Last updated at 08:43, Friday, 09 November 2012

CANDIDATES in the first police and crime commissioner elections for Cumbria are set to take part in a live webchat today.

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• Click here to submit your question ahead of the chat

The Evening Mail has organised the online question and answer session to give residents across the county the chance to quiz the four candidates standing in the Cumbria elections.

Conservative candidate Richard Rhodes, Labour’s Dr Patrick Leonard, Liberal Democrat Pru Jupe and independent candidate Mary Robinson will be on hand to take your questions.

You will have the opportunity to ask the candidates why they are standing, what they hope to achieve in the role, what their stance is on crime and any other questions you would like them to answer in order to allow you to make an informed decision in next Thursday’s election.

The commissioner will replace the county’s Police Authority and will be responsible for setting policing priorities, deciding how the policing budget is spent, holding the chief constable to account and consulting with the public.

They will receive a salary of £65,000 a year and will answer to a 12-strong police and crime panel.

The commissioner will not be expected to run the police, they will act as the voice of the people and hold the police to account.

The elections will use the supplementary vote system whereby voters will be asked to select their first and second preferences. If no candidate gains over 50 per cent of the first preference votes, the two top candidates from the first preference votes go forward to a second round when the second preference votes are counted.

The hour-long webchat will go live at 5.30pm on today across all CN Group websites, including here at www.nwemail.co.uk.

First published at 11:40, Tuesday, 06 November 2012
Published by http://www.nwemail.co.uk