AHEAD of the general election we are giving our readers the chance to find out more about what their local candidates stand for.

We will be asking all the candidates in South Dorset and West Dorset about the issues that matter to voters in the county and trying to give the electorate an insight into their priorities before they go to the ballot box on Thursday, May 7.

Today we hear from West Dorset Green Party parliamentary candidate Peter Barton.

How do you propose to make the voice of Dorset people heard in Parliament?

I’m very fortunate in the Green Party in that I have a wonderful role model in Caroline Lucas, who has been a wonderful voice for the people of Brighton for the last five years.

My priority would be to make myself available and make myself known first of all to establish a good working relationship.

More and more people are also using information technology and social networking to communicate and I would want to exploit that as a key avenue between me and my constituents.

Also you can’t beat face to face contact with people.

Is enough being done at a national government level to support rural economies like Dorset?

The short answer is no. Firstly wages in Dorset and the South West are too low.

Buying a home is out of reach for the vast majority of local people so we have got to raise wages.

Government can do a lot to raise wages, it can introduce a minimum wage that’s a decent living wage and it can also invest in the local economy, particularly through the public sector.

Another aspect of the rural economy that really needs addressing is public transport.

How will you protect frontline services such as the NHS and policing in the county?

The key is to establish enough Government revenue to maintain high quality services in both those areas of health and policing.

The Green Party believes that taxation is a good thing so long as it’s fair.

We would raise the level of NHS funding over the course of the next Parliament and the other key Green position is that we are the only party that would restore the NHS to a completely publicly owned, publicly provided, not for profit service.

We also need a police force that is adequately staffed but also well trained to adapt to the changing nature of crime in rural areas.

Recent years have seen cuts to many services in Dorset, would you expect to see more cuts or less during the next Parliament if your party is successful in the elections?

If our party was in power or influencing closely those in power we would be revisiting cuts in public services.

We believe a more equal society where wealth is distributed more fairly to fund good public services it is for the good of us all and we would benefit from that in different ways.

It’s also about keeping wealth and money in the local economy.

Dorset, like much of the country, has an ageing population, what problems does this pose for Government and what do you propose to do to reflect the changing demographic?

The older your age profile the likelihood is you are going to have more demands on your health services but also on your care services.

We need to invest in social care and make sure those who staff social care are paid a decent living wage and given the appropriate time that they need to do the work properly.

Things to do with transport, life-long learning and adult education, enabling elderly people to keep fit and other things that are to do with preventative health and keeping illness at bay is all wise investment.

What would you do to improve the life chances and career opportunities of young people in Dorset?

We need to invest more in 16 to 19 education and that period from 16 to 25 for those who don’t want to go to university.

We need to keep doors to learning open.

For those who do go to university we believe strongly in the Green Party that higher education should not a commodity to be bought and sold.

It’s a public good, higher education benefits the whole community and there should not be tuition fees.

When you have been out on the doorstep talking to voters, what has been the main issue raised by the electorate?

Public transport is a big one, especially out in the villages.

When I talk to a lot of people, especially retired people, it’s the cuts to the bus services that is their main concern.

Another one is the affordability of housing for so many local people, especially the young – which is a national crisis.

Those are two issues and the third one is concern about the NHS.

It’s a worry about the future and a concern that local health services are going to go in decline through a lack of funding and privatisation by stealth.

If you felt strongly about a local issue, would you be prepared to vote against your party line?

Yes, always. One interesting thing about the Green Party is we are against the whip system.

It’s just the fact that it’s undemocratic, it breaks the relationship between the representative and the people they represent.

Reader's questions

What will your party do to make sure young people are engaged in politics? (Sarah Trott, aged 13)

First thing we would do would be to reduce the voting age to 16, which worked so effectively in the Scottish referendum and engaged lots of young people.

I would encourage more young people to be more involved in decision making at parish level and have opportunities to go to talk to local councils and so on.

The key thing is to give them a real positive sense that their views count, they can make a difference, that people are listening to what they say and translating that into the decisions they make.

If you had to make a choice between what’s right for our country’s economy, defence, the NHS, education or the unemployment rate. What would you prioritise first and why? (Nick Mason)

The economy is obviously important because it’s about enabling people to have decent jobs and to be able to afford a life in which their wellbeing is secure.

At the same time in the Green Party philosophy we don’t start with the economy, we start with the planet and the need to care for the planet and the life of the planet.

After the planet is the wellbeing of society and then thirdly the economy.