BETTER transport links, the preservation of the NHS and the costs of living are among the key issues identified by the six candidates running for the constituency of Central Devon in the upcoming General Election.

Anticipation for the election is growing day by day, dominating national news coverage and seeing parliamentary candidates out on the campaign trail.

At the last election, Conservative candidate Mel Stride won 51.5% of the votes, holding a 17.1% majority over the Liberal Democrats in the country's third biggest constituency by area.

Mr Stride says this is the most important election in a generation and can only have one of two outcomes — 'either David Cameron as Prime Minister or Ed Milliband occupying Number 10, almost certainly propped up by the Scottish Nationalists ensuring that yet more of our money goes north of the border'.

Mr Stride also said he wanted to continue to work and fight for people in Central Devon 'as part of a government that will finish the job of fixing the economy so allowing us to pay for better public services'.

He added: 'The choice is also between sticking to an economic plan that is working or going back to the old days of spraying around the cash we never had — in short, going right back to square one. Getting the economy right is fundamental. For if we are to maintain and improve our vital public services to support our local communities, our schools, Okehampton Hospital, our GP surgeries, charities, voluntary sector, armed forces and so much more, then we need to be able to pay for them. Just ask the Greeks and the Portuguese. They failed to get on top of their debt and have had to slash health spending. We have increased spending on our NHS.'

Liberal Democrat Alex White says Conservative budget cuts go too far and he wanted to see more investment from central government to improve infrastructure across Central Devon, including travel links and better broadband speeds.

He said: 'The main issue is the huge budgetary cuts to public services being done by the Conservatives. The proposals to cut even more and the speed at which those proposals would be carried out is very worrying. The Liberal Democrats are proposing to cut far less than the Conservatives and at a much safer speed.

'Already in Central Devon we've seen youth centres shutting, bus services under threat and libraries disappearing. These are all services rural communities rely upon heavily and the Liberal Democrats are fighting to reduce cuts to these sorts of services.

'What we would want to do is for the richest, those in our society with the broadest shoulders, to support those with less by contributing more into the pot, rather than continue to cut these frontline services and affect the most vulnerable in our society.

'From my campaigning in Okehampton so far people are keen to see the return of the railway linking the town to Plymouth and Exeter. I am sure it would have a hugely positive effect on the area and the whole constituency.'

The UKIP candidate is John Conway. Mr Conway, a Launceston Town Councillor, agrees the return of the rail line through Okehampton is a key issue.

He said: 'We really do need better transport links. The return of the northern route [through Okehampton and Tavistock] is very important and we want to get that running. It is important not just for Okehampton and Central Devon but for Plymouth and Cornwall too. If and when Dawlish goes again, and by its very nature it will go again, we need an alternative.

'It is important to have a link from Okehampton to Exeter and one linking Tavistock to Plymouth, with the northern line providing an alternative when the southern line is not available.

'One of the things we need to do, and this is my train of thought as well as UKIP policy, is to make full use of our community and cottage hospitals. Cottage hospitals have been shutting at a great rate for a while. If they are not there you are going to have a bottle neck at the bigger hospitals like we are seeing now.

'Community hospitals are closer to home, easier for people to visit and surely must be cheaper to run as well as freeing beds in bigger hospitals.'

Labour's candidate, Lynne Richards, says Labour has set out a 'better plan' for Central Devon constituents and that the cost of living crisis has hit people in the county hard with high food, energy, housing and transport costs.

She said: 'We are determined to improve the lives of people here in market towns, villages and rural areas where the key issues affecting people are high prices, low wages and job insecurity and where public services on which we rely, like the NHS, are being pushed to breaking point.

'In addition to these issues the people I speak to in Okehampton are concerned about infrastructure planning to support the changing needs and increase of households in the town, ensuring a thriving high street which benefits the community and encourages tourism; and also implementation of a northern rail route via Okehampton to create rail connections to Exeter and Plymouth and support economic growth and provide additional rail resilience to the area.

'To help provide a better standard of living Labour will freeze energy bills until 2017, raise the minimum wage to £8 and provide 25 hours free childcare a week. We will have a lower 10p starting rate of tax which will benefit 38,000 in Central Devon and stop exploitative zero-hours contracts.'

Green Party candidate Andy Williamson feels the key issues affecting people in the region are the fragmentation of the NHS and potential closure of community hospitals, shortage of rural public transport, lack of affordable housing and lack of support for smaller businesses and farmers and local agriculture.

Mr Williamson called the rail line at Dawlish 'vulnerable' and is keen to see investment in the northern line through Okehampton to benefit the whole constituency.

He said: 'I know there's concern locally about Okehampton becoming a dormitory town with lots of new housing development. We need more people able to live close to where they need to go to work, not just creating legions of commuters along with the stress on our pockets, the environment and family life that this causes. 

'I hear that council-run care homes and day centres have been closed in Okehampton. Provision of decent, joined up, compassionate care for those who need it has been massively eroded under the "austerity" cuts. I believe these are based on economic ignorance, and would seek for provision to be improved whatever this takes. I don't want to live in a society which allows our elderly to suffer like this — we really can do better.'

Independent candidate Arthur Price states he has 'absolutely no chance whatsoever' of getting elected but felt the need to stand to represent the people in the area and speak up for those who would not be heard otherwise, including those living in 'rural poverty'.

He said people in Central Devon and the whole country have a 'deep cynicism about politics and a complete mistrust of politicians' and he could not remember a time when the public and politics have been so disconnected.

He said: 'I sympathise with them and I totally understand why they're not going to vote. It's not apathy that stops people from voting, it's a deep rooted sense of responsibility towards their principles that prevents them from endorsing candidates who act predominantly in the interest of their corporate pay masters. Telling the electorate to vote for their least disliked party is an insult to their intelligence.

'Rural poverty is a huge issue here in the South West, people wake up every day not knowing how they'll pay their bills or feed their kids and then they turn on the radio and hear some Tory MP telling us all how good the last five years have been for Britain.'