STUDENTS were given the chance to quiz three political parties appealing for their votes in the Newport East constituency earlier tonight.

Parliamentary candidates representing the Liberal Democrats Paul Halliday, Plaid Cymru Simon Coopey and Green Party Chris Were attended a General Election hustings at the University of South Wales Caerleon campus on Tuesday night.

Green Party candidate Chris Were, who is standing in the Monmouth constituency, attended the hustings in place of Newport East candidate David Mclean.

The audience were told that the Labour, Conservative and UKIP candidates either chose not to attend or did not reply to their invitations to the hustings, which was held in the student union bar.

But following the meeting Tory candidate for Newport East Natasha Asghar said she had not been informed about the event, and Labour's Newport East candidate Jess Morden also said neither she nor Paul Flynn were invited to the hustings.

Around a dozen people were given the opportunity to pose questions to the parliamentary candidates, with the majority of issues raised directly affecting students.

The first question of the evening posed to the parliamentary candidates was their views on the proposed closure of the Caerleon campus and what they would do about it.

Mr Halliday said it was “very telling” that Labour had chosen not to attend the hustings as he said they had been “fairly silent” on the issue.

He added that he had sought meetings with the university to gain clarity on a number of issues, but as he was not an elected representative he had struggled to get answers.

“We need to keep putting questions to the university,” he said.

Mr Coopey said that “everyone likes Caerleon” and that he saw no reason to close it.

“It seems a decision was made long ago, but if we can't keep the university here we must keep the building for other uses,” he added.

The candidates also discussed tuition fees, how politicians should engage with students and the electorate, lowering the voting age and different methods of voting, education and the minimum wage.

When asked about tuition fees Mr Were said: “We'll get rid of them and wipe them dead. Tuition fees have no place in the UK and the fact we have them is shameful as we have a powerhouse economy.”

Mr Coopey said they should be eliminated for some subjects and added: “I can't believe places like Germany have got rid of fees but the UK is stuck with them.”

Mr Halliday said not a single Lib Dem MP voted for the increase in tuition fees and, after outlining how tuition fees of up to £25,000 are paid back after graduates reach certain wage thresholds, said the debt students find themselves in is more of a graduate tax than a tuition fee.

Student Union Vice President Drew Burman, who was moderating the night, asked the candidates how politicians should interact with students so they felt engaged with politics.

Mr Were spoke about the importance of open surgeries for people to discuss issues with their local MP, whilst Mr Coopey said that surgeries and social media, including the likes of Snapchat, should be used to keep in contact with voters.

Mr Halliday said "communication is a key issue" and that social media needs to be used more, but will never replace traditional methods like surgeries as people need to sit down and talk in depth about some complex issues.

After the candidates were asked about lowering the voting age they all unanimously said they “fully support” bringing it down to 16.