ELIZABETH Ward, the Green party's general election candidate for St Helens North, will be among a panel of regional politicians answering questions from voters when the BBC screens a special North West election debate.

The debate will be shown on BBC1 at 10.50pm tonight (Wednesday, April 29). It will be an opportunity for voters to quiz candidates from the major political parties on their policies and priorities for the North West.

Ms Ward, a 23-year-old former De La Salle student from Dentons Green, earned praise for her performance at a recent St Helens hustings and, along with fellow Greens candidate James Chan, has been credited with energising the election debate locally.

The BBC panel will also feature Lucy Powell, Manchester Central (Labour), John Bickley, Heywood and Middleton (UKIP), Ben Wallace, Wyre and Preston North (Conservative), Gordon Birtwistle, Burnley (Liberal Democrat).

The debate will be chaired by Roger Johnson from BBC North West Tonight and is being filmed at MediaCityUK in Salford.

Aziz Rashid, BBC Head of Regional and Local Programming in the North West, said: “I’m looking forward to the answers to questions about Devolution, Immigration and the NHS - three subjects we know our audience really cares about.”