A FIRST-TIME voter undecided who to back took matters into her own hands and quizzed her local election candidates directly on matters affecting her family.

Catherine Warrilow, 31, and her husband Tom, 30, had never taken a real interest in politics until their son Noah arrived 21 months ago.

But with the General Election just days away, the Abingdon couple from Ely Close had no clear idea which box to tick on polling day — so they sent eight questions to their local candidates to see what response they got.

The Liberal Democrat candidate for Oxford West and Abingdon, Dr Evan Harris, Conservative candidate Nicola Blackwood, and Labour candidate Richard Stevens had three days to respond to her questions on everything from healthcare to primary schools, policing to recycling.

She received responses from the Tories and Labour before the deadline — and was still waiting for Dr Harris to respond.

Mrs Warrilow, who works three days a week for her public relations company, said: “The elections never really interested us before, but now we have got a family, it seems so much more important.

“We wanted a way to find out answers to matters specifically relating to us, which comes down to the wellbeing of our children and balancing that as a couple who both work.

“I am absolutely going to vote based on the responses to the questions. It is going to give me the most educated decision rather than just going by the general hype and communications that go out around the elections.”

Mrs Warrilow, a former Matthew Arnold School, Oxford, pupil who grew up in a family of Liberal Democrat voters, said she was most impressed by Mr Stevens who responded first, sending additional information on family matters and emailing a link to more information.

She said: “I was surprised really. They were so proactive and it made me realise part of my decision will be based on how responsive and helpful they are, because that’s the kind of person you want working on local issues.

“Labour talked a lot about initiatives that they started and would continue to develop, things like children’s centres, and the Tories said what they would change and do things differently.

“The Tories took more time answering their questions and they were very detailed and I was impressed by that.”

Mrs Warrilow has posted both responses on her blog babygenie.wordpress.com. She has emailed and telephoned Dr Harris, but not received a response. She said: “It doesn’t really give me a very good impression. At the moment. I will base my decision on Labour and Conservative.”

Mr Stevens said: “I try to respond to all emails; personal emails I think deserve a personal response and I think she was raising some issues about help for families, which I don’t think gets as much publicity as it should.”