‘There are many reasons for remaining in the EU’

Let’s be honest this country is financially broke.

The last Labour government left a note saying ‘there’s no money left’ and this Government started with a debt of £0.67 trillion and it is now £1.5 trillion.

We are all going to hear what the main parties are going to do but why didn’t they do it before when they got elected?

They are always trying to fix something after its broken but part of management is identifying what is going to break and fix it before it happens.

Now it’s time to batten down the hatches and cut everything we can’t afford and anyone who has run a business will understand what I’m saying.

We need to get real.

It should be British families first and when things get under control then we can be more generous.

Caroline Lucas, Green Brighton Pavilion [CL]: There are growing numbers relying on food banks, inequality is growing, homelessness is rife, vulnerable people are being hit the hardest by this Government’s austerity measures.

Austerity isn’t working and I’m proud to be in a party that will say that.

Politics CL: The role of smaller parties is now more important than ever.

I will never prop up a Tory Government but we will support a minority Labour Government to be the party that many of its members and supporters want it to be, more radical party that bans fracking, does not invest £100 billion in Trident and bringing railways back into public ownership.

Chris Bowers, Liberal Democrats Brighton Pavilion [CB]: It has been the first peacetime coalition government in nearly 100 years ago and we are going to have more hung parliaments.

I feel it’s important to recognise that it’s been a mixed bag but I feel it’s been better than acknowledged.

You have to have co-operation in governments.

People make compromises around the family table and around the business table and it is a good thing, but then in politics it’s a bad thing, its u-turns, its betraying people.

We have had to make the best of it and I think we have done very well.

EU membership Purna Sen, Labour Brighton Pavilion [PS]: There are many reasons for staying in the EU.

A lot of the social protection and working protection comes from the EU.

Every single business person I have met has said we need to stay in the EU and that it makes a difference for them.

But I am not convinced that the most important thing moving forward from May is to spend however long fighting over the EU.

There are really important things to do in getting rid of the bedroom tax and protecting the NHS.

A referendum wouldn’t end this, people who oppose it will still keep fighting the cause.

Simon Kirby, Conservatives Brighton Kemptown [SK]: Purna makes a very strong case and it’s the case you should make when we have a referendum.

Businesses all need a decision one way or another, we need to have that debate and we are the only party that can offer it.

Ukip won’t be forming a Government, Labour and Liberal Democrats won’t offer a referendum.

Surely the people should have a say.

CB: What’s wrong with asking the British people?

Nothing but the right time is the next time that the treaty changes.

It has to happen at some stage and hopefully it will improve the level of debate which is so, so poor.

Is the country going to be more powerful in the world as a small island in the north west of Europe?

We are powerful as a member of a 28 nation block.

I do remember this debate in the 1980s and Margaret Thatcher wanted to broaden Europe, she wanted new countries to come in but wanted primary power to stay with nation states.

The problem with eurosceptics is that they are never happy.

I know people coming to work in jobs based in London and they are given the third degree.

The idea that we are an open house in this country is nonsense and the sooner we knock that on the head, the better.

KS: I don’t see the benefits that the costs of being in the EU is paying off.

Coming out of the EU doesn’t mean we are going to lose the benefits from it.

We can still trade with the EU, we just don’t need to be in that club.

We don’t what is going to happen if we come out.

Former trade minister Lord Digby Jones says he has no problem with us coming out of the EU and you have to respect his opinion, he knows more about it than most of us in this room.

CL: We are very happy to have an in/out referendum and we would argue very strongly that we should stay in.

It needs reforming, I have seen it up close, but I take the point that we need to stay and fight from inside it.

This debate will not go away if we don’t have it now, it’s a sore we need to lance.

Ukip gets a free ride on the benefits of non-membership, its rubbish.

If you are Norway, you are not influencing anything but you are still subject to their laws.

We say yes to reform, yes to a referendum and yes to staying in.

The Iraq War and ISIS PS: The Iraq war did not help but the issues are much more than just tribal loyalties. I think to put it down to just one issue is a nice story but it’s not always a realistic one.

There is a massive injustice that the people in the Middle East feel.

Part of that is for our failure to recognise Palestine and until we do that we will not have respect in the Middle East.

I was offered the money but I did not accept it [on being offered a campaign donation from Tony Blair] I did not accept any donations from Tony Blair. It won’t appear in my records because I didn’t accept it.

SK: If I had been MP at the time and my Prime Minister had told me at the time that there was a definite and serious risk to our national security and we had to go to war, I would have believed him.

Hindsight is a wonderful thing.

It was a mistake but at that time you have to do your best with what you have.

CL: A lot of the support for ISIS is going through our so-called ally Saudi Arabia and I don’t understand why we are not putting more pressure on Saudi Arabia to stop the flow of resources to ISIS.

It’s not the case that that there wasn’t evidence about the WMD claims, there was plenty of information if people wanted to look at it at the time, and if they had rather than meekly follow their party whips, we would have gone down a different road.

CB: Islam is one of the world’s great religions and it is only a small amount of people who want to make it a violent religion.

The Transatlantic Trade and Investment Partnership CL: Although TTIP is between EU and the US it will have much wider connotations than that because the standards agreed between themselves will become the standards that developing countries will have to meet.

It will allow corporations to take democratically elected governments to court if they think their legislation is a barrier to trade and there is already a case in Australia where Philip Morris is taking the Australian government that plain packaging for cigarettes was a barrier to trade.

I think TTIP is the wrong way forward and the wrong time to give any more power to multi-national corporations.

KS: TTIP is something I get hundreds of emails about.

Nobody knows what the rules are going to be and it’s not going to come about in the next few weeks or even the next few months but everybody is getting worked up about it.

We have to see what is being proposed before we can say we don’t want it.

CB: TTIP is already influencing EU policy.

I am in a party that is in favour of free trade and I am fighting a battle with my own party, I want them to be aware of the dangers of this.

There is a real danger that this is going to impact on EU legislation not just the NHS but also environmental legislation as well.

Because Europe has higher environmental standards, the US could demand that European standards would be reduced which in terms of food standards could mean all sorts of foods coming in.

PS: It is very worrying and dangerous. The NHS has to be protected but so should other sectors.

SK: The Government have already clarified that it doesn’t apply to the NHS and that is right and proper.

It also doesn’t apply to any public services which is something I absolutely support.

Education PS: At the moment we don’t have local authority oversight and we don’t have schools being built under local authority control.

We are not saying that every academy or free school is bad.

If there was local authority control, there would be planning about where building schools where they are needed.

You have to have qualified teachers in schools, it’s not a job that anyone can just pick up and do well.

The NHS SK: There is no point having a 21st century hospital providing fantastic facilities for all of us if we haven’t got the dedicated staff, the hard-working doctors and nurses providing the care needed.

I’m very proud that we have more nurses and doctors in place and we need to increase the spending in NHS because people are living longer and treatments are becoming more attractive and it should always be free at the point of contact.

It is the envy of the world and we will do all we can to protect it.

CB: In terms of health spending, there has been a lot of good cross party working going on in the background so it’s important that people don’t try and jump on bandwagons.

There is a lot of information about NHS funding from all parties it is difficult to work what everybody is promising but research by the King’s Fund shows that the Liberal Democrats go further in funding the NHS than the other two main parties.

PS: It is important not just to protect the NHS but to put more in because the demographics are changing and we have to continue the level of service.

It’s not just a matter of protecting but nourishing it.