FORMER Worcester MP Mike Foster has leapt into the EU referendum debate - saying young people's futures would be "at risk" under a Brexit.

The former international development minister, the city's first and only ever Labour MP for 13 years, has issued a rallying call to ignore the calls to leave.

He has also hit out at some Eurosceptic politicians who claim money saved from Britain's EU membership would be put into the NHS, calling the argument "insidious".

It came during a lively hustings-style debate at Worcester Sixth Form College today, where Conservative MP Robin Walker sided with the city's ex-Labour MP in backing the 'in' camp.

The event also saw UKIP's Richard Keel, who stood for parliament in Mid-Worcestershire last year, say "the EU is past reform" and that Britain "must pull out".

Worcester Green Councillor Matthew Jenkins also took part, saying hopes of improving issues like world pollution and the environment rely on major institutions co-operating together.

Mr Foster, who represented Worcester in parliament from 1997 to 2010, said: "We don't actually know what the impact of leaving the EU would be, and that should be a worry.

"I was an MP at the time of the global financial crash, I know what that was like.

"When you come to make your decision, you're looking at your future.

"Because in the next 30 to 40 years you will want to work, you'll want to travel, and all of that is put at risk.

"When you vote you need to ask if that's a risk you want to take."

He also said huge Worcester employers like Yamazaki Mazak would be unlikely to remain in Britain post-Brexit, when they could keep an EU base by relocating to France, where it already has offices.

During the Q&A Mr Walker told the students "85 per cent of what Yamazaki Mazak sell is sold to continental Europe" and said staying 'in' provides more certainty over the economy.

"We've only got relatively small growth of GDP at the moment, two per cent, and it wouldn't take too much to tip back into recession," he said.

He told the room he felt if Britain remained, it would lead to a wave of new investment as businesses stopped holding back.

"The honest answer is, we don't know what the repercussions of leaving would be, nobody has done it before," he said.

"But by being in the EU we have a market of 500 million people - to businesses that matters."

He pointed to UK inward investment in recent years being world-leading, adding: "If even 1/20th of that investment was to go, that'd be a bigger figure than what we spend on EU membership."

Mr Walker also said that when he was a teenager, like the audience members, he wanted to leave the EU on the basis could form a "Commonwealth federation" trade deal, only to later realise it wasn't likely to ever happen.

"I used to believe we could walk out and be part of a Commonwealth federation, but it's not going to happen - I've spoken to politicians in these countries," he said.

"And do you know why it wouldn't happen? These Commonwealth countries want us to be that gateway to Europe, so we need to stay in and take the best from both worlds."

Mr Foster said there was "no law" stopping Britain from trading with the rest of the world while staying in Europe anyway, and said some politiciians who want a Brexit are trying to "con" voters by saying it would save cash for the NHS.

"They are just playing you along, some of the people who say they'll do that don't believe in putting money into the NHS," he said.

"It's a really insidious way of doing it, this argument."

Mr Keel called the EU "a stagnant market", saying "it's like running around with a ball around our ankles".

"They go on about trade deals, but we don't have one with America and we get on fine with that," he said.

"If we left Europe they'd still trade with us, they take more off us than we take from them."

He also said the UK would have more border control and that voters were "lied to" in 1973 when Britain joined the European Economic Community.

"For the last 30 or 40 years we've tried in vain to get concessions to suit our country and it hasn't worked," he said.

"David Cameron went on his 'mega deal' bid and came back with very little.

"Europe needs to change, big time - it needs major reform."

Councillor Jenkins said it was "silly" to claim Britain would be safer from terrorism under a Brexit, saying most terrorists are UK born and bred and radicalised by global influences.

He said people would be "naive" to believe it would make the UK safer, and suggested the 'red tape' argument is really about getting rid of hard-won workers' rights.

He added: "These people also thinking we'd get a better trade deal by leaving the EU, that's ridiculous - of course it wouldn't get better, it'd get worse."

The hour-long debate also saw students take a vote on the EU, with only a handful of them backing a Brexit at the end.