Ali quizzed by future voters
Date published: 12 January 2011
IT was back to class for Conservative candidate Kashif Ali who spoke to future voters at his former school Hulme Grammar yesterday.
Mr Ali was joined by Andrew Stephenson, national vice-chairman of the Conservative Party and they were quizzed by sixth-form politics students on tuition fees and the removal of the Education Maintenance Allowance (EMA).
They also asked questions on voting apathy and voting reform, as well as the VAT rise and Irish Republic financial bail out.
Mr Ali said the EMA served an important purpose but only when the country could afford it. He said proportional representation was dangerous and undesirable as extremist parties would get a larger say.
And he said voting apathy was in part caused by the way politics was reported in the media as well as people not feeling listened to, although he did admit the expenses scandal had not helped.
Speaking later, Mr Stephenson said Mr Ali was getting a growing amount of support in his old neighbourhood of Oldham East before tomorrow’s ballot. He said: “By-election polls are notoriously inaccurate — the only thing that matters is the vote on Thursday.
“We hope every Conservative comes out and votes.”
