Question Time September 23 Panel: Who's on the BBC politics show tonight? Who are Jill Kirby and Mariana Mazzucato?

This is the lineup for the first in the new series of political debate programme Question Time. | BBC

Fiona Bruce will once again return to the Question Time chair this evening, leading a panel of five experts through the hottest talking points in politics.

It’s the first show since Keir Starmer’s Labour Party won a landslide victory in the July General Election and since English towns and cities were blighted by summer riots.

This week the programme comes from Ashton-under-Lyne, a market town to the east of Manchester which was a centre of the textiles industry in the 19th century.

The town is home to Ashton Market - one of the largest outdoor markets in the United Kingdom - and is traditionally a Labour-voting area, whose current MP is Deputy Prime Minister Angela Rayner.

Here are the five people who will be appearing on the panel.

Lucy Powell

Lucy Powell is a Labour politician who has been the MP for Manchester Central since 2012, having previously worked in a series of political campaigning and PR roles. Following Labour’s election win she was appointed Leader of the House of Commons and Lord President of the Council. In opposition she served as Shadow Minister for Business and Consumers, Shadow Secretary of State for Housing and Shadow Leader of the House of Commons.

Graham Stuart

Graham Stuart is a Conservative politician who has served as the MP for Beverley and Holderness since 2005. Educated in Scotland at Glenalmond College, he went on to study law at Cambridge University but failed his degree after concentrating on starting up a series of profitable "What's on in Cambridge" guides.

Stuart has held a number of cabinet positions under the last four Conservative Prime Ministers, including Parliamentary Under-Secretary of State for Exports and Minister of State for Climate.

Tim Farron

Former leader of the Liberal Democrats, Tim Farron led his party from 2015-2017 and has been the MP for Westmorland and Lonsdale since 2005. Before entering politics he worked in hugher education at Lancaster University andSt Martin's College.

He is currently the Liberal Democrat spokesperson for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs and has also served as president of the Liberal Democrats, Shadow Foreign Secretary, Spokesperson for Housing, Communities and Local Government, and Spokesperson for Work and Pensions.

Mariana Mazzucato

Mariana Mazzucato is an economist and academic who is professor in the Economics of Innovation and Public Value at University College London, where she is also founding director of the UCL Institute for Innovation and Public Purpose.

She is particularly well regarded for her work on the role public services plays in innovation and the impact technological change has on economies. She is currently chair of the World Health Organization's Council on the Economics of Health for All, and is a member of the Scottish Government's Council of Economic Advisers, the South African President's Economic Advisory Council, and the United Nations' High-Level Advisory Board on Economic and Social Affairs.

Jill Kirby

Jill Kirby is a freelance writer and right wing commentator who frequently writes columns for The Telegraph.

She’s a former director at the Centre for Policy Studies, a centre-right thinktank co-founded by Margaret Thatcher who are politically independent but have historic links with the Conservative Party. Kirby has also served as a member of the Conservative Tax Reform Commission, tasked by George Osborne to examine the case for a “fairer, flatter tax system”.