POLITICALLY-savvy students from Bourton-on-the-Water told politicians they wanted the voting age to be lowered to 16 at a hustings gathering.

The sixth-formers at The Cotswold School also said they were concerned about tuition fees and queried why ministerial positions in parliament were often filled by politicians who had no expertise in that field.

They also questioned NHS waiting times and potential cuts to education spending.

Their questions were directed at parliamentary candidates for the Cotswolds who met at The Cotswold School on last week on February 11 for a Question Time-style debate.

The politicians in the firing line included Labour parliamentary candidate Manjinder Kang, UKIP's Chris Harlow and parliamentary candidate for the Liberal Democrats Paul Hodgkinson.

Cllr Lynden Stowe, leader of Cotswold District Council was standing in for MP Geoffrey Clifton-Brown who was attending a three-line whip vote in the House of Commons, while Green Party representative Penny Burgess failed to turn up.

The invited speakers each gave a resume of their party's manifesto and took turns to answer the students' questions for more than one-and-a-half hours.

The longest debate centered around tuition fees. Pupil Claire Coulthard asked: "Are tuition fees a way to save money and help reduce the deficit or are they here to stay?"

Mr Hodgkinson said they were likely to stay but hoped they may come down from their current rate though it would mean taking funding away from other services.

"I believe the system we have is fair and you pay nothing back until you start to earn £21,000 after leaving university," he said, adding that it was a Labour government who had introduced fees. "When I attended university in the 1980s to study French just five per cent of school students went on to study for a degree while that figure is now nearer 50 per cent. The reality is the country cannot afford to fund everyone."

Mr Kang said tuition fees would remain in a Labour government but condemned the coalition government from increasing them from £3,000 to £9,000 per year. "We accept there needs to be some charge but at the same time we can't have students that are in debt to the hilt so we would reduce them." He said going to university should be regarded as "an investment" and the contribution towards tuition would be repaid through better salaries gained from a higher level of education.

Some students felt UKIP's suggestion that students studying STEM degrees - sciences, technology or maths - should be exempt from paying fees was discriminatory against those who wanted to study perhaps the arts, media or politics.

Mr Harlow said it was a way to encourage students to study the subjects that the country needed. "We recognise that there are certain skills the country needs that we are having to buy in from other countries and that is to our detriment."

All the candidates acknowledged it was vital the country reduced the deficit to stop the UK from getting into serious financial trouble.

Adam Ellison asked when 16-year-olds would be allowed to vote. Both Mr Kang and Mr Hodgkinson said they were in favour of reducing the voting age while Mr Harlow said it would "only be a matter of time" that it happened.

Cllr Stowe said he could only comment personally, rather than on behalf of the Conservatives, but suggested people at that age had a good knowledge of public affairs.

"I think most 16-year-olds are capable of forming opinions," he said.

Just a handful of students said they were concerned they did not know enough about individual party policies in order to cast a vote.

The debate had been organised and chaired by the school's head of Year 12, Mike Sweetlove.