Straight talking

(left to right) Cllr Carl Minns, Cllr Gary Wareing, Cllr John Fareham, Cllr Nadine Burton and youth worker Keith Russell

Hundreds of young people fired questions at city politicians in a frank and lively exchange. Hull in print reports ...

Could Hull do more to promote William Wilberforce, in the way Nottingham does with Robin Hood?
What more can be done to combat crime and antisocial behaviour?
And why should plumbers be brought in from other European countries when this makes it more difficult for young people in Hull to find work in the trade?
These and many other issues were raised by members of an audience of several hundred young people at the Question Time event held at Hull College's Horncastle Building.
Each student and young person in the audience was given a red or green card, which they were invited to hold up to show either their agreement or disagreement with comments made by the panel of local political figures.
The panel included Leader of Hull City Council Cllr Carl Minns (Lib Dem), as well as Cllrs Gary Wareing (Labour), John Fareham (Conservative) and Nadine Burton (Hull Independent).
Also on the panel was youth worker Keith Russell from The Warren youth centre in Queen's Gardens.
Asked if Hull was doing enough to promote William Wilberforce in the run-up to next year's commemoration of his achievement to ban the British slave trade, Cllr Minns said: "I've written to council leaders across the country, asking them to promote Wilberforce and get the message out.
"We've had visitors from as far as Portsmouth coming to Hull to sign our petition to make modern-day slavery, such as sex trafficking, a thing of the past."
Cllr Wareing said the Wilberforce commemoration had cross-party support in Hull, and that many events would be staged before, during and after 2007, to keep the name of Wilberforce alive.
Nottingham made much of, and was famous for, its Robin Hood connections, but Hull was "belatedly catching up" and will become known around the world as the city of Wilberforce, to boost tourism, said Cllr Fareham.
Meanwhile, Cllr Fareham also told plumbing students that he agreed with tradesmen coming in from abroad, as greater competition raises standards in the industry.
Cllr Burton said she would like to see the run-down Woodcock Street area regenerated with better housing. She also called for more partnership working between Hull City Council, Humberside Police, voluntary and community groups, and local people, to fight crime.
Responding to a question on youth crime and antisocial behaviour, Keith Russell said: "I don't like antisocial behaviour. I fight and oppose it every day. It's tragic that some young people in Hull are brought up in families where they are not taught the values of how to treat people. We need to tackle bad behaviour, but not label young people as yobs."
Other questions included whether bringing back conscription into the armed forces would reduce youth crime, and whether legalising prostitution in Hull would be justified.
Hull Question Time, now in its third year, was held to mark Local Democracy Week, which aims to encourage greater involvement in local politics among young people.
The event was filmed, to allow highlights to be shown on the Big Screen, in Queen Victoria Square.