THERE was a good turnout to hear what the Bournemouth West candidates had to say at a debate held at Bournemouth University.

The discussion was almost exclusively on national issues and three of the main topics were Afghanistan, student fees and the economy.

Conservative candidate Conor Burns said Britain’s foreign policy should only be about the national interest, and then said of the war: “We should stay for as long as we need to, and being there is definitely in Britain’s national interest.”

The other candidates offered qualified support apart from Independent Harvey Taylor who, though he said we now have responsibility for Afghanistan, described it as an “unwinnable war”.

When it came to the economy, Liberal Democrat candidate Alasdair Murray said there was little difference between the three main parties on their plans to cut the deficit.

But he noted that Greece, which is in the kind of chaos some people claim will follow from introducing proportional representation, is the only other country in Europe with a British-style first past the post system.

Conor Burns wanted incentives for people to start businesses.

UKIP’s Philip Glover found himself in the strange position of agreeing with the Lib Dems when it came to student fees – he is a recent graduate himself, and both parties want them scrapped.

Harvey Taylor proposed students doing community work instead.

The strong suit for Labour’s Sharon Carr-Brown, a former Radio 4 journalist, was her passion on the party’s commitment to reducing the gap between rich and poor, for example on how the Sure Start programme could break generational dependence on benefits.

She said: “I am in the Labour party because I believe in its policies – social justice, fairness for all, standing up for the many and not just the few.”

Friday’s debate had an audience of around 50 and was held in the Allsebrook lecture theatre on the Talbot Campus.