Lancaster & Wyre and Morecambe & Lunesdale constituencies a list of questions on local and national issues.

You can read their replies candidate by candidate (click on the names) or question by question by following the links below (click on the coloured boxes).

Candidates:
Lancaster & Wyre
	Jon Barry	Green
	Stuart Langhorn	Liberal Democrat
	John Mander	UKIP
	Anne Sacks	Labour
	Ben Wallace	Conservative
Morecambe & Lunesdale
	James Airey	Conservative
	Geraldine Smith	Labour
	Alex Stone	Liberal Democrat

Introduction: Please tell us a bit about yourself .

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

Questions:

What's the best thing about the area?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

And the worst?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What local issues do you consider the most pressing at this time?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

Do you support plans for the Northern Bypass?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What are your feelings about the plans for a gas storage facility being built in the Wyre?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What one policy change do you think government should make that would most benefit local residents?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

Our council seems to be making a lot of cuts in services but council tax still rises. Do you think council tax is a fair way to generate local tax revenues and if not, what should take its place?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What other ways could government better aid local services?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

There is talk of cuts to free bus school services. What is your position on public transport?
Has privatisation of buses and trains worked?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What do you feel are the major issues affecting the region as a whole?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What is your position on the war in Iraq?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

The Lancaster and Morecambe area has a large number of students. Given the decline in the number of people voting at elections, how would you try to get them involved in the democratic process?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

How do you respond to the challenge of far right parties such as the new England First Party and the BNP in the area?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

Mental illness is on the rise but Mental Health services have been drastically cut in this area - acute admission wards at the Ridge Hospital were closed without consultation, resulting in already disoriented patients now being routinely shipped off as far as Barrow for lengthy in-patient stays. A garden centre scheme providing employment for learning-disabled people is also under threat of closure for the same reason - the land is being sold off for redevelopment. How do you view the future of health resources in this area, and what action, if any, would you take to improve them.

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

If elected, how accessible do you plan to be to your constituents?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

According to the government's scientific advisor, global warming is more of a threat to the country than terrorism - how do you expect it to change our lives and how do you plan to help us minimise the damage and prepare best for these changes?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

Fox-hunting and hare coursing - for or against?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What one thing do you personally hope to achieve should you get elected as MP?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

What one thing irritates you most as a person...

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale

- And what one thing makes you the happiest?

Lancaster & Wyre
Morecambe & Lunesdale