A TEENAGER has organised a “question time” event to get more youngsters interested in politics and encourage them to vote at the forthcoming general election.

James Paton, 18, anticipates an exciting debate between the three main men who will compete for the Basildon and Billericay constituency seat.

Existing Tory MP John Baron, Alan Davies, the Labour candidate, and Mike Hibbs, for the Lib Dems, have all agreed to take part.

The event will take place in front of 200 pupils at Billericay School, where James is a student on Friday, April 30, at 11am. This is just a week before May 6, which experts believe will be the day of the general election.

James, who lives in Billericay, began organising the event in January.

He said: “The style of the debate is based on BBC’s Question Time and there will be a big audience who will be able to ask questions to the panel on a variety of topic areas.

“The aim of this debate is to try to increase voter turnout within the sixth form by encouraging them to participate in debate and give them the opportunity to see who their local candidates are.

“I don’t think it’s necessarily young people aren’t interested in politics these days. It’s more they don’t have the information about who their representatives are.

“There seems to be an information failure when it comes to youngsters and politics, in my opinion.

“Traditionally there is a low voter turnout for teenagers in this area, so I’m hoping this debate may make a difference on election day.”

James, who has always been interested in politics and is planning to go to York University to study philosophy, economics and politics, added: “Hopefully there will be some good questions, so it could be an interesting morning!”