AN MP, a councillor and a police and crime commissioner shared the stage with a young parliamentarian at a Question Time-style event at a North-East school.

Year ten and 11 students from Longfield Academy, in Darlington, got the chance to quiz public figures at the talk-in on Friday (October 17) lunchtime.

The event was organised as part of local democracy week, which runs until Sunday (October 19).

Among the panellists was Darlington MP Jenny Chapman, Durham's police and crime commissioner Ron Hogg, Councillor Cyndi Hughes of Darlington Borough Council and Darlington youth parliament member Danny Brown, a student at Longfield.

Mrs Chapman said questions were asked about how politicians could better engage with young people.

She said: "We were asked what could be done to make politics more exciting and I said the best way to make politics more interesting for young people is for politicians to be less boring."

Mrs Chapman has yet to make her debut on the weekly BBC Question Time programme, but has not ruled it out in the future.

Cllr Hughes, the council's cabinet member for children and young people, said: "The questions that the students asked showed really great insight, they were exceptional.

"The great thing was that each of the panellists was able to answer from a different perspective.

"The young people were really confident and were able to come back with follow-ups once we had answered their questions."