Election 2015: Meet our voters' panel

Here, we introduce the people who will be casting a critical eye over the parties' promises and policies not to mention the inevitable calamities that accompany a General Election, between now and May 7.

See the Shropshire Star every Saturday to hear from voters' panel's opinions on the moments that define this election.

Young must join in:

First-time voter Rebecca Saddington said she feels it is very important for young people to vote so their voices can be heard.

The 18-year-old Adams Grammar School student has been following politics closely in the run-up to the 2015 General Election and said she is very excited to be voting for the first time.

"I believe it is extremely important for young people to vote," she said.

"I feel recent turnouts have been very low for young people and politics affects us as much as the older generations.

"We need to have our say and make sure that we take the time to vote, because we are equally important as any other voter in the country, and it's a chance for us to make our voices heard."

Rebecca added: "I am really excited to vote, which may sound silly but it's great that young people are able to do so.

"One issue I have been following is student loans.

"I do think that student fees need to be looked at for young people.

"I'm not sure if economically it's possible for them to be free, but I think it needs to be reviewed as the current situation is putting young people off university, which I think is a shame and a growing problem."

Rebecca, who lives in Muxton, Telford, with her parents, has been following politics for four to five years by reading newspapers and watching the news.

She plans on going to university in September to study politics and international relations, but has not decided where she will complete her degree.

At the moment she is studying for her A-levels.

She is preparing to sit exams in biology, religious education and government and politics in the summer.

She also said she is relieved that she is finally able to vote as she is the youngest in her family.

As a floating voter the television debates will play an important role as Rebecca forms her decision about who to support.

"I am still deciding who to vote for by watching the TV debates," she said.

"I do think it is important that in the run-up to the election they give the leaders a chance to have their say and go into more detail about their policies.

"As well I do find that in the media things can get taken out of context, so to hear them unedited really helps people make a choice."

Wooing the grey vote:

Polling strategists have long regarded the "grey vote" as crucial to electoral success, so Bob and Christine Groom can expect to find themselves being courted by politicians over the coming weeks.

However, retired secretary Christine, 68, says she and Bob had so far found the campaign rather confusing, with the campaigning generating more heat than light when it came to deciding how to vote.

"They are all too busy knocking lumps out of one another to explain what their policies are," she said.

The couple live in Wombridge Road, Trench, Telford, and Bob, who is 73, worked as a human resources manager at Telford & Wrekin Council before his retirement, and also served as an independent councillor.

Christine stressed that the bigger the NHS issue was the bigger the election for her and her husband, with care for the elderly and immigration also figuring highly for them.

"Care for the elderly is important, that's not just because we are getting on a bit, it is something the whole country will have to deal with, and it's going to become more important as the number of older people in the country grows.

"I wouldn't say we have an immigration problem in this area, but there are too many people in the country now," she said.

"We have got too many people without any real skills coming over. I think if they come to this country they should at least learn to speak the language."

Bob said he was also undecided yet as to how he would be voting.

"It all seems a bit uncertain, no party is emerging with a clear advantage," he said.

Bob added: "There are so many issues, there are local issues like the NHS, but there are also national issues like the economy.

"They are all saying they will have to make cuts, but so far nobody has really said what it is they will be cutting.

"I hope it will start to crystallise over the coming weeks, I think it will be when one of them thinks they are not doing very well that they will start to set out what they want to do."

Bob said he would be following the exchanges closely over the coming months.

He said the television debates, which began with David Cameron and Ed Miliband last week, made for good entertainment, but were unlikely to influence the way many people voted.

I’m interested now:

The first televised interview featuring the main party leaders brought the election campaign to life for two Shrewsbury teachers.

Kieran Joglekar, 33, and Katie Barrow, 27, both teach at secondary schools and are firmly in the "don't know" camp in terms of who to vote for.

Miss Barrow said that she didn't vote at the last election, but has since developed a greater interest in politics.

She said: "Student fees are a concern for me.

"When I studied to be a teacher I built up debts of around £30,000.

"But my sister, who is also studying to be a teacher, will have debts of around £50,000, which is far too high.

"As a teacher I am more engaged in politics generally, especially in regard to the education policies of the parties."

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Mr Joglekar and Miss Barrow, who live in Cherry Orchard, both thought Mr Cameron answered his questions well.

But Mr Joglekar said he wondered if the Conservative leader has a clear strategy.

He said: "Mr Cameron says things like 'I believe in the NHS', but he has had five years to do something about that and I am not sure he knows what to do.

"Mr Miliband got a rougher ride from the questioners, but he was passionate in his answers and I believed what he said.

"I think the Labour leader is a credible candidate and has put himself level with Mr Cameron.

"I would certainly consider Labour now."

Miss Barrow thought Mr Cameron came over well, but said his answers lacked depth and detail.

When asked if any specific issue was of interest to them, Mr Joglekar said that social care and the NHS were important.

He said: "My mother has dementia and I am interested in how the plans to integrate social care with the NHS will work."

With less than six weeks to go until polling day, both Mr Joglekar and Miss Barrow think the campaign has become more interesting in the past few days.

Mr Joglekar said: "Thursday night's leader's debate felt like the opening salvo of the campaign. It will get boring, but not yet."

Miss Barrow added: "For now the parties are giving us broad strokes of policy.

"But I want to know when they will give us more details of what they plan to do."

Listen to families:

The high price of childcare, food and fuel are concerns for young parents ahead of the election.

Dan Edwards, 28, of Oswestry, said he feels like politicians need to do more to connect with normal working families in the run up to May 7.

Mr Edwards, an electrician who lives in Mandir Close with his wife Vicky and their three-year-old son Reuben, said he no longer feels he can relate to the majority of MPs.

He said: "There's no doubt the coalition have worked hard to improve what was a very sticky situation when they took over, but there's still a lot more that could be done.

"I think where we are, there is a real situation where we don't feel connected to politicians. I think families who are struggling a little more will be very interested in the election and those who are well-off will be too, but we are stuck somewhere in the middle.

"I have had politicians knocking on the door in the run up to May, but to be honest, I wasn't particularly taken with what any of them had to say.

"A lot of people, especially of my age and younger, don't feel as gripped with the situation as we would have in years gone by, it almost seems they are all the same now."

Mr Edwards said he would be keeping an eye on things important to his family though.

"I think childcare costs are very high in this country and I would like to see something done to bring those down, there should be a cap or something," he said.

"I have also recently started working in Telford, so I am keeping an eye on fuel prices. A few weeks ago they tumbled, but now they keep rising and nobody is saying anything about it.

"Food is another thing we look at, but supermarkets are desperate for business so we benefit with that to an extent."

Mr Edwards, a voter in the North Shropshire constituency, did however have praise for his former MP, Owen Paterson.

"I do think he does a good job for North Shropshire," he said.

"He works hard, you see his face a lot and it is nice to have someone high profile in your area.

"He seems to make it into the national news quite often and he has held senior roles so he must be doing something right.

"It would be a major shock if he didn't retain his seat once again.

"I haven't decided for definite who I will be voting for yet, but both myself and Vicky will definitely vote."

Business stability:

The long-term health and stability of the British economy will be a priority for the small business owner on our voter's panel.

Calvin Jones launched St Martins-based specialist solar panel company iGreen Energy four years ago, and said he was keen to be able to lay down long-term plans based on security in the economy.

A member of Shropshire Chamber of Commerce, he regularly networks with other members of the local community and says he gets a sense that many other business owners around Oswestry feel the same way.

"I think a lot of us are looking for long-term stability so we can plan for our businesses," the 45-year-old said.

"Everybody has been looking at the short-term while we have been uncertain about what the economy is doing.

"It would be nice to have long-term policies that show where we are going.

"Low interest rates have helped most companies as it has kept our running costs down."

"I would also like to see what the policies are going to be on Europe, as that is proving divisive between everybody.

"There's a lot of scepticism as we never see final accounts for the EU, but I buy stuff that come in from the EU and it could affect the materials I buy."

He added: "We are a renewable energy company, predominantly working with solar PV, and our industry is very much dependent on what the government does with the feed-in tariff.

"They have all be tinkering about with it really, and that can be hard for long-term planning. Labour put it in and did a good job, but it came to a bit of an abrupt stop when the last government came in as there was no money left in the coffers."

Mr Jones, who subcontracts workers for his business rather than employing anyone directly, added that as his wife Kerry is a nurse, he will also take a keen interest in the promises for the NHS.

He also said that as he has two children, aged 13 and 10, he would be paying close attention to different candidates' promises on the education sector.

"I haven't seen much of a green agenda so far," he said.

"I think the NHS is going to be the biggest thing to play a role in this election, really.

"My wife is a nurse so I am keeping a close eye on what is going to be happening on that side of things as well, as well as for the businesses."

Help the pub trade:

The next government must work hard at stopping people drinking cheap alcohol at home and getting them back into pubs, landlord Bob Hedley says.

Mr Hedley, who is 50 and owns the Bradford Arms Hotel in Llanymynech, on the Powys/Shropshire border, said drinkers are already deep in debate about the upcoming General Election.

But he said the two topics on everyone's lips has been the future of the pub trade and immigration.

Mr Hedley said: "Talk has already been going on in the pub about May 7 and it has been interesting hearing people's views on everything already.

"Personally, I am very much looking forward to it because I am eagerly anticipating what the next government will do to help out the pub trade.

"I am very much in favour of the industry being put on five per cent tax rather than 20 per cent.

"They do the same in France and it has such a positive impact on the pub trade.

"It would allow me to sell a pint between 45p and 70p cheaper and that would surely encourage more people to come in.

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"If more people come in and spend their money the government gets more tax anyway and I get to employ more staff and they will then pay tax on their wages.

"It goes all the way down the supply chain and will help brewers, drivers, the lot.

"I worry that people will just continue to buy supermarket beer, which they can sell dirt cheap at a loss and then drink at home, which isn't supporting anyone but big business.

"It is something that really needs to be looked at in this country. I am in favour of them turning back rooms in pubs into off licences like they used to be. Landlords can be trusted to sell alcohol on to people at a fair price then."

Mr Hedley, who is a father-of-four, said the biggest talking point amongst his customers, however, is immigration.

"People I speak to every day of the week are sick of seeing thousands of people coming over here and having what they like," he said.

"We need tighter border controls and this is something I will be looking at closely in the lead up to May 7.

"I am ex-forces and I hear an awful lot about former servicemen retiring to civvy street and then having nowhere to go.

"Many of these men and women are ending up on the streets after serving the country.

"You then see people coming over and being given what they like."