LABOUR party candidate for Stroud David Drew has attacked his election rival for not standing up for his constituents over the controversial Javelin Park incinerator.

He claimed that Mr Carmichael, the conservative candidate and incumbent MP, had sat on the fence for so long over the issue “he’s got splinters in his behind”.

The comments were made during a radio debate hosted by BBC Gloucestershire at Stroud High School last Tuesday, which also featured fellow election candidates Adrian Walker-Smith of the Liberal Democrats and Sarah Lunnon of the Green Party.

Mr Carmichael rejected the claims, saying the issue was highly complex and arguing Labour had identified the site in the first place in 2004.

Plans for the £500million incinerator near Stroud were rejected by councillors but were later overruled by Secretary of State for Communities and Local Government Eric Pickles in January.

Mr Drew asked his rival why he had not done more to fight against the plans following overwhelming public opposition from his electorate.

“Why didn’t you stand up for the people of Stroud and say ‘I will not accept this in any way at all’ and threaten to resign,” he demanded.

Mr Carmichael said he had stood up for his constituents but the issue was more complicated than “whether or not we want an incinerator at Javelin Park.”

His fellow candidates Mr Walker-Smith and Mrs Lunnon also voiced their opposition to the plans.

The Green Party candidate attacked the decision to overturn the council’s vote, saying “the Tories pushed [the incinerator] through despite immense public opinion and despite rationality.”

She pointed out that she had sat on the council’s planning committee, and claimed that other alternatives put forward had been largely ignored.

Mrs Lunnon then turned her attack on the Labour Party, who she claimed were actually in favour of the technology in other parts of the country.

Mr Walker-Smith said there was “no demonstrable national need” for the incinerator.

Mr Drew pledged that if he was elected as MP for Stroud he would set up an immediate inquiry into the Javelin Park incinerator.

Other issues raised during the debate, which was broadcast last Wednesday, focused on electoral reform, education, Europe and the renewal of Trident.

Mr Walker-Smith said that while predictions for what the outcome of the election would be on May 8 were futile, the one thing people could be sure of was that there would be no outright majority government.

Stroud’s incumbent MP Neil Carmichael praised the outgoing collation between the Conservatives and Liberal Democrats, but said that he was expecting a majority Conservative government result.

Mrs Lunnon disputed this assumption, saying that she thought Mr Carmichael would receive a “dose of realism” on May 8.

She argued that with the growth of small parties like the Greens, the current voting system was “broken” and that she would favour a change to a proportional representation voting system.

Moving on to the topic of accessibility of education, Mr Carmichael pointed to the Conservative’s £5.4million investment in the pupil premium which he claimed has brought “huge benefits” to schools across Stroud.

Mrs Lunnon echoed the Green Party policy of scrapping university tuition fees all together. She said education was a “collective benefit”, not an individual one, and that she is “appalled” when she sees students leaving further education carrying a huge burden of debt.

Mr Drew endorsed Labour Party’s election manifesto commitment to reducing tuition fees down from £9,000 to £6,000, but said that scrapping them all together would unfeasible.

When questioned on the Liberal Democrats broken promises on university education fees, Mr Walker-Smith said Nick Clegg had been right to apologise for the failure, and that university tuition was always seen as a “soft target” for governments.

Despite the rise in tuition fees in 2012, Mr Carmichael pointed to “clear evidence” that more people had applied to go to university since then, and claimed that social mobility had increased under a Conservative led government.

Progressing on to the issue of the UK’s place within Europe, Mr Carmichael voiced his backing for an EU referendum in 2017 and insisted that is was “essential for people to have the choice.”

The conservative candidate said that if a “package of reform” could be delivered then he would like the see the UK remain a member of the European Union.

He also went on to say: “We need to curtail the people who just use our benefits system but have no skills."

Mrs Lunnon hit back saying that “benefit tourism” was a “myth” and immigrants coming to the UK “put in much more than they take out.” She backed the Green Party’s policy of a referendum, but made it clear that she would be voting to stay in Europe.

Labour’s veteran politician said that in the case of a referendum he thought the electorate would always vote to stay in the EU “simply because there is no other option.”

There was no chance, he claimed, of the rest of Europe “changing the rules” just for the benefit the UK.

Mr Walker-Smith said that the British economy was “not out of the woods yet” and warned an EU referendum could destabilise markets and have an adverse effect on trade.

The final topic of the night was the UK’s nuclear weapons system.

All of the speakers except Mr Carmichael voiced their opposition to the £100 billion renewal of Trident.

He argued the UK “must have an ultimate deterrent” even if it was never used.

Stroud’s three other election candidates - Caroline Stephens (UKIP); Rich Wilson (MyStroudMP) and David Michael (Free Public Transport Party) - were left out of the radio debate, but were promised proportionate coverage by the BBC during future broadcasts.