STUDENTS at a Herefordshire school last week questioned the leader of the Liberal Democrat party.

Nick Clegg answered what he described as "tough, Jeremy Paxman-esque, questions" from sixth form students at John Kyrle High School in Ross-on-Wye and spoke to the headteachers of county primary schools which were threatened with closure.

Asked what he thought of the rise in petrol tax, Mr Clegg said: "We should be paying progressively more for fuels which damage the environment, but should a price spike be caused by market forces, the Government should not add to it."

In response to a question highlighting the decline in British farming, he said he would be in favour of reducing fuel tax by 10 per cent in exchange for the introduction of a road pricing scheme.

"This would, in fact, be disproportionately beneficial to farmers and would hit those who use trunk roads and motorways regularly," he said.

"Also, we do not do enough to promote the value of British agricultural produce to consumers."

Mr Clegg said he had read about Herefordshire Council's ill-fated plans to close and merge schools, but now understood just what impact the changes would have had.

He called the proposals "outrageous" and criticised the way in which councillors and officials handled the crisis.

"You cannot just come out with proposals, dump them on the desks of headteachers and say 'go on - deal with this'."

Mr Clegg also spoke to members of Herefordshire's business community at The Merton Hotel in Hereford.