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 South Dorset Independent prospective parliamentary candidate Mervyn Stewkesbury.

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

"You can't make savings from service providers. "I carried out some projections about the deficit- which now stands at £1,355,000,000,000 (or £21,060 for each living person), and I wrote to all 650 of the country's MPs. I did not get one response.

"This told me either one of two things- either they had been told not to respond or they do not care about this country. They just care about re-election and they will keep making promises and spending money we do not have to remain in government.

"For the last 42 years, consecutive governments have borrowed money at unprecedented levels and allowed us to live nine per cent above our means- now the day of reckoning has come.

"You may have wondered why they acted so irresponsibly; it was done to give away money to buy votes without caring for our country- and they are doing the same [now] with their empty promises.

"If we paid off the debt at £8 a week each, it would take more than 100 years. It's about time everybody started to realise the seriousness of this."

"You [an individual] know that if you keep overspending you get in to more debt-but the Government doesn't seem to realise this.

"We now owe £1,355,000,000,000- or £21,060 for each living person."

He added: "They [politicians] don't care about the country; they only care about re-election. If they put our country first, why and how have they got us in to this debt? It's pretty irresponsible.

"We are paying £16 each a week interest on our national debt.

"Politicians within the last 40 years-particularly the last 10- have failed us badly. They have proved to be the worst money managers."

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

"[A vote for me] is a vote of no confidence in the political parties who have created an insatiable financial monster that we now can not control."

...."I felt compelled [to stand] to try and get people to listen to the real state this country is in. 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? [Can't answer about party because does not have a political affiliation]

"All our lives we have gone along with the political system. But I have no doubt that if things carry on the way they are we will follow in the footsteps of Greece. There is not one [political candidate] who will say it because they have been terrified it will lose them votes."

"[if enough people were to vote for me] politicians would have to listen to the voters. "If I was to get, say, 90 per cent of the vote, that would make the country and politicians stand up and listen that we are unhappy.

"But if I only get one per cent we are telling the politicians who have got us in to this mess' don't worry, we have got faith in you.'

"If you vote for me you might be able to make a difference. If you vote for the politicians you are telling them that you are satisfied with what they are doing."

He added: "I have no idea how people will take it [my manifesto]- what I do know is young people who traditionally don't get involved in politics- and it's understandable why they don't- have seen this [the manifesto] on the internet and my understanding is that they're saying they never realised what was going on and it's caused them to take an interest, which is good."

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?

"People say 'I am entitled to a pension' as I have paid in all my life. If you work 40 years at £30,000 a year you pay in about £120,000. Our Government's spending is £221 per person, per week. So each one of us, during a lifetime, costs the country about £804,000. That's our individual share of the country's running costs.

"If you take a man and a woman [as a couple] and they live on average 150 years between them and work 50 years between them, they are going to live using services for 150 years and pay for 50. They expect to be kept for another 50 years each. You can't work an average of 25 years in a life and expect to be kept 75 years- it's financially impossible and the quicker people realise this the better.

"Pensions have got to be cut, there's no doubt about it."

Questions sent in by readers

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

"If you can't get politicians to be open and honest, how can you expect young people to believe what they say?"

"Young people don't save- and I don't blame them. You [young people] have been failed because we have a political system that's educated you to think that you are entitled. We have a whole generation of people that expect to be given things by the state. The main cause of these problems [with the welfare state] is the destruction of what used to be known as the family unit. When I was a child, there were no state aids. If you had children, you automatically took on responsibility to bring up that child.

"But what happens now is that if you get pregnant you expect to have a house given to you, more benefits which encourages pregnancy- and then when their parents get old they expect the state to pay for that too.

"The political system has destroyed the family unit. It has educated us all to think we are entitled."

"I believe in helping those that are prepared to help themselves."

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)

"We can not make cuts to frontline services but we should make cuts to the welfare bill. "If we want to get out of this mess we must start living within our means.

"The answer is very simple- live within our means.

"The governments have borrowed at unprecedented levels to give more away which you can not do forever, and after 42 years they have created an insatiable financial monster which they can no longer control.

"[...]During the last 42 years they have doubled the national debt every eight years."