Cambridge’s general election candidates took part in a public debate earlier this week, the first of its kind.

The event was organised by the Cambridge Programme for Sustainability Leadership (CPSL) and was attended by over 100 members of the public.

Labour candidate Daniel Zeichner, Conservative Nick Hillman, Liberal Democrat Julian Huppert and the Green Party’s Tony Juniper attended the University-sponsored debate on “the future of the city”.

Nick Hillman, Conservative, targeted issues of congestion and transport. Tony Juniper, Green Party, and Julian Huppert, Liberal Democrats, both believed that the solution lay with greener cars. They suggested the installation of charging points for electric cars and the restoration of railway links with Oxford.

When questioned about the £1.3billion proposed 10-lane superhighway for the A14, Labour candidate Daniel Zeichner believed it would have been much cheaper if it had been done earlier. Julian Huppert felt it was a plan “we do not want and do not need”.

A 17-year-old spectator asked the candidates their views on tuition fees. Juniper pledged to abolish the fees and deemed the replacement grants the “best investment the country could make”.

Huppert agreed with the plan to abolish fees and felt it was “unfair” that previous students hadn’t had to pay them. When Conservative Hillman asked where the money for this scheme was coming from, Huppert replied, “savings and cuts from elsewhere”.

Other topics included housing, environment and sustainability. Both Huppert and Juniper sought after an increase in “green jobs” whilst Hillman intended to regain the “sense of belonging that communities had lost”.

This debate sees the four candidates battling for the Cambridge parliamentary seat previously held by Liberal Democrat David Howarth.