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 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 Liberal Democrat parliamentary candidate Ros Kayes.

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

My campaign on the Rural Bill of Rights is focused on making the voice of Dorset people heard in Parliament.

I’m already working with parliamentarians to push for fairer funding for local authorities in rural areas, which currently receive substantially lower rates of funding per head of the population than local authorities in urban areas.

This effects education, transport, health and it also effects the ability of students to get to further education destinations.

My party also believes a strong invest to save rationale for Government investing in social housing building.

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

Absolutely not because we do receive lower funding and in particular that leads to problems like elderly people not being able to get to hospital appointments because of bus cuts and it leads to people who don’t have a car being trapped, especially if they live in a village.

The other issue I think is really significant in terms of rural services is elderly care.

It’s much more expensive to provide domiciliary care in rural areas because there is a lot further to travel and Government must accept this.

I would also like to see the Local Enterprise Partnership offering more grants and community banks offering loans to businesses.

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

I work in health and I care very deeply about it.

I do not want to see it being sliced up and taken over by the private sector because I believe first of all that the private sector wants to make a profit and the health service is a service.

I think the police have been over cut and I worry about Dorset having to merge with other counties.

I think the current Police and Crime Commissioner has done a good job in trying to distribute the budget fairly and coming up with some interesting ideas.

But if you talk to ordinary coppers they feel that ancillary support has dropped, that the amount of paperwork that they have to do has grown and they are not spending enough time out on the beat.

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?

We will cut less than the Conservatives but we will spend less than Labour.

What that would mean is spending what we do have wisely and protecting the most vulnerable.

Some of the cuts that have happened I have not been happy with because I think protecting the vulnerable is the number one issue.

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 first thing I think we need to do is to effect the change in demographic, we need to keep our young people who are leaving here.

This county has the highest percentage exodus of 19 to 24-year-olds in the UK and it’s because they can’t afford to live here and because there has been a lack of well paid jobs.

The Rural Bill of Rights also supports giving county councils increase funding from Government in relation to age of population.

I think the other big issue for elderly people who don’t live in a town is about isolation and that’s why I think it’s so important that we have decent bus services.

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

First thing we want to do is to introduce a discount bus pass of two thirds off for all 16 to 21-year-olds in education, apprenticeships or work to enable them to get around.

We are increasing mental health funding and support for younger people, especially at schools because often mental health issues can start early.

We are also supporting the living wage as a lot of local companies can get away with not paying young people, especially students, properly and not put them on proper contracts.

We want to introduce free childcare for young families and to increase the number of ours of that.

We also want to increase the number of apprenticeships.

The other issue is about housing. For me that’s one of the most important things we need to sort out.

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

How angry they are with the political classes.

People don’t like career politicians, they very glad that somebody local is standing.

The second most important issue is the NHS – they don’t want to see it privatised.

People are prepared to pay more to keep it as it is and they are very angry about what is happening to it.

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

Yes. I would have voted against cuts to legal aid, I would have voted against the bedroom tax, against the changes to the NHS and against fracking.

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

Lower the voting age to 16 and ensure decent quality and interesting political education is brought lower down the curriculum.

In West Dorset I want to see more working being done with youth councils and the Youth Parliament.

We have started some excellent work with things like Rights Respecting Schools and a lot of children are engaged with really important issues like climate change.

Young people are going to be inheriting the fallout from the economic mess as they come to maturity and I want them to have the knowledge and knowhow and vision to change things for the better.

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)

I would always prioritise the issues that impacted on vulnerable people.