On the spot – readers put politician's views under scrutiny

A Boy, do I want the Midland Main line to be electrified – but I can't be objective about this because I'm such a heavy user of it.

The Liberal Democrats have been talking, thinking, debating about High Speed Rail longer than any other political party in this country – it's something we feel passionate about and always have done.

So in a sense we really welcome the debate has moved forward. That's why Norman Baker, our transport spokesman, has been actively engaged with the Government announcement last week, and that's why we were dismayed the Conservatives decided they wouldn't even discuss it.

Even with the best will in the world, this will take years and years and years, and I think it's one of those things where people just want politicians to grow up and work together where they can – you can't deal with these long-term issues when everything is constantly hijacked by short-term political spats.

But it's vital to the long-term fortunes of this region that we have a high speed link brought to this part of the country.

Christopher Hyomes, Railfuture

Ben Armishaw, Federation of Small Businesses

Q We are very concerned about the proposal for congestion charging in York. Would you review the issue?

A I think congestion charging in towns and cities should be completely left to people in those towns and cities to decide themselves. I'm not theological about it one way or the other. It's appropriate for one city, it might not be appropriate for another. People didn't buy it in Manchester, they didn't buy it in Edinburgh – let people decide.

HEALTH

Mitzi Blennerhassett, patient campaigner

Q What urgent measures would your party take to ensure patient safety in the NHS becomes a meaningful priority?

A We've got five different quangos and inspection bodies relating to healthcare and patient safety. It's the classic example of duplication, a whole range of bodies doing basically the same thing. We want to scrap this mosaic of bodies, radically streamline it.

And we want to empower people working within the NHS to use their common sense to combine safety, cleanliness, services and treatment they know people want. The problem that has crippled the NHS too long is this dis-empowerment of people working within it – you are constantly having to jump through hoops.

And we need to take Primary Care Trusts ... and make them elected, giving us a say in how the NHS is run in each area.

If you create an NHS where what matters is what people say locally, then you create an environment where you have less form-filling, less harassment by bureaucratic diktat, and greater empowerment – which I think would lead to improved public safety.

Tony Goodall alcohol consultant

Q The Lib Dems are the only major party to support the need for a minimum unit price for alcohol. Why have they not chosen to support the SNP government in Scotland in their efforts to introduce this system there?

A We're working on this whole issue both north and south of the border. There's clearly a huge relationship between price and consumption.

I went to my local supermarket in Sheffield the other day to look at the cost of a 70cl bottle of vodka. It's now cheaper than the combined VAT and duty on it. It is illegal under international trade laws to sell products to other countries below the cost at which you produce them – yet here we are allowing these retailers to sell alcohol as loss leaders. I think that is wrong.

The more difficult bit, where we have been asking searching questions of the SNP, is whether the price and the mechanism they are suggesting are really going to make a difference?

The point at which a price difference really makes a material difference to how much is consumed is really important to get right – otherwise all you're doing is putting the price up and it's actually not changing behaviour. But we are making progress.

EDUCATION

Margaret Cliff, Colton, Leeds.

Q With many children leaving school without adequate numeracy and literacy skills, is it time to cut the red tape surrounding teaching?

A Teachers at primary school during their literacy and numeracy hours are being told what to do minute by minute. That is Orwellian, we have got to restore trust in our teachers. We need less box ticking and greater fairness, particularly investing in those children that need help.

We have also got pupils who are not engaged at all in the lessons who end up distracting teacher's attention. Our Pupil Premium plan will raise the money allocated to children who are on free school meals to the equivalent given in fee paying sector who go to private schools. This money will go towards one-to-one tuition, more support and smaller classrooms so that the whole class moves forward.

Jiordan Thompson, Roundhay School student

QMany aspects of black and asian culture are not in the national curriculum. How can you ensure that all people, regardless of race, creed and background are being properly educated on issues that matter to them?

A Children need to be taught things that are important to them. The curriculum has become this monstrous beast, around 600 pages long. The Swedish curriculum is 25 pages long. We should say to schools there are some core things you have got to teach and of course that should include key moments in our collective history and on how we are governed. But beyond that I think we have got to trust head teachers and teachers to teach children in those particular classes in a way that they think those particular children in those classes will react to best.

Rebecca Bentley, Harrogate Ladies' College student

Q Do you agree with the reports that English students are being disadvantaged by foreign students taking all of the places at university?

A I asked exactly that question to the vice chancellor of Sheffield University and he assures me that there is no way that places that would go to students from here are going to foreign students. While he is free to attract foreign students as it helps with their finances, he is not legally entitled to do that at the cost of places he is obliged to offer students from here.

We must not assume that the only good thing to do is an academic course at university. We still have a prejudice in this country that anything university is good and anything else is bad. I am a huge supporter of further education colleges. There are so many young people who thrive in colleges in a way they would not do at university. And yet we have all of this rhetoric about whether it is a second class approach when it is not. We should value vocational education as much as academic.

Beverly Leech Askey

Q What are your key plans for education and which issue is of greatest importance to the Liberal Democrats?

A In my view the most important thing is what we teach children and how we teach them when they are young. The evidence is now overwhelming that if you instil in a young child at primary school in Years One, Two and Three, an enthusiasm for learning, a self-confidence in the classroom and a willingness to ask questions, it has a dramatic effect on their subsequent life chances in terms of whether they do well at school, whether they perform well in exams and whether they can go on to college and university.

We still live in a country where, according to evidence from the Sutton Trust, if you are a really bright but poor child you will get overtaken in the classroom by the age of seven by a child from a wealthier background ... that is just wrong. It is wrong that a child because of the circumstances of their birth should basically have the rest of their life blighted.