SHADOW Education Secretary Tristram Hunt visited Worcester today - and admitted he'd prefer university tuition fees to be free.

The Labour frontbencher took part in a tough Q&A session with Worcester Sixth Form students, where MPs' poor behaviour in the Commons, the minimum wage, defence spending and student debt were among the topics he was grilled on.

During the session the entire audience, packed full of around 150 students, said they wanted to see David Cameron take on Ed Miliband in a one-on-one TV debate before the General Election.

Mr Hunt was also forced to defend one of Labour's key policies - slashing tuition fees from £9,000 to £6,000 a year - with some teenagers saying it will only help the middle classes.

"I know it's still a lot of money - in an ideal world it would be free," he said.

"But everyone in the world's leading nations pays for their higher education, we need students to make a contribution and it's an investment in your future."

During the event he also tackled the Labour-SNP question head on by insisting Ed Miliband is "not interested" in a deal.

"We want to win a majority, to come to power not relying on another party," he said.

"We're not interested in a Coalition with anyone, what we are actually interested in is getting Joy elected (Councillor Joy Squires, Worcester's Labour parliamentary candidate) and getting a Labour Government in the UK.

"We're not interested in ruling anything in or anything out, we just want a debate on ideas - and whatever Government you get, it will either be a Tory or a Labour one."

He told the audience they were in "a very lucky position" because Worcester is such a tight seat, with current MP Conservative Robin Walker sitting on a 2,982 majority.

"Because this place is so marginal, every vote counts - your vote will count that little bit more - basically it's you that will decide the future of this country."

He also hit out at what he called the "hour glass economy", saying too many people are being squeezed with their living standards, and said he'd want to see the voting age come down to 16 but insisted better citizenship education was vital.

After a question on yesterday's Prime Minister's Questions, where the Speaker John Bercow again criticised the behaviour of MPs, he said: "The Commons can be rowdy, rude, unpleasant.

"But we don't have fist-fights, which when you look at a lot of other parliaments around the world, is not unfamiliar.

"What you don't want is something like the Senate (in the USA), you want energy, debate - there is no other Question Time other than ours that is watched around the world.

"There is an energy back and forth - I am sure it looks crude but there is a balance to be struck."

After the Q&A he also told your Worcester News universities should not have any fears from a tuition fee cut under a Labour Government.

He said: "My message to them would be, a Labour Government would not reduce your funding, we will support you to make sure this change would not have a negative impact because we've laid out how it will be paid for."

The move would be funded by removing £3 billion worth of pension tax relief, and kick in from September 2016 if the party gets back into power.