WORCESTER'S General Election candidates have clashed over the economy - with UKIP's hopeful claiming the nation is still "an economic out-patient".

During a passionate debate at the Cap 'N' Gown pub last night about the country's finances:

- UKIP's James Goad likened Britain’s economy to a battered hospital, saying it has gone from "lingering in the ward" to being "an economic out-patient", outlining a series of major public spending cuts his party would make

- Green Louis Stephen revealed a significant policy to slash VAT on the tourism industry from 20 per cent to just five per cent, helping the likes of hotels, pubs and theme parks

- Conservative Robin Walker pointed to Worcester's unemployment halving since 2010, to around 1,200 people, and insisted the UK is on track to become Europe's richest nation within 20 years, overtaking Germany, urging voters to stick with his party

- Labour's Joy Squires said voters face a "fundamental choice" on Thursday, May 7, saying the economic growth has been about "the rich getting richer" at the expense of ordinary people

Mr Walker said: "There's been a huge shift in the economy and we've got to keep it going.

"I remember meeting someone a couple of years ago who said to me 'I'm alright, I'm in construction', the difference from three or four years earlier was stark."

He said the unemployment rate is around half what it was in 2010, insisting it would be wrong to change tack.

"We've gone from being the sixth richest economy to the fifth (in the world) and if that progress continues we will become the richest economy in Europe, we will overtake Germany in around 20 years, partly due to demographics but partly down to how we've grown the economy."

But Cllr Squires said: "There is a pretty fundamental choice facing us on May 7th, it's about what type of economy we want in the UK.

"It's around whether we carry on as we are, as Robin would say, with an economy which is working for those in London and the South East but is shutting the rest of us out."

She said "we only succeed as country if ordinary working people succeed", saying the "trickle-down effect" of well-off people getting even better off does not work.

As Mr Walker shook his head, she told the pub Labour left the economy growing at 1.6 per cent when it left office in 2010 and "living standards were still rising", saying "a flat-lining economy" has been the tale since.

Mr Goad said UKIP would offer free hour parking every day in Worcester to boost the local economy, if it got into power, and lobby for a third river crossing.

He said the economy is "still in need of hospital treatment" due to the main parties, pointing to high debt levels, but said UKIP back the Conservative plan to eliminate the deficit within the next three years.

He said his party would take the axe to public spending, scrapping the HS2 fast rail link and Government departments like international development and culture, media and sport, as well as reducing foreign aid from £12 billion to £2 billion.

Mr Stephen said the Green Party's pledge on VAT would really benefit places like Worcester, and also said they would reduce the tax on building renovation or repairs from 20 per cent to five per cent too.

"It would make it much easier to build on retail units, light commercial units, and so on," he said.

He reiterated the pledge to insulate every home in Britain, saying it would cost £45 billion but create 100,000 jobs.

"It would eliminate fuel poverty at a stroke," he said.

TAX AVOIDANCE ANGERS PARLIAMENTARY CANDIDATES

TAX avoidance has come under severe criticism by Worcester's parliamentary candidates, with one saying his party would hire 15,000 "new inspectors" to clamp down on it.

The Green Party's Louis Stephen said it would make the massive investment in extra staff to stop tax dodgers getting away with not meeting their obligations.

He said: "We can break the link between tax evasion and big businesses, but we need the staff in order to do it.

"We are the only party that would this investment in tax inspectors so we can get the money we are due."

His words, at the city's Cap 'N' Gown pub last night, were leapt upon by the other candidates.

Labour's Joy Squires said: "Labour's commitment to tackling this issue is absolutely there, we have set out a tax plan so those who can afford to pay more into the system do so.

"But it won't happen overnight and it won't happen in one finance bill."

Conservative Robin Walker called it "a complicated business", and said tax avoidance was "illegal" but people avoiding loopholes was different.

"If people are avoiding tax it's completely unreasonable to all those entrepreneurs and small business owners who do pay their way," he said.

"It would be very easy to close down all loopholes but it would have a perverse impact, But we have got to look to getting rid of some and make sure we do all we can to incentivise people to invest."

James Goad, for UKIP, hit out at the tax system for being "twice as long as war and peace", but said some loopholes are positive because it stops the Government "grabbing all our cash".