MODERN studies students at Musselburgh Grammar School put East Lothian MP George Kerevan on the spot with a range of questions including whether he ever lied.

Mr Kerevan visited the S4 students to discusss a range of subjects including the right to vote at 16, Trident and privatising the National Health Service.

Former university lecturer Mr Kerevan said: "It was a challenging session, and I tried to inject some new thinking into the discussion. On the subject of the NHS, I told them that it is possible to separate management and delivery of the service, as they do in France, where they have an excellent system, managed by the government health department but delivered by private hospitals and doctors.

"When I asked the class which part of the UK health service is already private – General Practitioners – they weren’t aware of it. That’s not unusual.

“On votes at 16 for Westminster elections, I am,of course, in favour, and have demonstrated that publicly, as far back as November last year. But I asked the students to think more carefully about the composition of parliament.

"At present the average MP is a middle-aged man. Why shouldn’t we have age equality, as well as gender equality? Arthur C. Clarke, the science fiction writer, envisages a parliament with equal representation for all age-groups. But you would still need to decide on the age-limit. Is 16 young enough? My father started work at 14."

Mr Kerevan said if 16-year-olds had the vote during the EU referendum he believed they would have stopped older voters taking the country out of Europe.

And in response to the lying question, he said: "Have I ever lied? No. Though I do admit to avoiding the occasional difficult question.”