A ROW over the tunnel tolls sparked the biggest reaction during a General Election debate in Wirral West today, which saw Esther McVey and Margaret Greenwood go head-to-head.

Taking place exactly one week before the election in Hoylake, the hustings saw the Globe team up with Radio Merseyside.

While Ukip candidate Hilary Jones, Liberal Democrat candidate Peter Reisdorf and independent candidate David James all made their views known, it was the Employment Minister McVey and her rival Margaret Greenwood that seemed to come out on top.

Ms McVey – who won the Wirral West seat in 2010 with a 6% majority – will be hoping next week’s election goes in her favour.

Hosted by Roger Phillips, the live radio debate saw various topics discussed included the NHS, Britain’s part in the European Union and business rates.

But it was the final three minutes of the debate which saw Ms Mcvey and Ms Greenwood come to blows when asked what their thoughts on the tunnel tolls were.

Ms McVey told the audience she had been fighting for 10 years to get rid of the tolls.

She said “thank goodness” Chancellor George Osborne has promised a review on the tolls but Ms Greenwood said the review was a “desperate, cheap election stunt”.

She referred to a letter from the Department of Transport in 2013 which an official said there was “no such thinking” on considering bringing the tunnels into the national road network.

Asked what the candidates planned to do to address disparity between generosity of ordinary people in times of need and the steps taken by multinational corporations to avoid tax, Ms McVey said the coalition government had brought in an extra £7 billion through tax this year.

She said: “There is no hiding - we need your money to pay for the people in the UK.”

Margaret Greenwood said Labour would be tackling companies that avoid tax, with anyone earning more than £150,000 a year expected to see their tax increase.

She said Labour was committed to spending 0.7% of GDP on international aid, something she claimed the Tory and Lib Dems had failed to do.

She added: “We need a fairer world and it’s a real priority for us.”

As expected in such a heated debate, Wirral’s Labour-run council was brought into the conversation, with Ms McVey slamming their spending habits.

She said: “In 2009 it had £399m to spend but in 2013/15 it had £400m to spend. Where are the swingeing cuts?”

Ms McVey said the council was “lending money to other councils at preferential rates” and had lost £70m over four years by doing so.

But Ms Greenwood hit back and said the reason for having more money was due to public health being transferred to the local authority’s budget.

She said the council had seen its budget cut by £157m since 2010, something she claimed has not happened in other parts of the country.

Did you listen to today's debate? Did it help you make a decision on who to vote for next Thursday?